ID Cards: Blunkett announces PA Consulting Group as private sector partner
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This follows last week's rumours that this was going to be the outcome on this contract.
The Government has chosen the company to work as its development partner on the Identity Cards programme, to help determine the best way of designing and implementing the scheme.
The company will work on the design, feasibility testing, business case and procurement elements of the programme. As the programme proceeds it will be subject to regular Office of Government Commerce Gateway reviews.
Mr Blunkett said:
"The Government's plan to bring in a national UK Identity Cards scheme will bring enormous benefits to us as individuals and as a society.
"This is an ambitious, long-term project which will be introduced incrementally over a number of years. We are determined to get it right, and bringing in expertise from outside Government at this early stage will help us do that.
"Experience from previous projects has shown that early detailed work on feasibility and testing reduces the risks and increases success. Our work with our development partner is one of the key parts of our programme of work leading to the issuing of the first identity cards from 2007/8."
The development of the Identity Cards programme will remain at all times in the control of the Home Office, which says there are safeguards to ensure that this contract does not reduce competition for later procurement exercises for the components to build the scheme. For this particular project, approaches were made to a number of companies who have framework agreements with the Office of Government Commerce to provide management and business consultancy to Government departments, with contract bids assessed on a Value for Money basis.
Related links to this article:
Articles on ID Cards:
ID Cards: Strong backlash as No2ID launches to fight the Home Office (May 21, 2004)
ID cards: Privacy International lashes out against the cards (May 21, 2004)
ID cards: 1 million people would go to prison in protest says poll (May 21, 2004)
ID cards: Law Society President expresses grave concerns (May 21, 2004)
ID Cards: Home Affairs Committee to give ID Cards bill ‘thorough examination'
ID Cards: Home Office consultation – have your say…
ID Cards: Will benefit NHS says Health Minister John Hutton
ID Cards: SNP opposes Glasgow trial says Annabelle Ewing MP
ID Cards: Intellect conference to debate the next steps
ID cards: Blunkett explains the Draft Bill
ID Cards: Blunkett's Sunday statments - prior to draft Commons bill
ID Cards: Liberty's opposing view
ID Cards: Public warned not to ‘sleepwalk into technological future'
ID Cards: Latest UK public opinion surveyed by MORI
Related links to this subject:
Anti-ID cards
Foundation for Information Policy Research
Pro ID Cards:
The Home office draft legislation and consultation on ID Cards can be found here at this link
Home Office Identity Cards Programme
Evidence to House of Commons committees on ID Cards:
> Parliamentary Home Affairs Committee: Uncorrected transcript of Oral Evidence given by The Rt Hon David Blunkett MP, Home Secretary; Mr Desmond Browne MP, Minister of State for Citizenship and Immigration, Home Office; Katherine Courtney, Director, Identity Cards Programme, Home Office; Stephen Harrison, Head, Identity Card Policy Unit, Home Office: uploaded on 6 May 2004
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