PNG expands mandatory digital ID to businesses taking gov’t contracts

The government of Papua New Guinea is making its national digital ID a mandatory form of authentication for all business entities participating in state tenders.  The “digital wave” is no longer optional for the private sector, Peter Tsiamalili Jnr, acting minister for Information and Communications Technology, said on Tuesday.

“Digital ID is a one-stop shop,” says Tsiamalili. “Going forward, every submission on any procurement will require a Digital ID to authenticate exactly who you are. If you have not accustomed yourself to where technology is heading, you will be left behind.”

The Minister spoke during the Department of Works and Highways (DoWH) Contractors Conference.

The introduction of digital IDs for businesses is intended to ensure transparency and reduce fraud. The move is in line with National Digital Identity Policy 2025, under which the government plans to issue a secure and interoperable digital ID to all citizens.

PNG is currently rolling out the SevisPass Digital ID, which was first trialed in 2024 and launched last year. The digital ID will be used to access public services and conduct remote KYC checks for online bank accounts. In March, MiBank announced a pilot of digital bank account opening through the SevisWallet app.

The country’s decentralized digital public infrastructure system is being built by Tech5, including both SevisPass and SevisWallet, which launched last year.

Meanwhile, consultations are ongoing for the draft National Sovereign Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence Strategy, a national blueprint that aims to nationally integrate PNG’s digital government, digital public infrastructure, critical digital infrastructure and AI adoption.

The draft strategy was made available for comment on March 23rd.

“Its purpose is to move Papua New Guinea away from fragmented ICT projects and toward a single sovereign architecture… so that connectivity, compute, cloud, data, identity, payments, digital services, and AI operate as one coherent national system,” Minister Tsiamalili said during the introduction of the draft.

According to the document, future AI use will be aligned with core digital public infrastructure (DPI) elements such as digital ID SevisPass, payment system SevisPay, data exchange system SevisDEx, digital wallet SevisWallet and SevisPortal.

The draft strategy predicts a Single Enterprise Architecture for shared digital government services, including national systems such as eRecruitment, eProcurement, eBudget, eHR, and eFinance.

To support the development of a national digital infrastructure, the country plans to establish a state-owned entity called Kumul Digital Infrastructure Holding Company (KDIHC).

The strategy proposes allocating 1.5 percent of the 5.6 percent Connect PNG funding envelope specifically for critical digital infrastructure. The Connect PNG program is the government’s primary infrastructure development program for the national road network. Backed by the Connect PNG (Funding and Implementation Arrangements) Act 2021, the program is supported by 20 billion kina (US$4.6 billion) in funding over a 20-year period through 2040.

Article Topics

banking  |  digital ID  |  digital public infrastructure  |  digital wallets  |  government services  |  KYC  |  Papua New Guinea  |  TECH5