ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
Why are De La Rue not allowed to bid for the French passport contract then if EU regulations make it an open bid process here?
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[Politics] Brexit
- Thread starter KingstonSeagull
- Start date
Why are De La Rue not allowed to bid for the French passport contract then if EU regulations make it an open bid process here?
pastafarian
Well-known member
Precisely, so nothing was rushed forward was it
Couldnt care if it was pink with blue spots, nice to have European Union erased from it though
daveinprague
New member
Oh yeah. Life changing.
Blue Valkyrie
Not seen such Bravery!
Are they the same company that make EU member Croatia's Blue Passports ?
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
I bet she said this in her whiniest, most annoying little voice as well.
So, rushing forward with the passport thing was... not thought through particularly well?
Other than it wasn't rushed - the current contract is coming to an end and the government have to put the new contract out to tender ( thanks to EU laws ). Unless of course we were going to stop issuing passports between the contract end and us leaving the EU ?
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
Why are De La Rue not allowed to bid for the French passport contract then if EU regulations make it an open bid process here?
daveinprague
New member
Yeah, so I understand. De La Rue? Will be interesting to see when we start negotiating trade deals if this single contract will take up to a year.
I imagine people like JRM have this dreamy idea of flotillas of British ships once again sailing around the world doing as they choose and educating far flung parts of the globe.
Baldseagull
Well-known member
I am glad to see the leavers here are relaxed about where Passports are made, and who can fish where. Fishing rights are after all just remaining the same for the transition period, the final arrangement has not even begun to be discussed. The Passport contract will be re tendered in five years, and being Global Britain, will have a fair chance of being made by slave labour in China.
The Brexit press though, that keeps telling us we can trade with the world once out, seem so upset about an international deal, a contract that the UK Government has given to the best provider that tendered? They do realise trade works both ways don't they?
The Brexit press though, that keeps telling us we can trade with the world once out, seem so upset about an international deal, a contract that the UK Government has given to the best provider that tendered? They do realise trade works both ways don't they?
Brexiteers, and certain Tories, clearly do.
Britain doesn’t make anything so it’s unlikely there’s a passport company that could apply.
I don't know, maybe red top mis-information ? I suggest you ask the French or the EU. I've worked on tender bids for dozens of government contracts and the rules are very clear that over a certain value a contract has to go to tender and is open to anyone to bid that is on the appropriate government procurement list for that service / goods. Maybe De La Rue haven't bothered to get themselves on the French government procurement list ?
daveinprague
New member
Brexiteers in the government are livid, Brexiteers on NSC see no need to be pissed off. Maybe the Govt should consult NSC more often.
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
City AM quote De La Rue's chief executive Martin Sutherland on BBC this morning saying they're not allowed to - http://www.cityam.com/282739/rue-weighs-up-appeal-after-missing-out-new-post-brexit-blue
Tom Newton-Dunn, who broke the story in The Sun, states "Under strict civil service procurement rules, the government is also not able to discriminate by excluding other EU nations from bidding." and quotes a Home Office Spokeswoman as saying "We do not require passports to be manufactured from the UK".
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/58695...lue-british-passports-will-be-made-in-france/
pastafarian
Well-known member
I wonder if Unite will make a statement saying how outraged they are at the loss of British jobs, similar to their statement of outrage when De La Rue shifted some production of British passports to Malta resulting in job losses here.
And yet the BBC say :
"Under EU procurement rules, the Home Office had been required to throw open the bidding process to European firms."
If we get the Hard Brexit the headbangers want, are we going to have to pay import tariffs on our own passports? What a delightful, delicious irony that'd end up being.
But seriously, why does it matter where they're made? Isn't Brexit about creating "a more global Britain" anyway?
But seriously, why does it matter where they're made? Isn't Brexit about creating "a more global Britain" anyway?
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
Could the reason be that the French Government do it as a state contract, whereby The Home Office do it as a private one?
ManOfSussex
We wunt be druv
How many jobs were lost at De La Rue in Basingstoke when that happened out of interest?