The Conservative Party will cancel the national biometric ID card scheme if it wins the next General Election, potentially pushing up the cost of the project and angering industry groups.
The price of the programme will rise because potential suppliers will have to take into account the risk of the deal being cancelled halfway through.
The Tory policy was formally stated in a letter from shadow home secretary David Davis to cabinet secretary Sir Gus O’Donnell, alongside a request for provision in the contractual relations with suppliers to protect public funds against any costs incurred because of cancellation.
A letter warning of the Conservatives’ intentions has also been sent to all major contractors likely to be involved in the programme, pointing to the ‘long-standing convention that one parliament cannot bind a subsequent parliament’.
Technology industry representatives say the statements are pure politics.
‘This is not the behaviour we expect from the party that styles itself as the party of business – using the IT industry to score
political points,’ said Nick Kalisperas, public sector director at trade group Intellect.
‘It will undermine confidence in any future Conservative government’s ability to fulfil other contractual obligations.
‘It may also precipitate suppliers negotiating tougher break clauses in existing procurements, not just ID cards,’ he said.
The government’s proposals have changed considerably since the scheme’s inception. The plan is to reuse existing government information rather than create an entirely new database to act as the National Identity Register.
But major procurements are still expected later this year for components of the scheme such as biometric capture and security.
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