KATHMANDU: The government is set to hand over the responsibility of printing e-passports to French Company IDEMIA Identity & Security France.
This is the same company that had not been able to submit enough documents in the tender called by the Passport Department to print two million e-passports.
After that, the tender called for the second time on March 2 was canceled in the last week of September as all the participating companies, including IDEMIS, failed to submit the required qualifications.
When the department issued the tender for the third time on September 24, seven foreign companies, including IDEMIS, were in competition.
IDEMIA is about to win the e-passport printing contract by pledging the lowest price of Rs 2.48 billion (USD 21.1 million).
According to sources, IDEMIA had earlier pledged Rs 3.12 billion (USD 26.59 million) in the canceled contract. In the second tender, the same company was the company that promised less money.
In the third tender, it has pledged Rs 640 million less than others.
The company has been informed to get contract for an agreement within seven days, said Rajendra Pandey, director at the passport department. “If the selected company does not come to an agreement, the contract should be awarded to the second lowest bidder,” he said.
According to the Passport Department, there are 4,00,000 MRPs left.
MRP’s distribution has declined since the outbreak of COVID-19. In recent days, the number of passport holders has been increasing. According to Pandey, director of the department, 300 passports are being distributed on a daily basis.
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