Idemia clears air on NIDS

THE EDITOR, Sir:

On January 15, a letter to the Editor by Mr Donovan Thompson was published in The Gleaner regarding the National ID programme (NIDS) of Jamaica. The information contains erroneous and incorrect information regarding a sanction by the World Bank that would, according to the letter, make it impossible for our company to be considered for the award of the project.

Our company was previously known as SAFRAN Identity & Security SAS (‘Morpho’). In May 2017, we submitted a proposal for the NIDS programme in Jamaica. Then, during the second semester of 2017, our company joined the IDEMIA Group and changed its name to ‘Idemia Identity & Security France SAS’.

The group was also joined by Oberthur Technologies SA (‘Oberthur’), which changed its name to ‘Idemia France SAS’. Before joining the IDEMIA Group, Morpho and Oberthur had been separate and competing companies for over a decade. After joining the group, they continue to be two separate, different companies.

By the end of 2017, the World Bank did sanction Oberthur in relation to a project executed in 2015 in Asia in which Morpho and Oberthur were actually competing against each other.

RECOGNITION

The Bank has formally and publicly recognised that Morpho was not implicated in any way in the situation that led to the sanction, according to the “Notes on Debarred Firms and Individuals”, which can be downloaded from the Bank’s official website:

http://pubdocs.worldbank.org/en/387181466627871302/World-Bank-Notes-on-D...

As the following literal excerpt from the Notes (#402) clearly states, our company (‘Morpho’) and its affiliates are specifically excluded from the World Bank sanction:

“ #402 This matter was resolved through a Negotiated Resolution Agreement. The period of ineligibility of Oberthur Technologies SA, now called Idemia France SAS (‘Idemia’), extends to any legal entity that Idemia directly or indirectly controls, with the exception of certain, specified affiliates formerly controlled by Morpho SA (the ‘Excluded Affiliates’). The Excluded Affiliates are currently not subject to Idemia’s debarment.”

As the World Bank indicates, our company is NOT included in their list of debarred firms. Furthermore, we confirm that our company is not included in any ineligibility list of any international institution such as the Inter-American Development Bank. Therefore, our company is indeed eligible to participate and to be awarded in the NIDS project of Jamaica.

We thank you in advance for the publication of this important clarification.

ALVARO GARCIA

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