Two European firms barred from bidding for e-passport project

Manila: Two European companies have failed to qualify for the country's 900 million pesos (Dh81 million) e-passport project, leaving behind two other European companies to vie for the project, a source told Gulf news.

Alva Viva, the supplier of Italian passports, and GND company failed to satisfy the technical and financial requirements set by the Central Bank of the Philippines.

"Only two players were left to vie for the project - the Belgian FCO company and Germany's Bandesdruckerei," said the official who requested anonymity.

The Central Bank awards committee will decide in March on the final bid of the two European companies. "Hopefully we can implement the governemnt's project on the last quarter of 2008," said the official.

The Department of Foreign Affairs started the implementation of the machine-readable passport in September last year, to replace the hand-scripted passports.

The upgrading of the passport system was aimed at addressing the alleged rampant passport tampering in the Philippines.

The programme also seeks to fulfill the obligation of the Philippine government to a treaty it has signed with International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO), which requires all countries to shift to machine readable or e-passport system by April 1, 2010.

"If we fail to meet the deadline set by the international civil aviation organisation, then the Philippine passport will no longer be recognised by the international community," said the official.

The Philippines is the among the last members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) to shift to machine readable passport system. As of now, Laos has not yet made moves to stop using hand scripted passports.