Jerusalem District Court Judge Moussia Arad today ordered the state and Hewlett-Packard (HP) Israel not to change the current situation with regard to the company’s winning a Ministry of the Interior tender to issue identity cards. The five-year tender to replace 2.5 million ID cards is worth NIS 100 million.
The decision blocks HP Israel from signing the contract and beginning the work. Judge Arad accepted an appeal by Electronic Data Systems (NYSE:EDS) that alleged that the decision in the tender was illegal. EDS also participated in the tender.
The order has appellant status only, and HP Israel has ten days to respond to the appeal.
The new ID cards will include a hard-to-forge smart card that will include much more information and be longer-lasting and more convenient than current ID cards.
11 companies participated in the tender. The tenders committee disqualified ten bids, leaving HP Israel as the sole participant. EDS alleges the bids were illegally disqualified, on grounds not included in the terms of the tender.
EDS also alleges that the winning bid was tens of millions of shekels more expensive than its own, nor did it meet several threshold conditions. EDS claims HP Israel’s bid was NIS 39.87 per ID card, while its bid was NIS 31.
Published by Globes [online] - www.globes.co.il - on March 18, 2003