Transport minister Creecy to investigate driving licence tender award

Minister of transport Barbara Creecy has requested the auditor-general (AG) to investigate the driving licence card machine tender award.

This follows criticism of the September 1 announcement by the department of transport that French technology company Idemia Identity and Security had been appointed the preferred bidder to produce new smart driving licence cards for South Africa.

Idemia emerged as the preferred bidder after the department embarked on a process to find a service provider in April. The company was among five bidders that responded and were “subjected to a thorough and transparent process of evaluation and adjudication by the bidding committee”.

However, earlier this week the AA and civil action organisation Outa (Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse) said the appointment raised more questions than answers in relation to the process, and they were concerned by the lack of clarity in the appointment of the preferred bidder.

The AA asked for the value of the contract, the time frames for the rollout of the new smart cards and the reason Idemia was selected to be made public. It also asked why the other four bidders were not appointed.

Outa CEO Wayne Duvenage met with Creecy earlier in the week to also raise concerns about the issue.

On Thursday Creecy responded by asking the AG to widen the scope of the audit process for the procurement of the new driving licence card, and include an investigation into key issues. These include:

• whether supply chain management prescripts were followed to the letter;
• 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;
• whether Idemia’s technical capacity and timeous delivery were adequately considered in the tender process after allegations of challenges at three airports where Idemia’s biometrics system was contracted by the Border Management Authority;
• whether other South African service providers were tendered, including service providers contracted by the Government Printing Works; and
• whether the chosen bidder was the most affordable option.

The AG has been requested to prioritise the audit process given the backlog for driving licence card applications and the parlous state of the current printing machine.

The machine is 26 years old and has had 159 breakdowns, and the backlog for driver’s licence renewals is reputed to be about 380,000 applications.

The current driver’s licence card and the equipment used to produce it was due to have been decommissioned on April 1 2024, as announced by former transport minister Fikile Mbalula. He said there would be a five-year transition from the old card to the new one, and the current cards would continue to be recognised as valid until March 31 2029.

The new licence card will incorporate new security features aimed at eliminating the risks of fraudulent and counterfeit driving licences. However, the government missed the April deadline, blaming the challenges of finding a suitable service provider.

Outa welcomed Creecy’s announcement of an audit.

“After the department announced its decision to appoint Idemia as the successful bidder earlier this week, Outa engaged with minister Creecy, setting out key concerns and evidence of tender manipulation over this procurement,” said Duvenage.

"Outa is concerned that the tender for the card machine has been deliberately manipulated to ensure that a specific bidder was awarded the contract. This included repeatedly issuing, withdrawing and reissuing the tender, along with three extensions of the price validity period, which is highly irregular and discouraged by Treasury’s procurement guidelines.

“Since Outa’s exposure of irregularities it has identified on this tender, more people and companies are coming forward to provide us with additional evidence of manipulation and serious irregularities pertaining to this tender.”