Statistics Estonia to procure 2,332 laptops for the Population and Housing Census

“The Population and Housing Census starting at the end of this year will be technically on a new level compared to the previous ones – besides the fact that the permanent residents of Estonia have a possibility to enumerate themselves by filling out e-questionnaires on the Internet, we have given up paper questionnaires also in the case of face-to-face interviews,” said Mr Rain Haviko, Head of the Statistical Systems Service of Statistics Estonia.

During the 2000 Population and Housing Census, interviewers entered the answers given by residents in the paper questionnaires which were scanned later on, but during the 2011 Population and Housing Census interviewers are going to enter the answers given by residents directly into laptops, from where the data will be forwarded to Statistics Estonia’s servers through secured channels. Questionnaires on paper will be used only as a reserve variant whenever it is impossible for some reason to conduct laptop-assisted interviews.

“This measure will make the whole interviewing process essentially more secure and will also facilitate faster processing of data later,” noted Rain Haviko. “The requirements that laptops have to meet are mainly intended to make the interviewers’ work as comfortable as possible. For example, the weight of a laptop must not exceed 2.4 kg, its storage battery must run for at least eight hours according the manufacturer’s data and the screen size must be within the range of 13.0–13.6 inches,” explained Haviko. In addition, a year-long guarantee period should apply to the laptops to be procured.

Tenders can be submitted through the electronic public procurement environment https://riigihanked.riik.ee until 5 April 2011, the estimated volume of procurement is nearly 1.2 million euros. The technical specification of the procurement is available in the Procurement Register environment https://riigihanked.riik.ee/register/Home.html.

The procured laptops will be used starting from February of the next year, when face-to-face interviews of the 2011 Population and Housing Census begin. “After the end of the Population and Housing Census, the laptops will be used by various state agencies,” marked Haviko.

In Estonia, the Population and Housing Census will be carried out from 31 December this year until 31 March next year. The electronic Population and Housing Census or e-census, where the permanent residents of Estonia can fill out questionnaires on the Internet, will take place during the first month (31.12.2011 – 31.01.2012). Those who do not participate in the e-census will be visited by interviewers in the period 16.02 – 31.03.2012.