LANSING – Computer manufacturers appeared unwilling to sell their products to Michigan residents through the state for any less than they sell them through other venues. So the MiPC program quietly passed on Thursday with letters to legislative leaders and vendors announcing there would not be contract awarded.
The program, announced earlier this year, was intended to help residents, especially lower income residents, have access to the Internet by selling computers at a discount by aggregating those sales through the state, but Kurt Weiss, spokesperson for the Department of Information Technology, said the prices did not come in as hoped.
“We were not able to work out an agreement with the vendor community on how to make the program work and how to make it cost effective,” he said.
The idea behind the program is not entirely dead. Weiss said the program could be reworked to provide computers to schools, but he said the administration is still hoping to find a way to get more computers into people’s homes.
“We are still very concerned about the digital divide. One million homes in Michigan do not have a computer or are not connected to the Internet,” he said. “That’s too many homes if we’re going to compete for future jobs.”
The program faced an uphill battle from its announcement, with objections or at least concerns raised by a number of legislative leaders (See Gongwer Michigan Report, July 20, 2006). Sen. Jason Allen, chair of the Senate Commerce and Labor Committee, has been particularly critical, questioning whether the program could be accomplished without legislative approval and whether it was sufficiently designed to allow Michigan-based vendors to participate.
The Michigan Retailers Association had complained the program would take away jobs and sales from state stores.
This story was provided by Gongwer News Service. To subscribe, click on Gongwer.Com
