e-passport tender dispute activates passport shortage
Sri Lankans will face hardships in trying to renew or obtain passports for overseas travel within the next few months as a result of a delay in placing a fresh order to procure passport booklets from the current supplier due to an e-passport tender dispute, official sources confirmed.
The Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) has begun the basic activities of introducing an e-passport with an electronic chip that includes bio data of the owner awarding the contract to De La Rue Lanka Ltd in an unsolicited, single-source procurement process.
But the department will face a scarcity of passport booklets as it has placed an order to procure 1 million passports on July 26 following a cabinet decision as an interim arrangement till the e-passports are ready.
The delay in obtaining the cabinet approval for the printing of normal passport and implement the e-passport project by Ministries of Internal Affairs, and Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure has caused a shortage of passports at the DIE.
“We have received a new contract from the DIE to supply 1 million passports. As per the contract, the first consignment of passports is to be delivered in 18 weeks from July 26 which means by November, 28,” Dr Nayana Dehigama, Executive Chairman/Managing Director of Epic Technology Group, the present supplier of passports, told the Business Times.
The company has been requested to expedite the delivery due to a shortage of passport stocks, he disclosed.
“But the authorities should understand that a very high security product like passports cannot be produced overnight,” he said adding that It will take its due process and time because the security material must be specifically manufactured as per specifications in order to produce passports.
“It is quite disappointing that the government never listened to our numerous warnings given through the relevant authorities that such a disastrous situation could arise,” he said.
Government authorities took great pain to award the e-passport contract to De La Rue Lanka as a direct contract without following any tender procedure or transparent procurement process, he claimed.
This unethical and suspicious attempt by top government authorities pushed the current passport procurement process into an inevitable delay, he alleged.
He expressed the belief that “government authorities may be held responsible if a situation arises that there are no passports available in the country to issue to the public”.