N&R follow-up to the Rhino Times report on Amplify’s kindly assistance in prepping Guilford County Schools’ bid request for the $16 million middle school tablets contract. Pretty much the same info, but with a different hook (emphasis mine):

Before landing a $16.4 million contract to lease tablet computers to Guilford County Schools, Amplify executives helped shape the district’s bid request.

That’s a move at least one expert said he skips to avoid the appearance of favoritism.

When making purchases for Baltimore County Schools, a Maryland district of 108,000 students, Rick Gay tells companies if they want to offer input on the bid request, they can’t bid on the related projects. Gay said he frequently gets such requests.

“It happens, but it’s not necessarily OK, not from my perspective,” said Gay, the district’s purchasing manager.

His district plans to spend $145 million over the next five years to provide tablets and laptop computers for each student in kindergarten through 12th grade.

Excellent watch and learn moment for Mr. Gay. And still he’ll b=need all the luck he can get.