The contracts to build and run the United Kingdom's national ID card system will not go out to tender before April of next year, the head of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS) has admitted.
James Hall, the new CEO of the IPS, revealed more details on the ID cards timetable when he met with suppliers last week at a meeting hosted by the British IT industry trade body Intellect.
At the meeting Hall outlined a number of priorities for the ID cards scheme before the end of this year including the publication of the Home Office's action plan on the direction of the scheme, a review of current passport projects and a review of the structure and capability of the IPS to deliver ID cards.
With regards to the ID cards timetable he said there will not be a 'big bang' approach to procurement and that a "current best estimate" for the next procurement activity is April or May 2007.
From 2008, ID cards will be compulsory for non-EU nationals living in the United Kingdom for more than three months, but Blair said ID cards will not now be issued to British citizens until 2009 at the earliest.
Some existing U.K. Passport Service contracts will also be re-tendered, which Hall said will "contribute to an identity 'utility', of which passports and ID cards will be part".
In a public web chat this week Hall said the detailed design of the National Identity Register and the ID cards is still being worked on and that trials of the biometric technology will take place during the procurement process.
"Biometric data will be held on the National Identity Register and we expect that at least some biometric information will be stored on the card. Only some parts of the information will be stored on the card itself. The full set of information will only be stored on the register," he said.
The Home Office, however, was forced to defend the security of the new ePassports and ID cards today after a security expert and Guardian newspaper journalist hacked one of the encrypted chips on the new high-tech passports in just 48 hours.
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