The omnipresence of administration gives an air of absurdity to certain management processes. A spotlight on a ludicrous situation around the public tender for eraser supplies.
When the Administration muddles the paths of logic, we are left with a Kafkaesque kaleidoscope of paperwork. In the digital age, the Administration has chosen the path of absurdity by launching a public tender for the purchase of erasers, which are now obsolete.
It’s been 10 years since the Ministry of Education launched the “School 2.0” project to digitalize the entire educational system. Thanks to this effort, all the students in the country now use tablets for their lessons and homework. And yet, a tender was recently published on the official website for the purchase of erasers.
“The elements of this tender are so detailed that they seem almost unreal,” ironically notes the CEO of a school supplies company who preferred to remain anonymous. “They ask for allergen-free, biodegradable, and durable erasers, with a precise ratio of natural rubber. It’s like a surrealistic play!”
“It’s not us who need these erasers, but the Ministry’s archive service. They need to erase old confidential data with these erasers,” justifies Alexia B., head of service at the Departmental Directorate of Administration.
“With the gradual elimination of paper, this request is anachronistic. Moreover, it seems to be a very literal interpretation of data protection rules,” declares, astonished, administrative law professor Jean-Georges Lubin. “What to think of this logic which, instead of simply erasing digital data, requires printing them out to then erase them with erasers? Is the Administration showing us an example of bureaucratic absurdity at its peak?”
This tender highlights the magnitude of the task to modernize and digitalize the Administration, an effort that sometimes seems hindered by certain Kafkaesque inconsistencies. The erasers, simple anachronism or symbol of a system trapped in its own bureaucratic labyrinths? The debate is open.
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