National Identity Card tender takes a wrong turn
View(s):The Department for Registration of Persons will be continuing with the Preprinted Polycarbonate National Identity Cards (NIC) until new biometric NICs applicable to the whole population are ready for issuance.
A procurement committee has selected a prospective company to print and supply one million Preprinted Polycarbonate Cards after a proper evaluation of bids, department sources said.
However when perusing documents, it was observed that the selected French company (Gemalto)’s bid of Rs. 168.30 (per card) was the highest among four international companies who submitted bids all together, the unsuccessful bidders complained.
The ANY Security Printing Company, one of the largest security printing companies in Hungary, had quoted a price of Rs.110.80 per card which was the lowest bid among those four companies.
Malaysian-based IRIS Corporation (Rs.164.50) and Manipal Security Printing (Rs.167.06) of India were the other unsuccessful bidders.
The country is losing Rs.57.5 million by awarding this tender to the French company as the difference between its bid and the lowest bid was Rs. 57.50 per card (Rs168.30-Rs110.80), informed sources said.
It has been observed that the members of the technical evaluation committee have recommended the French company without the assessment report of the Information Communication Technology Agency (ICTA).
According to reliable sources, a diplomatic-level letter has been sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa and State Minister Namal Rajapaksa citing the lack of transparency and irregularities in awarding the tender violating tender procedures.
The issuance of Preprinted Polycarbonate NICs is being continued during the transition period till the rollout of the Electronic National Identity Card (eNIC) to the whole population eligible for it.
The eNIC has been in development for several years. These eNICs featured a machine-readable barcode and stored biometric data.
However there were reports that the initial groundwork was laid for a wider rollout, yet implemented at a snail pace. (BS)