The Joint Committee of the House of Representatives has blinded the proposed US$52 million national digital identification contract.
Until otherwise, lawmakers have halted the process and meanwhile, rescheduled its hearing.
The House has also commenced a review of the contract as well as rescheduled the hearing to November 4.
The delay became necessary after lawmakers identified discrepancies, and requested additional documentation from the parties involved with the contract.
The decision was reached following a review of documents submitted for the proposed concession agreement between the Government of Liberia and OeSD International GMBH to establish a national digital civil registry, and vital statistics system.
During (October 28) Wednesday’s hearing, members of the committee raised concerns about the validity of signatures on the submitted documents, and inconsistencies in the proposed distribution of percentages involving Ecobank. The lawmakers further requested that the company, and relevant institutions submit corrected, and properly signed documents to the office of the chief clerk ahead of the next hearing. The committee also requested the presence of the company’s chief executive officer at the rescheduled session. Members of the Committee further called for the participation the Liberia Immigration Service, the Public Procurement and Concessions Commission, the National Security Agency, the Civil Servant Agency, the Center for National Documents and Records Agency, and the National Elections Commission.
Those named agencies are to address issues related to identification, data management, and the proposed concession.
The Committee also requested documentation outlining the company’s previous experience with similar projects, and examples of other countries where comparable identification systems have been implemented. To facilitate a comprehensive review, the company was instructed to provide 75 copies of each required document set, incorporating the requested corrections, and supporting materials before the next hearing. The proposed agreement, submitted by President Joseph Nyuma Boakai, seeks legislative ratification of a build-operate-transfer arrangement covering the design, supply, installation, commissioning, and maintenance of a centralized digital civil registry and vital statistics system. The system is intended to support the collection, and management of demographic and biometric records nationwide.
The rescheduling will allow committee members to examine the outstanding documents, and concerns before making recommendations to Plenary on the proposed agreement.
