Funding gap puts Sri Lanka’s digital ID project under review

The Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity (SL-UDI) project faces a budget gap, with quotes from Indian companies surpassing the Indian government’s INR 3 billion grant (about LKR 10.5 billion) by more than double.

It is now under review by the Sri Lankan government, which is studying options to either secure extra funding or adjust the project’s scope to align with the financial resources available.

Among the financial proposals tendered, the lowest evaluated bidder achieved the highest combined score based on financial and technical criteria, sources said.

Infosys Ltd, Tata Consultancy Services Ltd,  Protean e-Gov Technologies Ltd, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd. and Bharat Electronics Ltd have passed the technical assessment stage for the project.  Digital Ministry officials and their Indian state counterparts are now discussing the way forward.

The Indian High Commission has said that the bid evaluation is continuing, and no final decision has been made. Under the bilateral agreement with India, the chosen Master System Integrator (MSI), which must be an Indian firm, is responsible for setting up the system infrastructure from the ground up, including hardware procurement for two major data centers, software customization of the Modular Open Source Identity Platform (MOSIP), and the distribution of 900 biometric enrollment kits equipped with fingerprint and iris scanners throughout the island. The digital record securely embeds unique biometric data, capturing iris scans, fingerprints, and facial recognition.

The selection of the MSI was expected to be finalized by the end of March.

Article Topics

digital ID  |  government purchasing  |  India  |  procurement  |  SL-UDI (Sri Lanka Unique Digital Identity)