The State Department is buying Amazon Kindle e-readers for nearly 3500% of their list price in a no-bid contract with the Internet retailer, according to government procurement records.
The total contract value is $16.5 million, and aims to fill libraries and other educational facilities around the world with the popular e-reader. The devices will have special translation features and will be able to receive information online directly from State.
State purchased 2,500 units of Amazon’s Kindle Touch under the contract, meaning the per-device price tag will be a whopping $6,600 – far above the Touch’s $189 retail price
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Dawn Lim of NextGov spotted the contract, and further reports:
Competing devices such as the Barnes and Noble Nook, Sony Reader Daily and Kobe e-Reader were unsuitable as they couldn’t offer the same the text-to-speech function, battery life and global Wi-Fi connectivity, according to a government document.
The Apple iPads offered unnecessary functions that presented “unacceptable security and usability risks for the government’s needs in this particular project,” the documents said. iPads also fell short on battery life requirements and would not allow the State Department the same control over the dissemination of content, the notice added.
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