http://www.guardian.co.uk/government-co ... sfeed=truePotential identity assurance suppliers receive invitation to tenderGovernment says service 'closer to market' after a selection of suppliers pass pre-qualification questionnaire stage
* Sade Laja
* Guardian Professional, Friday 25 May 2012 16.00 BST
The government has issued a selection of suppliers with invitation to tender (ITT) documents for its £25m identity assurance programme.
In a blog post on the Government Digital Service site, the Cabinet Office's identity assurance team said the programme had moved a step closer to market after a selection of possible suppliers passed the pre-qualification questionnaire part of the procurement and got to the ITT stage.
"Issuing the ITT is a major step forward as it is the first time that the initial requirements for a cross-government approach to ID assurance have been set out in a departmental procurement for multiple suppliers," says the blog post.
"It is a clear indication to prospective suppliers that government has a real proposition for developing a market of ID providers. It will also provide a working platform for further refinement of the ID provider service, based on real user experience of a flagship government service."
According to the post, the tendering process will run for several weeks and is expected to report successful bidders in September.
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