De La Rue loses passport contract.

AM9 · 22 Mar 2018

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43489462

The new UK passport to be issued after Brexit will be made in France, according to the current British manufacturer.

The current burgundy passport, in use since 1988, will revert to its original blue and gold colour from October 2019.

The boss of UK supplier De La Rue told the BBC that Franco-Dutch firm Gemalto had won the £490m contract.

Culture Secretary Matthew Hancock said a final decision had not been made.

However, the Home Office said passports did not have to be made in the UK and some blank covers were already made overseas....

In another time this would just be seen for what it is, - a case of a British supplier not submitting the best bid for a contract. Today, the anti-EU press, their followers and their pet politicians are whipping themselves into a lather of frenzy. Quite amusing reading some paper's versions of the news, - especially the Mail and Telegraph.

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Darandio · 22 Mar 2018

Indeed, just been reading about this on the BBC. The boss wants Theresa May or Amber Rudd to come to the factory to explain to the workforce why the decision has been made whilst also saying that they were undercut by the French. What do they expect? I thought it was all about the best deal for the taxpayer.....

EM2 · 22 Mar 2018

On De La Rue's own website, they happily proclaim how they have produced ID solutions for Haiti, Rwanda, Malta, Sierra Leone, Qatar, Afghanistan, Kenya, Trindad & Tobago...
http://www.delarue.com/global-insights/case-studies

De La Rue's presence is truely [sic] global, providing services, products and solutions to more than two thirds of the world's countries, from it's [sic] newest to some of the most developed.

ilkestonian · 22 Mar 2018

Interesting though that apparently DeLaRue cannot bid for the contract to produce French passports, somehow, the French seem to insist they are produced by a French company.

Hardly in the spirit of EU co-operation...

gazthomas · 22 Mar 2018

ilkestonian said:
Interesting though that apparently DeLaRue cannot bid for the contract to produce French passports, somehow, the French seem to insist they are produced by a French company.

Hardly in the spirit of EU co-operation...

We've always played a much straighter bat with EU regulations such as OJEU than other countries. Part of the reason we're in the mess we're in!

EM2 · 22 Mar 2018

ilkestonian said:
Interesting though that apparently DeLaRue cannot bid for the contract to produce French passports, somehow, the French seem to insist they are produced by a French company.

Hardly in the spirit of EU co-operation...

Because the French decided not to outsource. The UK could have done that too, but decided against it. Of course, we used to have HM Stationery Office that did all this sort of thing, but it got privatised...

AM9 · 22 Mar 2018

EM2 said:
Because the French decided not to outsource. The UK could have done that too, but decided against it. Of course, we used to have HM Stationery Office that did all this sort of thing, but it got privatised...

Yes it's just another side-effect of capitalism's judging things by price alone. If the government wants to make all these promised fantastic free trade deals all around the world, it will have to accept bids from abroad with just as many 'level playing-field' rules.

pdeaves · 22 Mar 2018

Darandio said:
The boss wants Theresa May or Amber Rudd to come to the factory to explain to the workforce why the decision has been made whilst also saying that they were undercut by the French.

Well, they could 'tell it as it is'. "You didn't win the contract because your management didn't submit the best bid". I'm sure the boss would be happy with that!

jon0844 · 22 Mar 2018

Darandio said:
Indeed, just been reading about this on the BBC. The boss wants Theresa May or Amber Rudd to come to the factory to explain to the workforce why the decision has been made whilst also saying that they were undercut by the French. What do they expect? I thought it was all about the best deal for the taxpayer.....

Bet a lot of the people moaning are quite happy to employ Romanian cleaners and Polish decorators to do work in their homes, as they wouldn't willingly pay more than they had to.

AM9 · 22 Mar 2018

jon0844 said:
Bet a lot of the people moaning are quite happy to employ Romanian cleaners and Polish decorators to do work in their homes, as they wouldn't willingly pay more than they had to.

... and they drive home from their moaning in their German/French/Italian/Far Eastern cars. Leavers will have to 'get used'* to life outside the EU, - it's not much different to life inside except that the pound is worth less.

* In 45 years they haven't got used to being in the EEC/EC/EU so apart from a lot of pompous anti-EU politicians wrapping themselves in the union flag, there won't be much difference so it will take just as long again.

jon0844 · 22 Mar 2018

I think people were used to being in Europe but all of a sudden it became a problem when they were told every day that migrants were taking over towns, getting houses ahead of 'natives', we weren't allowed to fly our flag and the EU wanted us to stop X, Y or Z.

Most of this being untrue, or a valid concern that our own Government should have, and could have, dealt with.

Farage and Co knew how to stoke the fire though. Now we have more of an idea how it was done so effectively.

AM9 · 22 Mar 2018

jon0844 said:
... Farage and Co knew how to stoke the fire though. Now we have more of an idea how it was done so effectively.

Yet still so many can't see it, (or don't want to admit it).

pemma · 22 Mar 2018

Now imagine how red Mick Cash's face will be if Brexit means more foreign companies winning rail franchises due to them offering to run it for less and the government being more concerned with getting best value for money than they were pre-Brexit.

Bald Rick · 22 Mar 2018

Wouldn’t be surprised if De La Rue took a punt that the Govt wouldn’t dare to go abroad, so bumped its bid up. Evidently overcooked it.

