To expect that our new passports will be printed in the UK

DJ We could have kept the original colour, and then all this fuss wouldn't be happening

Really?!! Surely the 'fuss' is about the fact that it's being printed abroad, plus the potential loss of jobs in Gateshead?

I doubt many people really care what colour our passports are . I certainly don’t .

No, the same rules everywhere. It's just that our government interprets them differently.
Complaints about passports have included the fact that we had to have red passports. We didn't. It was a recommendation, not a rule. We could have kept the original colour, and then all this fuss wouldn't be happening.

Phew . I’m relieved to know that Petra I was starting to think I was becoming paranoid .

gillybob
Your not alone with your suspicions. There are many of us who know that there are eu rules for the plebs but different rules for the French and Germans.

Are they planning on printing our passports in their Polish facility ? Now that would keep the prices down . The plot thickens.

Accepted. Thank you .

No need for state owned passport printers at all. We have got a perfectly good set up with De La Rue (in business since 1821) . I want to see how Gemalto are able to do it £120 million poiund cheaper and can’t understand why no one else seems suspicious of such a massive price difference.

I haven't got a little book. If I had I wouldn't have got it wrong, so sorry, just a defective memory.

Where passports are made in their own countries EU countries usually have state owned companies making them.

Now that sounds good to me, but it won't to you, gillybob.
I got that information from the Express.
The fail has a petition for you to sign.

I didn’t bloody well vote to leave the EU so you can take that back pronto ! You must’ve written that down wrong in your little book.

I’m not trying to forget anything. I just don’t trust the Gemalto bid and yes I’m concerned about jobs in the Gateshead plant too.

Really ? They have manufacturing facilities all over the world, they print for several different countries etc. Are you suggesting they are rip off merchants ?

Gemalto aren’t even set up to print passports (yet) does that not make it seem a teensy bit suspicious to you ?

Of course I've read your posts.
You said how could a foreign company be printing OUR passports in your first post.
You seem to be trying to forget that.

You voted to leave the EU with the promise that we would be a more open country, free trade across the world.
Believe it or not that does include France and Holland as well as the USA and China.

I’m not assuming . I am asking how/why such an enormous difference in price . Simple really .

Perhaps De La Rue became too complacent, and put in a higher bid than they needed to. It's not unknown for that to happen.

Have you read my posts DJ ? I really can’t spell it out any clearer. I am suspicious of the massive price difference ! Yes I am worried about jobs in Gateshead (I’m surprised that your not) but I am more worried about where Gemalto got their price from? Can they really do it £120 million cheaper? Are they being subsidised by the French government to get the work at any price?

Why are you assuming that the companies bidding for the passports did not do as you do, gillybob?

"Disgraceful really isn’t it ? A huge contract such as this to provide OUR passports for AFTER we leave the EU . As Ooopsadaisy said you really couldn’t make it up !"

So you didn't mean this, did you not, gillybob?

I know it’s a massively different scale ...... but when we bid for contracts we put a very details plan together and offer our price. We outline how we got to that price and it is non negotiable. (We state that if we reduce the price then we reduce the package offered). Other companies bid in a similar way, one or two would reduce the price and reduce the price to win the work, others know they can’t do it for that price and take a chance to come back for more money later, others might be able to offer a very low price because they are being heavily subsidised by a manufacturer.

When we lose a contract we go back and ask why? They are not always forthcoming but often the buyers are happy to disclose XYZ were a little bit cheaper than you or we liked ABC’s plan better than yours etc. But the prices are never very much different unless we are not quoting like for like.

I would like to see HOW /WHY there is such a massive gap? And if I was the buyer of the passports I would particularly want to know how they arrived at such a low price compared with De La Rue ? Can they actually do it ?

Very impressive, maryeliza.
If anyone wants to protest they can always change banks.
Customers of HBOS, HSBC and Santander already use Gemalto smartcards. If you are a customer of Barclays, they provide your cardreader.

It’s not about that DJ. Yes of course they can. It’s about the actual price. Far too much of a gap for my liking .

Also bear in mind De La Rue have plants all over the world they are not just in Gateshead although that is there headquarters.

But they aren’t even set up to print passports maryeliza which surely makes their price undercut of £120 million even more suspicious?

I think it’s all part of a great plan by the French. I think it’s highly likely that the government are subsidising the bid (to get the work) as there’s no way they could come in so much cheaper than a company already set up to print passports

Inconsistent, gillybob.
If De La Rue can bid for and win contracts for printing money from other countries, other countries can bid for and win contracts for printing our passorts.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gemalto#Security,_public_sector_(e-Government)

I think it’s quite obvious what the credentials of this company are to print our passports - anyone would think the contract had gone to Hans and Pierre operating with their Epson printer in the garden shed.

I say it’s what they do isn’t it ? What else is there to say ?