The Cabinet of Ministers has directed an immediate cancellation of the procurement process for Sri Lanka’s electronic passport project, Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) MP Ajith P. Perera said on Friday.
Speaking to reporters, Perera said the decision was communicated to bidders by email on May 29 by the Controller General of Immigration and Emigration. The email informed bidders that the Cabinet had ordered the procurement process to be terminated with immediate effect, he said.
The development marks the sharpest reversal yet in a tender that has been mired in political and legal disputes for months. The Public Security Ministry’s earlier evaluation had recommended awarding the contract to the French-Sri Lankan joint venture Thales DIS Finland Oy and Just in Time (JIT) to personalise 3.15 million passports, but the Sunday Times reported in mid-May that the proposed five-year per-passport pricing structure risked exposing the Department of Immigration and Emigration to a vendor lock-in trap.
On May 7, Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala told Parliament that no tender had been awarded and that the process was still under the Procurement Commission, dismissing as “completely false” Sarvajana Balaya leader Dilith Jayaweera’s earlier claim that a Polish-linked bidder had been overlooked despite submitting the strongest offer.
Perera did not say what would replace the cancelled process or how the gap in passport personalisation capacity will be bridged. The Cabinet decision had not been independently confirmed by the Public Security Ministry or the Department of Immigration and Emigration at the time of publication.
Source: Newswire.
