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MoFA sticks to passport deal
KATHMANDU, JUL 18 -
Upholding its July 6 decision to award the contract of the Machine Readable Passports (MRPs) to France-based security-printing company Oberthur Technologies, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA) on Sunday said that it did not receive any plaint against the French company during the five-day investigation triggered by two rival bidders — Preum Peruri ( Indonesia) and De La Rue (the UK).
“Oberthur did not submit fake documents and neither did it provide sub-standard technical equipment. We corresponded with our missions in Seoul and New Delhi and also with the Japanese and South Korean missions in Kathmandu to ascertain the complaints against Oberthur,” said Chief of Protocol, Mukti Nath Bhatta.
No information or proof was found for or against the MoFA decision, so the Ministry decided to go ahead with the process, he said. “We tried our best to ascertain the complaints but we could not get any proof,” he said. MoFA has conveyed the decision to the firms who lodged the complaints.
At the recommendation of the MRP evaluation committee headed by Bhatta, Foreign Secretary Madan Kumar Bhattarai took a call on Sunday evening.
Rival firms Perum Peruri and De La Rue had challenged the ministry’s decision to award the contract to Oberthur saying that the French based company would provide sub-standard quality technical equipment like personalisation, printers and would also submit fake documents in the matter of distributing passports.
“According to law, seven days were given to lodge complaints against the bidder who was awarded the bid and an additional five days to investigate the complaints,” said Bhatta. “Through our Delhi mission we tried to pinpoint if Oberthur had any business in Ghana and Libya. We choose to uphold the July 6 decision as we did not get any evidence of Oberthur submitting fake documents,” Bhatta added.
However, both the companies can further challenge the MoFA decision. The rival companies can lodge complaints with higher authorities including the Public Procurement Office within seven days. The MoFA also holds all rights to discontinue the contract if it receives any proof against Oberthur.
If everything goes well, an MRP deal will be signed between MoFA and Oberthur. However, MoFA officials are still sceptical whether the deal will be clinched as the issue has already landed in the Parliamentary Accounts Committee court.
Posted on: 2010-07-19 08:07
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