| Introduction :
Procurement of Dual Band VHF/UHF Base and Handheld Transceiver A. BACKGROUND Acknowledging the need to bring in viable options for building network infrastructure, the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) forged a partnership in late 2018 to support the government roll-out of free internet access. DICT was tasked as the lead agency to effectively oversee the implementation of the Free Internet Access in Public Places Act of 2017 (Republic Act No. 10929) while UNDP’s mandate is to eradicate poverty by working on key areas of democratic governance, climate resilience, and peacebuilding. The provision of internet connectivity to communities is aligned with UNDP's Country Programme Document 2019-2023 indicator of increasing the number of people with access to essential public services, which involves access to information and technology. Further recognizing the new context and priorities of the Philippine Government, such as ensuring that higher education institutions (HEIs) are responsive the needs of the new normal in learning and education, strengthening the health care information and communications technology (ICT) systems, and enhancing the disaster preparedness and response of DICT itself and local government units (LGUs), the DICT-UNDP Project Document was amended to “Connectivity, Capability, and Resiliency through Free Wi-Fi for All (CoRe FW4A)”. The CoRe FW4A project includes the following outputs: Output 1: Broader people’s access to free internet services in designated sites; Output 2: Capacity of DICT and local government units strengthened to install and manage ICT and internet equipment and services, and in ICT assessment and planning; and Output 3: Disaster preparedness and response for emergency including health-related connectivity and communications resiliency improved for DICT, sub-national, and local government offices. · Output 3a: Healthcare ICT ecosystem strengthened for rural health units, vaccination centers, and public hospitals; · Output 3b: Disaster preparedness and response for emergency connectivity and communications improved for DICT, sub-national, and local government offices. Under Output 3b, the country’s vulnerability to natural disasters and its adverse impact on communication infrastructure was considered. The Project will provide an emergency communications and connectivity equipment suite to select local government units and highly vulnerable provinces according to DENR's Risk Resiliency Program. This will include the procurement of one hundred (100) base radios and five hundred (500) handheld radios to maintain coordination in times of disasters such as typhoons and earthquakes wherein critical communication lines might be affected and damaged. The procurement of this equipment aims to aid local government units and regional DICT offices in their disaster response and management.
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