The new ID cards with a chip can only be issued in Bucharest from September this year, and not in the summer, as previously announced by Interior Minister Lucian Bode, given the tender for the infrastructure to issue digital certificates for the new chips. strong controversial.

The Ministry of the Interior (MAI), at the request of HotNews.ro, reported the status of the national project to expand the new electronic identity cards, which the Minister of the Interior, Liberal Lucian Bode, previously said would take place in the summer of this year, first in Bucharest and then in other municipalities until the end of 2023.

The auction for 9 million chips has taken place, but something is missing

For the production of new chip ballots, the National Printing Company announced two large tenders worth tens of millions of euros.

The first tender, launched last summer, aimed to procure 9 million chips and 375,000 polycarbonate antenna assemblies, a 4-year contract with an initial cost of more than €38.2 million.

The French from Idemia won the auction / MAY: The first chips will be delivered at the end of July

At this auction, for which “Drukarnia” received 5 offers, the winner was determined in the spring of this year. it is an association of the companies Idemia Identity & Security France (the leader) and Idemia France, according to data from the electronic system of public procurement (SEAP).

This is what MAI says about the supply of new chips.

• “On February 28, 2023, the National Printing Company completed the public procurement procedure for determining the supplier of microcircuits. A Framework Agreement was signed for a period of 4 years for the volume of 9 million microcircuits.
• We estimate the delivery of the first batch of chips in the last decade of July. In the period from March to May, technical measures were taken to establish the configuration of the new type of chip.”, This was reported by MAI representatives to HotNews.ro.

Except that these chips must also contain digital certificates, with the help of which citizens can authenticate/identify themselves in the IT systems of the MAI and in the IT systems of other public or private institutions.

But there are problems here.

4 appeals and a complaint to the Bucharest Court of Appeal regarding the digital certificate auction

The second tender required for the national issuance of new electronic identity cards was announced by the National Printing Office last summer and aims to create a public key infrastructure (PKI) for issuing and managing digital certificates.

This Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) issues a “digital certificate” registered to the Electronic Identification Card (CEI) chip. This infrastructure is essential not only for the release but also for the use / operation of CEI.

This is because, once issued, each time a CEI is used, this infrastructure “certifies” that the certificate is valid and that the CEI can be used.

Why is infrastructure for digital certificates needed?

According to HotNews.ro, the pilot project from Cluj used an open-source PKI infrastructure developed in-house at MAI for issued electronic identity cards.

• “A large number of electronic identity cards, in the order of millions, requires an infrastructure capable of managing a large number of digital certificates.
• By the order of magnitude, it should be taken into account that when the interfaces for digital public services are opened and the owner of the CEI uses the document for authentication 10 times a day at the level of several million in circulation, the pressure on this infrastructure will grow exponentially. HotNews.ro was informed by sources close to this process.

This tender procedure, in which the value of the contract is estimated at more than 22.8 million lei (excluding VAT), is highly contested.

• “As part of this procedure, 4 appeals have been submitted so far, 3 of which have been decided by the KNSK.
• The appeal and appeal at the Bucharest Court of Appeal are currently pending before the CNSC.
• We estimate the completion of the procedure at the end of July 2023, as no further appeals will be filed.” This was reported by MAI representatives to HotNews.ro.

SEAP’s latest opinion, published by the National Printing Office, said that although five nominations had been submitted, all appeals to the National Appeals Council (CNSC), as well as the appeal from the Bucharest Court of Appeal, had been submitted. only by the association of Trans Sped SA (leader), Dendrio Solutions SRL and BIT4ID SRL.

When the MAI evaluates the release of a new CEI functional prototype

MAI officials also told HotNews.ro that they estimate the release of the new Electronic Identification Card (CEI) with the new chip will happen sometime in late August or early September this year.

• “We are evaluating the creation of a working CEI prototype with the new CIP inserted in early August. Depending on the technical tests, the release of the new prototype in late August or early September may be considered.” This was also stated by MAI representatives for HotNews.ro.

