UK ID card procurement likely to start in June

The UK’s biometric-based national ID card procurement is expected to commence in June, slightly later than planned. The procurement has been delayed to fit in with the publication of a report by Sir James Crosby (commissioned by the UK Treasury), which will highlight the possible private sector uses of the scheme.

The delay also means that procurement should take place under the leadership of a new prime minister, widely expected to be Gordon Brown.

A formal procurement notice (prior information notice, or PIN) was published by the Identity and Passport Service last week. In the PIN, IPS says the Scheme will include the delivery of passports and identity cards, plus products and services to a number of other public sector organisations.

It is expected that to deliver some elements of the scheme, a framework arrangement will be procured and then subsequent procurements will be run to supply various elements of the scheme.

It is anticipated that the framework may include provision of managed services and systems integration capabilities for services such as:

 

• biometric systems,
• application support and development,
• design of identity products such as passports and identity cards,
• production and distribution of identity products and
• systems, estates and people to support application and enrolment.

 The formal notice can be viewed here

 

Note: Bernard Herdan, Executive Director of Service Delivery at IPS will be the keynote speaker at the upcoming Security Document World 2007 conference and exhibition on 22-23 May in London, where he will address UK ID card project plans. For more details visit http://www.sciencemediapartners.com