KUALA LUMPUR: Datasonic Group Bhd (DGB) has clarified that all of its contracts with the government, involving passport, MyKad, Malaysia Automated Clearance System (MACS) Autogate and iKad are won through an open tender process.

The company said this in response to the home minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Nasution Ismail, who said that currently has nine contracts with the ministry worth a total of RM1.1 billion, with only two of these contracts having gone through the process of an open tender.

In the Dewan Rakyat on Wednesday, Saifuddin said that five of the contracts totalling RM990.01 million were between DTB's wholly-owned subsidiary Datasonic Technologies Sdn Bhd (DTSB) and the Immigration Department, and the other four worth RM113.44 million were between DTSB and the National Registration Department.

In the statement, DTB said it won the polycarbonate-based National ID (MyKad) supply in 2012 through an open tender, and with enhanced features and significantly lower costs, the design and security of MyKad were elevated to higher industry standards.

However, in 2022, when the government awarded DTB a 12-month contract as part of its transition plan to a new design and technology, the company engaged through a direct negotiation process.

"This was due to the nature of this security project, going through a long tendering process might not have been effective and timely.

"It has been a common practice that our

price negotiations always result in a five to 10 per cent price reduction," the DGB statement noted.

The company further said that this direct negotiation approach proved to be beneficial for both parties during the pandemic, as the government was able to ensure the supply chain was not affected while ensuring top-notch security features for its citizens.

On the Malaysia passport, DGB said it won the Passport Datapage contract in 2012 through an open tender.

The company presented a pay-per-good-passport-issued deal, with the government only paying for passports successfully personalised and issued to the public.

As for the passport chip, DGB said in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) recommendation, the company in 2015 proposed to the government to supply the highest-tier/level chip with a 15 per cent discount to the price supplied by the then vendor.

The enhanced and improved chip security features enabled fast reading of the Malaysian passport via electronic autogates nationwide.

For the passport booklet, DGB, in 2016, proposed to the government and won the passport booklet contract with the value proposition of a 15 per cent discount compared to the price of the previous vendor with improvements to the entire passport booklet designs and security features.

In November 2021, DGB was given a two-year contract extension without adding value.

For the MACS Autogate, DGB said it won the MACS eGate project through an open tender and was the first in the region to implement facial biometric technology for eGates.

"We developed a facial recognition engine specifically for regional faces, which resulted in better autogate performance.

"The success of our facial autogate implementation at KLIA airport in 2016 received an overwhelming response from the public, and this project was another touchstone proving that our locally developed product is on par, if not better than, the international standard," DGB said.

In 2021, DGB was awarded the second phase of the MACS eGate system through direct

negotiation, which was a recognition of the quality of its product.

The extension was given in 2022 without additional contract value as the project site was not ready during the pandemic period.

As for iKad contract, DGB said it participated in the tender in 2020.

"We were called for direct negotiation in

November 2022. During this negotiation, we learned that the specification and bidding price had remained unchanged.

"The price we offered was one-third of the price of the previous vendor, and the quality is similar to MyKad," DGB said.

DGB said that the company always renders the best in terms of pricing and value proposition, enhanced quality and security standards to the government.

https://www.nst.com.my/business/2023/03/894988/datasonic-group-clarifies-all-government-contracts-won-through-open-tenders