Contract for passport personalisation system is pending renewal

12 years, 8 months ago - July 20, 2011
The five-year contract for about Rs 93.3 million was awarded on June 29, 2004

An American firm’s contract for passport personalisation system is pending renewal. The five-year contract for about Rs 93.3 million was awarded on June 29, 2004, to American firm Global Enterprise Technologies Corporation, locally represented by Harel Mallac Technologies.

The contract also included the purchase of 250,000 new passport booklets and consumables for the printing of a first batch of 50,000 passports. This was stated by Prime Minister Dr Navin Ramgoolam in reply to a parliamentary question by Member of Parliament Aadil Ameer Meea on Tuesday.

Ramgoolam said that since 2004, some Rs 246 million have been disbursed by the police department under the project. This sum comprises about Rs 25 million for maintenance charges payable to the contractor from October 2006 and the purchase of 112,000 additional booklets in 2007-2008 and 2010, amounting to about Rs 20.3 million.

Prior to the expiry of the contract on June 29, 2009, in view of the exclusive rights kept by Global Enterprise Technologies Corporation on the system, the Passport and Immigration Office negotiated new terms for the renewal of the contract in order to avoid the payment of all taxes.

“The two parties have then agreed on the new terms and conditions whereby the police department will import blank passports directly from Global Enterprise Technologies Corporation, and not via its local representative,” Ramgoolam explained.

On March 21 this year, Global Enterprise Technologies Corporation applied to the Mauritius Revenue Authority (MRA) for a ruling to determine whether provisions of the Income Tax Act are applicable to income derived by the American firm under the contract.

“The ruling of the MRA is awaited. Pending the signature of the new contract, the initial contract was extended on a quarterly basis up to December 2010 and on a monthly basis since January 2011,” Ramgoolam informed the House.

According to the terms and conditions agreed upon 2004 between the police department and the contractor, the latter was to keep the intellectual property rights on all software included in the project.

“The copyright licence granted to the Passport and Immigration Office was non-transferable for a minimum period of 20 years,” said the Prime Minister.

The contract contained a clause putting an obligation on the Passport and Immigration Office to pay all taxes levied on Global Enterprise Technologies Corporation

Text by the Independent

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