In 3 out of 5 proposals, the third-party partner is the company CertSign from the UTI group

According to SEAP data, 5 bids were submitted for this auction, 3 of which were sponsored by CertSign from the UTI group, controlled by businessman Tiberio Urderian:

• 1. Dataware Consulting (offer) and Certsign (subcontractor)
• 2. Orange Romania (offer) and Certsign (subcontractor)
• 3. Trencadis Corp (offer) and Certsign (subcontractor)
• 4. Advice Information Technology (leader), Entrust Limited (subcontractor), Network one Distribuion (third party) and OSI Sistemske Integracije (provider).
• 5. Trans Sped (leader), Dendrio Solutions SRL and BIT4ID.

Expert: Trencadis backed out when it found out what Certsign was sharing with competitors

Is it legal to submit a tender offer by several competitors who have one subcontractor?

Andriy Nikoara, an expert on e-government services, claims that although the law allows in this case, certain problems have arisen.

• “The procurement law allows a third-party sponsor to support multiple lead bidders, which is fine if the product is unique and we want competition in complementary ways.
• In the case of CEI, where CertSign has signed support for 3 tenderers, this situation is not optimal as it is only protected by contractual clauses where CertSign undertakes to offer equal treatment.
• Due to a lack of transparency, these arrangements forced Trencadis out of business when it discovered that it was dividing its supporters with competitors.” This was reported to HotNews.ro by expert Andrei Nikoara.

Information about Trencadis also appears in one of the appeals filed by Trans Sped.

Expert Andrei Nikoara noted on his LinkedIn account that Trans Sped was initially rejected due to a lack of the necessary experience, but later appealed both its own rejection and the acceptance of other competitors.

• “The CNSC provided him with a re-evaluation, which in the meantime was carried out by the CNI and gave … the same result. The CNSC also rejected the request for re-evaluation of other competitors, so today there is an appeal to the CNSC re-evaluation and an appeal to the Court of Appeal for other competitors,” he says.

He also claims that every month of delay in issuing the CEI will result in a loss of 1.16 million lei from citizens’ pockets and 2 million euros from the PNRR.

• “PNNR is funding the cost of the CEI instead of the citizen paying for it.
• Until the PNRR cut-off date, CEI will be received free of charge instead of a €12.5 fee. After PNRR is discontinued, this indicator will return.
• There is a production schedule with an annual value of approximately 2,000,000 emitters.
• This value is not technically limited, but comes from the number of people whose CIs will expire, relatively few people will request a CEI in advance.
• Thus, each month of delay in issuing CEI forces 166,000 citizens (2 million citizens in 12 months) to pay CI of 7 lei and creates a loss of PNRR funds of 2 million euros (166,000 x 12.5 euros). says an e-governance expert.

On the other hand, sources in the MAI they clarified to HotNews.ro that the problems with the acquisition of the PKI infrastructure will not affect the CEI budget from the PNRR, since the tender for the PKI infrastructure is not funded by the PNRR.

• “In case of delays, an emergency solution could be to issue new electronic identity cards based on the current open source infrastructure of the Cluj project until it reaches its limits,” the sources said.

Almost 11,000 electronic identity cards issued in Cluj

According to information provided by MAI HotNews.ro, 10,782 electronic identity cards have been issued to date as part of the pilot project in Cluj County, which began last August.

• “We cannot estimate how much will be released at the level of the municipality of Bucharest, as we are conditioned, on the one hand, by the completion of the development of a new functional prototype that can be put into circulation, and on the other hand, by the number of requests from citizens.” This was also reported to HotNews.ro by MAI representatives.

The new electronic identity cards should be issued at the national level by the end of this year, and the cost of 67 lei, which is currently required to issue them in the framework of the pilot project in Cluj, will be covered by the state, given that we have 200 million euros of PNRD for this project, it is stated in the draft normative act adopted by the Government on January 31, 2023.

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