Dar es Salaam, Tanzania

Malaysian firm picked to produce national IDs

By Sylivester Ernest
The Citizen Reporter

Dar es Salaam. The government has finally picked a firm to take charge the over Sh200-billion national identification project. The firm, Iris Corp Bhd of Malaysia has been announced winner of the internationally floated tender and will commence production later this year. The National Identification Authority (NIDA) Executive Director, Mr Dickson Maimu, confirmed the development when The Citizen reached him on the phone for comment yesterday. 

“It is true a Malaysian company won the contract but then, because of the Easter holidays, the official communication to that effect has not been released,” said Mr Maimu, who added that the board of directors would meet and thereafter issue a public announcement by Friday.

He said NIDA had already signed the prerequisite contract, but “other sensitive issues were being worked out before a clear message is communicated to the general public.” 

Media reports in Malaysia reported yesterday that Iris Corp Bhd had won the five-year contract to issue 25 million National Identification cards (IDs) to qualifying Tanzanian citizens. The protracted deal, worth $149 million (about Sh200.2 billion) would involve procurement, supply, design, implementation, test, maintenance, support and commissioning of the national ID system based on modern Smartcard Technology. 

Iris Corp Bhd announced on Friday that 36 months of the contract period would be for implementation while the other 24 months would involve maintenance and support services. 

According to the company, the funds for the project would come from the Tanzanian government revenues and bank loans. Iris Corp Bhd also informed that it would set up a data centre and disaster recovery site, along with the required hardware, software including Automated Fingerprint Identification System and Services. 

There would also be a National ID registry system and database including associated hardware, software, and services for the rollout of the enrolment system to 142 sites across the country and a personalisation system at a centralised site. According to the information, the company would also undertake the necessary post-implementation maintenance and support services including supply of spare parts. 

The signing of the contract puts to rest the long process to search for an appropriate company to run the project that had earlier been shrouded in corruption claims. The government was forced to cancel the tender process several times as reports suggested some crooked politicians had attempted to interfere in the process for personal gain.

The Home Affairs ministry announced a few months ago that six companies would vie for the project. They included Unisy, Giesecke & Devrient, Iris Corporation and Madras Security Printers. Two consortiums included Marubeni Corporation in Partnership with Zetes and NEC as well as Tata Consultancy Services in Collaboration with On Track Innovations. 

Two weeks ago the Controller and Auditor General Mr Ludovick Utouh said the project had been delayed despite a Cabinet approval four years ago. NIDA subsequently signed a contract with M/s Gotham International Limited in 2010 for provision of Management Consultancy Services for the establishment of a National Identification System, based on Smart Card Technology for a contract price of $9,000,000 (Sh12.6bn). 

http://www.iris.com.my/