- guardian.co.uk,
- Thursday August 09 2007 16:52 BST
Lucrative contracts worth up to £500m each have been put out to tender today for the government's controversial identity card scheme.
Five firms will be chosen to supply computer equipment and manage the application and issuing of ID cards.
Government officials said today marked an "important milestone" in delivering the £2bn scheme, which will see ID cards issued to UK residents in 2009.
It is believed the smallest deal will be for £50m, while two are expected to be worth up to £500m, making them among the most expensive contracts ever awarded by any UK government.
The contracts will run for up to 10 years and a high level of interest is expected from companies across the world, including IT services giants, such as IBM, Accenture, BT and Fujitsu services.
Bill Crothers, commercial director of the Identity and Passport Service (IPS), said today that the start of the procurement process represented an "important part" of the ID scheme.
He said officials have liaised with other government departments and have consulted with private companies before going ahead with the bidding process.
Officials would reserve the option to change the length of the contracts, he added, but he envisaged they would be for a period of up to 10 years.
The first contracts are expected to be let in nine months, although firms expressing an interest in bidding will attend a conference at the Home Office next month.
