Concerns over bidder for new driver’s licence cards

Questions are being raised about the appointing process of the French technology company IDEMIA Identity and Security as the preferred bidder to produce new smart driving licence cards for South Africa.

The Automobile Association (AA) said it was incumbent on the Department of Transport to answer questions raised or face continued criticism and scepticism of the process.

The AA said they recently asked the department several questions about the process.

“Among the questions we asked were the level of involvement, if any, by the Government Printing Works – GPW – in the process of drafting and evaluating bidders and why the GPW had not been considered the sole provider of this service given that they perform government’s security printing function,” said the AA.

It added that the value of the contract, the timeframes for the roll-out of the new smart cards, and why IDEMIA was selected need to be made public.

The Association said this raised questions on why the other four bidders were not appointed.

“Surely the public has the right to know how this project is unfolding, but the lack of clarity in the appointment of the preferred bidder – including the apparent secrecy with which the tender was issued – raises concerns. Similarly, in mid-June, the department noted it is on track to deliver new driver’s licence cards and printing equipment for the country amid initial challenges of finding a suitable service provider/s. But we still don’t know what these ‘challenges’ are or how they impacted the finalisation of IDEMIA as the preferred bidder,” said the Association.

It added that despite these questions, the more pertinent issue right now remains the need for a physical driver’s licence card in the first place.

The AA has seen the digitisation of many functions in both the private and public sectors – the functioning of the SA Revenue Service is a good example.

The Association said they must question why the digitisation of licence cards is not top of the agenda at the Department Of Transport. The ability to manage driving licences through fingerprints would, in our view, be more appropriate and more secure, especially given the rate of forgery of physical cards.

It added that it plans to raise questions on the appointment of IDEMIA through formal communication with the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Transport, the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (SCOPA), and the Auditor-General.

Furthermore, the Association said the appointment of IDEMIA followed the announcement less than a week ago by the Airports Company of South Africa (ACSA) to terminate a contract with IDEMIA for Automated Border Control.

The AA added that in ACSA’s recent statement announcing the termination of the contract last Tuesday, the company said: “(it) remains committed to the best interests of good corporate governance, transparency, and fairness as (it) continues with an independent investigation”.

“That investigation concerns the way the contract with IDEMIA was concluded. Huge amounts of public funds are at play in this process, and the public, justifiably, has a right to understand to whom this money will be paid and how it will be allocated. By not taking citizens into their confidence on this important matter, the department is effectively laying the groundwork for accusations of impropriety in the allocation of funds – accusations which will taint the process from its inception,” said the AA.

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