[kictanet] Software procurement in kenya

Wed Sep 10 00:36:21 EAT 2008

Liko,

I do not fully agree with you on this. The client does not need to mention
names or trademarks - when/if this is done:-

- it amounts to direct marketing or campaign for that trademark, company or
whatever
- the choice of selecting/getting a superior solution is circumvented since
such is only based on past knowledge

However, the client must provide sufficient information regarding the
existing environment to provide every bidder with same decision making
information/tools.

I am against organisations selecting solutions/products based on the
knowledge of the staff they have rather this should be based on the solution
that best fits the organisation. Staff can always be retrained.

Rgds
SK

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+skisonzo=gmail.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+skisonzo=gmail.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Liko Agosta
Sent: 09 September 2008 23:21
To: skisonzo at gmail.com
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Subject: Re: [kictanet] Software procurement in kenya

Evans,

That law should be changed :)

If a government agency has already invested in some technology stack, they
should have the right to say they want a solution that ran's on that
technology stack ....lets says Microsoft SQL Server .. 

Why ... The license for SQL server will be a sunk cost at that point and
getting different technology is making a bigger financial commitment and
raising project risk .... also .. if the customers programmers/admins know
C# and SQL Server or Websphere and DB2, the client has the right to pick
that platform ... 

We have ran into this with our clients. Whenever we are doing project
discovery, we will find out which technologies they currently have/support
... if a client has SQL Server, we will typical ask for usage reports for
that SQL server box and in most cases, we have been able to save money by
"adding to" their existing infrastructure ... or tuning their existing
infrastructure to take more load.

Many organizations we have worked with tend to buy a servers/software
licenses for each project ... we advice against this and are usually for
consolidation and better management. That way a 4 CPU license for SQL Server
Enterprise Edition (approx USD 80,000) will be apportioned to the 20 systems
or projects that will use a well tuned 4CPU SQL server ....

So .. good intentions... bad law ... why enforce or spend time on it 

My 2 cents

Liko Agosta, CEO
Verviant Consulting Services. 

www.verviant.com

Phone    : 1-919-341-1820
Fax        : 1-978-268-8403

Toll Free: 1-866-551-4935

Pager: 9193891551 at txt.att.net

-----Original Message-----
From: kictanet-bounces+likoa=verviant.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke
[mailto:kictanet-bounces+likoa=verviant.com at lists.kictanet.or.ke] On Behalf
Of Evans Ikua
Sent: Tuesday, September 09, 2008 1:34 PM
To: Liko Agosta
Cc: kictanet at lists.kictanet.or.ke
Subject: [kictanet] Software procurement in kenya

Interesting what Google can come up with:

http://www.linuxworld.com/news/2008/052308-kenya-linux-group-challenges-proc
urement.html?fsrc=rss-linux-news

We finally got to meet with the PPOA on Friday, 5th September. We had  
a very fruitful discussion on the Public Procurement and Disposal Act  
2005, whose provisions are being ignored by Government procurement  
agents:

https://ict-innovation.fossfa.net/taxonomy/blog-tags/kenya

This good law stipulates that procuring agents should not mention any  
trade marks, companies or product names when requesting for  
quotations. They are required to just give the specs of what they need  
to accomplish. But how many times do we see these RFQs with brand  
names such as Microsoft *?. This has got to stop and nobody has any  
excuse to break the law with impunity.

We will be putting details of the proceedings on our website soon, and  
also in the media.

-- 
Evans Ikua
Linux Professional Association of Kenya
Tel: +254-20-2250381, Cell: +254-722 955 831
Eagle House, 2nd Floor
Kimathi Street, Opp. Corner House
www.lpakenya.org

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