SMART DRIVER’S LICENCE CONTRACT FACES SCRUTINY

The transport department received criticism for a “lack of transparency” surrounding its appointment of a French company to roll out smart driver’s licence cards. The preferred bidder, Idemia, was dropped by Airports Company South Africa (ACSA) just last week.

On Monday, the department announced its preferred bidder to print the new licence cards. The project is aimed at bringing South African licence cards on par with international standards.

“The new licence card will incorporate new security features aimed at eliminating the ever-increasing risks of fraudulent and counterfeit driving licences,” it said, in a statement.

However, the Automobile Association (AA) is not satisfied with the bidding process. In an interview with Newzroom Afrika on Monday, spokesperson Eleanor Mavimbela said important details regarding the tender were not disclosed.

“The public still has not been told as to why the preferred bidder was chosen. We still do not know what the tender amount is and we also don’t know how long it’s going to take for this whole process to be rolled out,” she said.

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Potential irregularity

A R380 million-worth contract between Idemia and ACSA, for a biometric and digital identity technology project at South African airports, was recently cancelled after the latter found prima facie evidence of possible irregularities and wrongdoing. Mavimbela said this raised concerns within the association.

“It’s the same company that ACSA last week cancelled a contract with. They were trying to get an automated system for themselves … For us, it raised quite a number of alarm bells as to why would you then give the same company a tender that we don’t even know how much it is for,” she said.

But the department insists all was above board. It revealed five bidders responded to a tender advertisement in May 2023. These were subjected to a “thorough and transparent process of evaluation and adjudication by the bidding committee”.

“It was also subjected to a probity/audit process – the probity conclusion being that all the processes were in compliance with prescribed legislation and policies,” the department said.

There is currently only one printing machine in SA, capable of producing about 300 000 cards each month. Details on the timeframe for the new cards will only be made available once a service level agreement has been concluded between the department and Idemia.