Gov’t urged to scrutinize foreign bidders in UMID card project

A CONSUMER group urged the government to look at the qualification of companies participating in its various bidding process.

The Action for Consumerism and Transparency for Nation Building (ACTION), in a statement, said it has written Atty. Dennis Santiago of the Government Procurement and Policy Board (GPPB) about an Indian firm that participated in the bidding for the project entitled “Outsourced Production of UMID Cards for five years” at the Social Security System (SSS).

UMID is the country’s Unified Multi-Purpose ID.

Vito Gaspar Enrico Silo of ACTION said M/S Madras Securities Printers has been banned from participating in bidding processes in its own country.

“Considering the high cost of the Project which will impact on the millions of SSS members, many of whom are members of our organization, we certainly would not want to have our funds dissipated in favor of a foreign bidder who has a derogatory record in its country of origin,” Silo said in the letter.

ACTION said it has provided GPPB a certified true copy of a ruling by the High Court of Judicature At Patna against M/S Madras Securities Printers for violating the terms and conditions of the empanelment with UIDAI.

UIDAI, which stands for the Unique Identification Authority of India, is the national population registration which functions similar to the country’s proposed national ID system.

“Why should we even transact with a foreign firm banned from its own country? Isn’t their banning from their own government enough reason for us not to do business  with them,”  Silo said.