Cabinet approval is being sought to buy 1.1 million more machine-readable passports (MRPs) from Thales DIS Finland OY to meet demand until Sri Lanka transitions to the e-passport, sources from the Department of Immigration and Emigration (DIE) said.
Thales is the same company that won the DIE’s bungled tender for five million e-passports last year. The award was challenged in the Appeal Court by the losing bidder, Epic Lanka (Pvt) Ltd. An interim order stopping the DIE from proceeding with the passport tender was subsequently lifted by the court.
After obtaining the consent of the Attorney General, a Cabinet proposal will be submitted to gain clearance to buy 1.1 million “normal” passports from Thales till the e-passport scheme becomes fully operational.
For this to happen, the DIE must float a tender for a two-key encryption solution which will allow the Sri Lankan passport’s unique public key infrastructure (PKI) to be lodged with the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) public key directory (PKD) for access by immigration entities worldwide. Such a tender has not yet been published.
“Once Thales finishes delivering the 1.1 million normal passports, they will start production of the e-passports,” an authoritative DIE source said. “In the meantime, the PKI tender is about to be floated. If there is a delay, the idea is that this order of normal passports will meet demand till the e-passport is ready for use.”
The MRP stock could likely last till next year, the source said. Thales has already provided a large number of MRPs to the DIE as an emergency solution to the shortage of travel documents. Epic is paid US$ 1.45 to personalise each of the passports.
Sunday Times