SteveP29 · 23 Mar 2018

ilkestonian said:
Interesting though that apparently DeLaRue cannot bid for the contract to produce French passports, somehow, the French seem to insist they are produced by a French company.

Hardly in the spirit of EU co-operation...

That's Britain for you though, everything for sale to the highest bidder with the least costs

AM9 · 23 Mar 2018

Interesting that the boss of De La Rue

SteveP29 said:
That's Britain for you though, everything for sale to the highest bidder with the least costs

I'm not a fan of this administration's obsession with its race to the bottom on prices, but £120m might be useful as the recession starts to bite again.

telstarbox · 23 Mar 2018

Bald Rick said:
Wouldn’t be surprised if De La Rue took a punt that the Govt wouldn’t dare to go abroad, so bumped its bid up. Evidently overcooked it.

Depends how the procurement exercise was set up. Sometimes the "quality" and "price" sections of the bid go in separate envelopes to avoid pre-determination.

pemma · 23 Mar 2018

gazthomas said:
We've always played a much straighter bat with EU regulations such as OJEU than other countries. Part of the reason we're in the mess we're in!

And of course we could have a state owned transport operator which bids for contracts abroad but we don't.

Geezertronic · 23 Mar 2018

I understand that the bidding process complied with EU Procurement rules which state that the bidding process has to be open to anyone, so it would appear that the winning bidder was the best bidder regardless of where they are located

Howardh · 24 Mar 2018

Made in Britain = you pay more as workers are hardly likely to ask to be paid half the minimum wage to make the goods competitive.
Global Britain after Brexit = you pay less for stuff made in India or China = our workers won't be paid at all as there won't be any jobs for them.
Therefore we only provide UK made goods wherever possible, and ask us to pay two arms and three legs for it so we can't afford our own goods.
And we leave the EU to allow us to import cheap goods from anywhere which we could do anyway.

My head's sore with banging it against a wall. Brexit was supposed to be "good" for British workers yet Rees-Mogg and his cronies want to import cheap anything from everywhere. What DO you want???

Yew · 24 Mar 2018

My understanding is that the wording regarding costs in the EU tendering legislation is along the lines of the 'most economically advantageous" bid.

In the UK, this is regarded as the cheapest bit, whereas our European counterparts are more finely attuned to the wider economic benefits of purchasing domestically produced goods. Which is a great shame, as across the whole field of public tendering, it could provide a significant boost to the economy.

fowler9 · 24 Mar 2018

The UK could have challenged France over not letting foreign companies bid to produce their passports and didn't. The UK could have done the same as France and didn't. A lot of people are soon going to realise a lot of the stuff they blame the EU for is our own governments fault. It will be too late then though.

47513 Severn · 24 Mar 2018

Bald Rick said:
Wouldn’t be surprised if De La Rue took a punt that the Govt wouldn’t dare to go abroad, so bumped its bid up. Evidently overcooked it.

Quite, one can't help but suspect that De La Rue cynically gambled on the government being terrified of the reaction to the contract being awarded overseas. That it was them who loudly leaked the news adds to that feeling.

The foreign bidders are already put at a disadvantage by the weak pound. We are also talking about France and the Netherlands, not the Far East, neither country is known for its cheap labour and face much the same materials cost as we do. You have to wonder how De La Rue managed to be so much more expensive under the circumstances.

It is nice to see the government not being bullied by the threat of manufactured outrage for a change. I am firmly of the opinion that the government should be doing what is best for the country regardless of whether it is the 'will of the people' or not.

47513

Dentonian · 24 Mar 2018

When the differing parties bid, how could they know the demand for Passports post Brexit/EHIC? Yet another example of things being done in the wrong order. Indeed, has demand for passports already dropped? If mine expired next Thursday, I wouldn't renew it because its pointless paying £80 odd quid for a 10 year passport, if I can only get a year's use out of it.

AlterEgo · 24 Mar 2018

Dentonian said:
When the differing parties bid, how could they know the demand for Passports post Brexit/EHIC? Yet another example of things being done in the wrong order. Indeed, has demand for passports already dropped? If mine expired next Thursday, I wouldn't renew it because its pointless paying £80 odd quid for a 10 year passport, if I can only get a year's use out of it.

Why would you only potentially get a year’s use out of it?

Dentonian · 24 Mar 2018

AlterEgo said:
Why would you only potentially get a year’s use out of it?

Insurance hike if EHIC isn't re-negotiated/replaced. I have numerous (linked) incurable medical conditions.

greyman42 · 24 Mar 2018

We are still in the EU so what has brexit got to do with the awarding of this contract?

Dentonian · 24 Mar 2018

greyman42 said:
We are still in the EU so what has brexit got to do with the awarding of this contract?

We will be out of the EU in 1 year (and five days), but both this contract and the normal life of a passport is 10 years.

Peter Mugridge · 24 Mar 2018

Dentonian said:
We will be out of the EU in 1 year

That would not invalidate any existing passport; they would still be valid to their normal expiry date.

Dentonian · 24 Mar 2018

Peter Mugridge said:
That would not invalidate any existing passport; they would still be valid to their normal expiry date.

Not the point. I'm talking about demand for new Passports dropping if a large number of people can't make use of them - or indeed, don't know if they will be able to make use of them. Its like saying a rural bus service will be completely and permanently withdrawn from next month, but don't worry your annual ticket will still be valid.

De La Rue loses passport contract.

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