The Automobile Association (AA) has welcomed the probe into the appointment of French tech company IDEMIA to produce smart driving license cards. This comes after Transport Minister Barbara Creecy asked the Auditor-General to investigate the R898 million tender awarded to IDEMIA.

SECOND TIME LUCKY?

Earlier this week, the department announced IDEMIA as their preferred bidder on the printing of the new cards. This is despite Airports Company South Africa (Acsa) announcing last week that they terminated a tender with IDEMIA worth R115 million. In a statement, Acsa said the contract termination was in line with the conditions of the Service Level Agreement which allows for a 60-day notice period that will allow IDEMIA to conclude the work currently underway.

The state entity did not give more details but said they remain committed to the best interests of good corporate governance, transparency, and fairness and that they will continue with an independent investigation into the company. Creecy has now asked the Auditor General to determine whether the supply chain management prescripts were followed to the latter. "We need to know whether the specs for the project included adequate measures to protect the safety of personal data given the sensitivity of information and security features involved in this project. The implications for this procurement process of the recent cancellation by Acsa of a contract that was awarded to IDEMIA due to a contractual dispute between IDEMIA and its BBBEE partner InfoVerge. We need to know whether IDEMIA's technical capacity and timeous delivery were adequately considered in the tender process following allegations of challenges at three airports where IDEMIA's biometrics system was contracted by the Border Management Authority," Creecy said.

INVESTIGATIONS

The investigation is set to be included in the Auditor General's audit of the procurement process for the new driver's licenses after AA also raised concerns over the company's appointment. In a statement, AA said the value of the contract, its time frames and the reason why IDEMIA was selected need to be made public, especially given that the contract it held with the Acsa was cancelled less than a week before the department's announcement. AA said it takes note of concerns that the Driving Licence Card Account, the entity of the department managing the procurement process for the new licenses was informed that its budget of R468 million for the project was insufficient to cover the IDEMIA bid of R762m, which has since increased to around R898m. "This is yet another red flag in a growing list of problems with this proces, and we therefore welcome the request by the Minister for the Auditor General to prioritise its audit and investigation and await with keen interest the findings,' the AA concluded.