Sri Lanka’s e-passport project hits another snag
Sri Lanka’s much delayed e-Passport project has been hit by another snag following the sale of the international identity solutions business of De La Rue Plc (DLR) which was selected for the project contract directly.
DLR has exited the prime system integration in the identity market with the sale of its international identity solutions business for a cash consideration of £42 million to HID Corporation Ltd.
DLR, one of the oldest identity cards and passports suppliers in the world, announced that it would be exiting the domain of printing and supplying identity cards, passports and system integration in the secure identity market.
Under these circumstances, De La Rue Lanka Ltd, the local wing of DLR will not be able carry out the contract of printing the Sri Lankan e-Passport even if the cabinet of ministers gives its consent to the company, a senior government official said.
The Department of Emigration and Immigration is currently pursuing a deal with DLR to print 1 million passports as an interim contract (direct contract without tender) before DLR begins the full e-Passport supply, he revealed.
In 2017, the Government decided to award the e-Passport contract to this British company as a direct contract without following competitive tender procedures.
In the Cabinet Paper dated November 2, 2017 the then Minister of Telecommunication and Digital Infrastructure informed that DLR has committed to invest over Rs.1.2 billion to shift to a new e-Passport system.
This cabinet paper also states that DLR will set up an end-to-end system including Data Capture, Enrolment, Personalisation and Issuance of ePassports.
Later, DLR turned back from its commitment and said that it will only provide the e-Passport Personalisation System to replace the existing personalisation system at the Immigration Department, which will cost around Rs. 50 million only.
Nevertheless, the project could not be implemented as of date because the Cabinet Appointed Negotiation Committee (CANC) appointed to assess the feasibility of the DLR contract did not approve to proceed with the project.
However, the tripartite MOU signed between DLR, the Information and Communication Technology Agency and the Immigration Department is still in force because the new Minister has not yet taken any action to cancel the same.
Clarifying DLR’S current position on the e-Passport project, a spokesperson of the company said that no official request has been received from the Department of Immigration to produce machine readable passports.
DLR has no knowledge of any Cabinet Appointed Negotiating Committee (CANC) recommendations; he said adding that their proposal was to supply the Government with e-Passports through a Public Private Partnership.
It remains DLR intention to delivering a world class e-Passport solution should such an award be granted, he added.