Delay on the cards for gov't ID contract
Kable
Published: 19 Jun 2009 08:23 BST
The Home Office has said the contract to produce identity cards for UK citizens will be in place by next year, rather than this autumn as previously stated.
It has indicated that the contract may not be awarded until 2010. With the Conservatives, who have pledged to scrap the contract, hot favourites to win the election that must be held by June next year, this throws a serious doubt on the card element of the National Identity Scheme.
Shadow home secretary Chris Grayling this week wrote to the five suppliers for the National Identity Scheme warning them that a Conservative government would abolish the contract. Fujitsu, IBM and Thales have been shortlisted for the card production deal.
The Financial Times reported that the Home Office had "backed away" from the contract, saying it may not be awarded until autumn 2010.
The Home Office denied that it has responded to Grayling's move, but did not commit itself to awarding the contract until the existing one for small-scale schemes expires next year.
Bill Crothers, executive director of the Identity and Passport Service, told GC News in April that it planned to award the main card production contract, the only one that would need to be cancelled completely if identity cards were scrapped, this autumn.
A Home Office spokesperson said on 18 June, 2009: "IPS already have a contract in place to deliver ID cards in [the] autumn. We will have a new contract in place by the time this contract comes to an end next year."
Some contracts have already been awarded — for the small trials at City of London and Manchester airports, for the database, for printing biometric passports and for the application process — but most of this will be required for updated passports.
New home secretary Alan Johnson is reportedly less enthusiastic about the £4.9bn project than his predecessors.
"Perhaps, as it has been mentioned in the press, Alan Johnson has asked to conduct a review of the scheme and in the meantime asked to hold on before awarding any further contracts," said Philippe Martin, a senior analyst at Kable.
"Another reason could be that the recent award of the contract to De la Rue for the production of passports has highlighted potential cost saving opportunities," he added. "Apart from the production of the plastic card, other elements such as the delivery and public key infrastructure could be rolled out within the existing passport production contract, as opposed to running two completely separate contracts."
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