Jonathan O'Brien (Cork North Central, Sinn Fein)
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651. To ask the Minister for Employment Affairs and Social Protection the value of the contract with a company (details supplied) to produce the public services card; the funding it has received to date; and if she will make a statement on the matter. [42511/17]

Regina Doherty (Meath East, Fine Gael)
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The contract with Biometric Card Services (BCS) was signed in December 2009. The value of this contact was just under €18.3 million (excluding VAT) for the production, personalisation and distribution of 3 million Public Service Cards (PSC) plus associated help desk services. To date BCS have been paid €22.9 million (excluding VAT). The increase in costs arises from changes to processes, enhancements/improvements to the security of the card, and from delays impacting the timetable for production of the cards. Following the award of the contract, the then Data Protection Commissioner requested that each recipient of a PSC should contact the helpdesk as proof that the PSC had been delivered correctly. This increased the helpdesk costs from €347,000 (excluding VAT) as per the contract, to payments to date of €2.597 million (excluding VAT). Security features for cards have improved and been enhanced over the lifetime of the contract. To ensure that the PSC met the best international security standards, a Kinegram was added at a total cost of €1.140 million excluding VAT. Extending the contract period to the end of 2017 from end 2016 resulted in an increased price per card amounting to approx. €0.5 million to date excluding VAT. Costs associated with the deployment of the free travel variant of the PSC in 2012 amounted to just over €700,000 excluding VAT.

I hope this clarifies the matter for the Deputy.