Concerns and Confusion in Biometric Passports Bidding Processes

Some Zimbabweans, including political party officials, are raising concerns following the award of a contract for the production of the country’s biometric passports to Belgian firm Semlex.

In an article published in ZimLive ¹ it is reported that in May, Zimbabwe’s cabinet approved the ‘engagement of a private partner in the implementation of a national biometric database for the production of e-passports, national identity cards and birth certificates.’ (see IDN June 2021).

Instead of advertising the tender, officials in the ministry of home affairs and treasury handpicked Belgian company, Semlex, for the contract. Home Affairs Minister Kazembe Kazembe confirmed the awarding of the contract but declined to reveal the total cost of the project.

Kazembe told ZimLive: ‘the agreement with Semlex is a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer). They offered to do it for the government at no cost to the government.

‘The offer was brought to cabinet months ago and was approved by cabinet. They will come, build, deploy the latest technology and operate. They are investing their money and they will recoup from the revenue.

‘This will bring a lasting solution to the identity documents challenges as people will be able to apply for these online. The issue of consumables challenges will be a thing of the past.

‘However, in-between now and the time when they will be ready to produce the passports, the government will continue producing passports the way we have always done. When they (Semlex) are ready, the Registrar General will simply migrate to the new system.’

Zimbabwe’s government has struggled to raise foreign currency to import passport booklets, creating a backlog of over 250,000. The government also stopped the issuance of identity cards after failing to import consumables used in their production.

Elsewhere, the process of awarding contracts for biometric Chilean passports is something of a jumble of strange events and accusations involving a number of international vendors, including China’s Aisino.

Chilean passport. 

Aisino, an information-security firm, submitted the lowest bid proposal in a field of five competitors looking to make Chile’s biometric ID cards and passports. But alleged government irregularities have put the contract’s awarding in doubt.

According to news publisher Infobae, there are five companies competing to produce the identity cards and passports of Chileans for the next 10 years. The project titled the ‘Tender for the new model of identification system, identity and travel documents’ has been dragging on for more than a year and its total value is estimated to exceed US$525 million.

According to the Infobae article ², Aisino bid $222 million, French-based Idemia bid $245 million, Maltese-registered ID Probe bid $261 million, Telefónica Chile bid $303 million, and German digital ID vendor Veridos $379 million.

A little over two months after the tender closed, two claims against the Civil Registry and Identification Service (SRCI) were submitted to the Public Procurement Tribunal (TCP) for processing. The claims were focused against the Chinese organisation Aisino who presented the cheapest proposal ($222 million), alleging that Aisino ‘would not comply’ with what is required by the biometric system rules that protect against identity theft’ and, further, there would be no international certification to verify this.

According to Chilean online media firm, BioBioChile ³, the bidding rules were modified a few months ago without proper explanation. When the contest was opened, the economic offer was assigned 50% of the overall marks, but was then increased to 65%, making price by far the most important aspect of the proposals.

These commercial wranglings have a wider geo-political dimension in light of an FBI report ⁴ that it had found backdoor malware in the value-added tax software made by Aisino. The European Union and the United States make no secret of their preference that a Chinese organisation should not be in a position to control critical identity infrastructure in a western-style democracy.

1 - www.zimlive.com/2021/08/16/zimbabwe-awards-passport-production-contractto-bribes-linked-belgian-firm/ 

2 - www.infobae.com/america/america-latina/2021/08/16/millonaria-licitacion-de-pasaportes-genera-polemica-en-chile-dos-empresas-recurrieron-al-tribunal-para-anular-a-un-inversionista-chino/ 

3 - www.biobiochile.cl/especial/reportajes/2021/08/16/millonaria-licitacion-de-pasaportes-sonda-e-idemia-recurren-al-tcp-para-anular-a-china-aisino.shtml 

4 - www.zdnet.com/article/fbi-warns-us-companies-about-backdoors-in-chinese-taxsoftware/