German company to produce IDs and passports next year

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German company to produce IDs and passports next year

1:26 CAT | 30 Nov 2017

South African President Jacob Zuma addresses his supporters after he survived a no-confidence motion in Cape Town, South Africa, August 8, 2017. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

Notícias

The German company Muhlbauer Mozambique Ltd. has won the government’s international tender for the production of biometric identification documents, taking over from the Belgian company Semlex, which had been manufacturing the documents since 2009.

Muhlbauer beat UAB Carsu Pasaulis in a process involving five competitors, Brithol Michcoma Mozambique being ranked third, while Zetes and MK Investimentos were disqualified for failing to satisfy requirements or submitting their applications late.

According to the Ministry of Interior, the contract between the government and the winning company will be signed later this year, with production operations due to start in 2018. Muhlbauer Mozambique Lda. will then ensure the installation and supply of document production systems for civil identification, travel, visas and the control of movement across than 100 border posts in the country.

Since the formal withdrawal of Semlex, the government has taken responsibility for the production of biometric identification documents. Mozambican technicians have been operating over the process pending the entry into operation of the company that won the tender.

According to the source, although Semlex has not yet handed over the entire document production system, Mozambicans are doing their best, as a result of what they have learned individually over the last few years. In fact, the company that produced the civil identification documents did not implement any training program, although it was one of the contract’s requirements .

The government terminated the contract with the company due to a series of irregularities and faults, including by widespread public dissatisfaction surrounding delivered deadlines. Failure to comply with deadlines and lack of clarity on the documents requested competed with the accumulation of identity cards and others in the public service counters.

The Interior Ministry source explained that the poor quality of the documents, coupled with Semlex’s mistakes, undermined the government’s prestige both nationally and internationally. For example, miners’ travel documents that were not legible by optical scanning systems installed at the border created enormous inconveniences, and the government was forced to deploy a brigade to issue new documentation.

Difficulty reading the ID bar code on passports coupled with the poor quality of identification and travel document photographs, misspellings in refugees’ and foreigners’ travel documents and overall poor quality were among the reasons the government decided to rescind the Belgian company’ contract in May.

Source: Notícias