State releases a few more details about $180 million laptop contract

I still have not received a copy of the $180 million contract the state of Idaho signed yesterday with Hewlett-Packard Corp. and partners for laptop computers for Idaho high schools, but the State Department of Education just sent me this cost breakdown . It shows that the total amount of the contract is $181,935,125. Their figure for the total number of laptops matches the one from the RFP, at 90,376. But with the phase-in over the eight years, the total number of laptop-years in the contract comes to 554,251, because smaller numbers are included for the first, second and third years. The contract includes $292.77 for each of the 554,251 laptop-years, which adds up to $162,268,065.

Then, it adds on top of that $5.5 million for “incremental cost,” defined as “upfront costs paid in the first few years of deployment for infrastructure” - even though the cost of setting up and maintaining the wireless networks is included in the $292.77 per-unit figure - and another $14,167,060 for “Buyout.” The explanation for that: “This cost is only paid if the contract is severed for some reason. It is a built-in cost and may or may not be paid, but we chose to include it in the total cost. Cost without buyout is total $167,768,065.”

This raises the question: If the voters, less than two weeks from now, turn thumbs-down on Proposition 3, does this contract require the state of Idaho to pay the contractors $14.2 million? Here’s the answer from SDE spokeswoman Melissa McGrath: “We will not pay the buyout if Proposition 3 is overturned. There is specific language in the contract to address this.”

Not yet answered: When does the buyout clause kick in?