The Kerala government has initiated the procurement of 480 Apple iPads for ministers and their personal staff at an estimated total cost of ₹6.7152 crore. On October 16, the state-owned PSU KELTRON invited e-tenders for the procurement. The move comes amid repeated calls from the Finance Department for government departments to exercise austerity. Notably, after coming to power, the UDF government issued a white paper describing the difficult fiscal situation it had inherited from the previous LDF government. Meanwhile, the government is planning a large-scale procurement of iPads.
The tenders by KELTRON do not specify whether the iPads will be used by ministers and their staff. However, THE WEEK has learnt from a trusted source that the government intends to allocate the devices to them.
According to the tender document, the procurement comprises 160 13-inch iPad Pro 256GB units, 160 11-inch iPad Pro 256GB units, and 160 11-inch iPad (A16) Wi-Fi + Cellular 256GB units. An estimated ₹3.19 crore will be spent on the 13-inch iPad Pro models, with each unit priced at approximately ₹1,99,000. Another ₹2.23 crore is earmarked for the 11-inch iPad Pro Wi-Fi 256GB models, at an estimated ₹1.39 lakh per unit. The remaining ₹1.27 crore will be spent on the 11-inch iPad (A16) Wi-Fi + Cellular 256GB models.
In September, the government increased the expenditure ceiling for procuring IT hardware, including laptops, iPads and tablets, for official use by ministers, private secretaries and department heads from ₹1.5 lakh to ₹2 lakh. KELTRON issued its e-tender on October 16.
The tender document also raises questions about compliance with procurement rules. By explicitly naming Apple as the required brand, the tender appears to depart from the vendor-neutral specifications generally expected in IT hardware procurement. It also sets out highly specific requirements for displays, chips, RAM, cameras, wireless connectivity and operating systems, effectively pointing to particular Apple products and proprietary technologies rather than defining functional or performance requirements that competing brands could meet. The specifications include Apple-specific product lines, chips, operating systems and warranty provisions, potentially limiting the pool of eligible bidders to Apple-authorised suppliers.
The Kerala Financial Code, which governs government procurement and the purchase of stores, stipulates that brand names and their makers should generally be avoided in tender documents. Other government orders and procurement rules also call for vendor-neutral specifications in IT hardware procurement. Proprietary purchases may be permitted where the competent authority certifies, with appropriate justification, that only a particular brand or make is suitable.
Brand-specific procurement may be treated as a proprietary or single-source purchase, for which a Proprietary Article Certificate (PAC) and documented justification are generally required to establish that no alternative product can meet the stated functional requirements. As a Government of Kerala undertaking, KELTRON is expected to comply with the applicable procurement rules. However, the tender document does not indicate whether a PAC has been obtained or whether any functional requirements make non-Apple tablets unsuitable for the intended purpose.
