French company IN Groupe wins National ID contract without competition

Nepal's government has decided to purchase an Automated Biometric Identification System (ABIS) from IN Groupe, a French state-owned company, bypassing the usual competitive bidding process. The decision, made during a Council of Ministers meeting on June 12, involves a government-to-government (G2G) arrangement.

The ABIS system is crucial for national identity cards, enabling the storage of personal records for millions and facilitating the distinction between individuals. It incorporates fingerprint, facial, and eye-retina identification data, and the purchased license will help detect and check for duplicate entries. The Department of National ID and Civil Registration prepared the proposal, which was subsequently endorsed.

Director General Krishna Poudel of the Department stated that approval has been granted to acquire licenses for 10 million units from IN Groupe, a company wholly owned by the French Ministry of Economy. The negotiation and contract signing must adhere to the pricing established in a fiscal year 2018/19 deal, which set the rate at 0.0995 euros per unit, equivalent to approximately Rs 17.49 at current exchange rates. Initially, the government began collecting biometrics and issuing national IDs to government employees, with plans to distribute them to 20 million Nepalis.

Poudel clarified that while the contract is with IN Groupe, Idemia, the company handling the passport contract, is not involved. He asserted that the rate is determined through direct government negotiations without agents or commissions, dismissing circulating claims about Idemia's involvement. IN Groupe is the entity that absorbed Idemia's Smart Identity division, which previously handled national ID solutions, two years ago. The Council of Ministers approved an initial purchase of 1.5 million units, with the remaining 8.5 million to be procured through the G2G arrangement.

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The company called Idemia is not connected to that process in any way.