Decision details

Procurement of two rugged laptop devices to replace two current ones that have reached the end of their usable lifecycle. These are for the trees officers, so for use in a field environment.

The rugged laptop devices used by the trees officers have reached the end of their usable lifecycle. Both are physically damaged and some operational issues have been identified with them. Continued use is likely to see failures and potential data loss.

As these are used in a field environment, a standard laptop is not suitable, and is likely to be damaged in-use. A rugged device was therefore sought.

Marketplace research identified that there are not a large number of pre-ruggedised devices sold any longer. Adding cases to non-ruggedised devices was ruled out as it was felt that cases could affect device cooling, and were less likely to be effective than a rugged device.

Only two manufacturers were identified that had products that met all business requirements for these devices.

Pricing was then used to choose the final device/model.

Crown Commercial procurement routes as well as direct supplier pricing was reviewed. The option chosen was the lowest priced option identified within specification.