Two companies of Indian origin have bid to develop the system for the digital ID project in Sri Lanka, with an award to be granted at the end of the year following the evaluation of the bids, The Sunday Morning learns. 

“The tender is already closed as we received two bids. They are being evaluated and once Cabinet approval is granted, the award will be given. Both bids are from Indian companies as the grant says that all bidders must be of Indian origin,” Information and Communication Technology Agency (ICTA) Chief Executive Officer Mahesh Perera told The Sunday Morning. 

Last year, the Cabinet of Ministers approved a proposal to obtain a grant from the Indian Government to implement the ‘Unitary Digital Identity Framework’ in Sri Lanka.

The Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka on Friday (4) tweeted: “High Commissioner handed over a cheque of INR 450 million to State Minister Hon. @kanakadh, in the gracious presence of Hon. @SagalaRatnayaka today for SLUDI project, which is being implemented through grant assistance by Govt. of #India.”

A statement by the President’s Media Division (PMD) noted that the INR 450 million constituted 15% of the total funds required for the implementation of the project.  

According to Perera, the project includes seven stages.

“India has given a grant for four major components: to set up data centres, to acquire software (identification and authentication) layers, to set up biometric capturing devices, and for a reduplication system. The funding that India has given so far is for the initial payments, because once the vendor is selected, there are certain payment milestones,” said Perera. 

Further, he said that once the infrastructure was set up, the Department for Registration of Persons would start capturing the data. 

“The full implementation, that is setting up the biometric scanners, will be completed by the end of 2024. The capturing of data might take another one-and-a-half years, so hopefully in two-and-a-half years we will be able to see digital IDs in the country.” 

There have been several attempts in the past to set up similar projects. 

In 2015, a proposal was tabled in the Cabinet to issue new electronic NICs to all eligible citizens within two years, followed by the launch of the ‘Smart ID’ in late 2017 to act as an interim solution until the e-NICs were to be issued. 

In 2011, the Mahinda Rajapaksa-led Government also attempted to implement a similar tool. 

India also introduced its own ‘Aadhar’ card for its citizens, where biometric data is attached to a unique digital ID, which is now regarded as the world’s largest biometric database, home to information of approximately 1.1 billion citizens.

However, allegations regarding privacy of citizens and Government surveillance have been raised by rights activists in India.