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MRP contract in French kitty
KATHMANDU, JUL 06 -
Without any wavering, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Tuesday decided to award the multi-million dollar contract to print and supply Machine Readable Passport (MRP) copies to France-based Oberthur Technologies.
With the announcement of the deal, the MRP controversy is over and MoFA will have a tough time introducing MRP within its renewed deadline — Jan. 1, 2011, which it has set for the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO).
In a very “calculated” move, MoFA cleared the MPR air even though the incumbent government is in an ad-hoc state with no sign of the formation of a new government. This was for warding off unnecessary political pressure and maneuvering, according to MoFA officials.
The French company has been given a week to seal the deal with MoFA in this regard, following the announcement made by Chief of Protocol (COP), Mukti Nath Bhatta. A letter has been dispatched to Oberthur’s headquarter through Nepal’s mission in France.
Following a controversy, MoFA quashed the earlier pre-qualification bid — announced at the end of 2009 — citing “technical reasons”. Later, India expressed interest in supplying the MRP but it also entered into a controversy and a fresh bid was announced on May 18.
Oberthur, the lowest bidder among the four companies, has committed to supply an MRP booklet per copy for US$ 3.59 including other services, technical assistance, personalisation, manpower training and other non-technical assistance. Oberthur also participated in the earlier bidding and was selected as one of the contenders.
Other close bidders were Indonesia-based Perum Peruri, which stood second (US 5.99 per copy) and De La Rue (US $ 6.2 per copy). Due to lack of proper evidence and dossier, the Singapore-based 3M Technologies, which had offered to supply at a rate of US$ 4.50 was thrown out of the race after an evaluation.
“A global bid was announced to adopt MRP with a mandatory requirement set by ICAO. Among the four bids, Oberthur made the lowest offer at a rate of US$ 3.59 with supply of MRP booklet and personalisation. It has given seven days time to strike the deal with MoFA,” said the COP and chairman of evaluation committee said.
“The party should provide the first consignment of passports within 70 days after the signed deal. It has to supply 400,000 booklets in the first consignment,” he said. The company has to supply 4 million MRPs over five years - by Nov. 24, 2015,” he said.
If it delivers all 4 million passports before Nov. 24, 2015, the contract will terminate automatically. After signing of the initial deal, another 15 days will be given for signing the letter of intent on both sides. After the first delivery, the ministry will issue the first MRP copy in 15 days, according to the tender documents.
Posted on: 2010-07-07 08:11
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