Original URL: https://www.theregister.com/2009/06/17/id_card_tory_warning/

Tories don black cap for ID cards

Think before you sign, contractors told

By John Oates

Posted in Legal, 17th June 2009 08:03 GMT

The Tory Party has written to firms involved in bidding for ID card contracts and told them to think long and hard before signing anything.

Chris Grayling, shadow Home Secretary, told Radio 4's Today programme that firms should think before committing cash and other resources to bidding, preparing for work or signing contracts. He said he was aware of possible "poison pill" provisions within contracts which might make them difficult to break.

He warned IT firms not to sign long-term contracts for a project likely to be abandoned by any Tory government.

Grayling said he was concerned at hints made by ex-Home Secretary 'Wacky' Jacqui Smith that there were provisions in the contracts to make scrapping the scheme more difficult.

He said it was a costly scheme which the UK could not afford and warned companies to be cautious.

Asked if the ID card scheme had a real future regardless of whether the Tories win the next election, Grayling said there were mixed messages coming from new Home Secretary Alan Johnson.

The relevant clip from the Today programme is here.

The most recent contract win was by money maker De La Rue which will make the cards in exchange for £400m.

IBM and CSC have won contracts for the database and the application process.

The full text of the letter is on the next page.

NATIONAL IDENTITY CARD SCHEME

As you will be aware, the Conservative Party has stated publicly that it is our intention to cancel the ID card project immediately on our being elected to government.

I am writing to you as one of the companies involved in contracting for the project. I wanted to make it clear to you that our intention to cancel the project remains unchanged. I think it is important that the companies concerned bear this carefully in mind before committing to any long term contracts for the project, since it will not be our intention to proceed with the work if we are elected.

In addition, I wanted to draw your attention to my concerns about the nature of the contracts that are in development.

In March, the Home Secretary announced that the cancellation of two contracts for the national identity scheme, one to upgrade passport application systems, and one for a biometric database, would incur costs of £40 million.

Whilst we do not intend to scrap the programme introducing biometric passports, I wanted to make it clear that we will take an extremely sceptical view of any future contractual arrangements on ID cards that appear to have been put in place simply to tie the hands of a future Government.

In light of this, I urge you to consider very carefully your future involvement in the ID Card project.

Yours sincerely

Chris Grayling

Shadow Home Secretary ®