De La Rue has confirmed it will appeal the decision to award the contract for the blue British passports to a Franco-Dutch firm after Brexit .
The group’s current contract, worth £400m, comes to an end in July, and from that point on, British passports are set to be produced by Gemalto.
De La Rue said Gemalto was chosen only because it undercut the competition, but the UK company also admitted that it was not the cheapest choice in the tendering process.
A De La Rue spokesperson said: “We confirm that we are taking the first steps towards initiating appeal proceedings against the provisional decision to award the British passport contract to a part state-owned Franco-Dutch company. Based on our knowledge of the market, it’s our view that ours was the highest quality and technically most secure bid.”
The group’s appeal follows a campaign by the Daily Mail, including a petition which gathered more than 227,000 signatures, to overturn the government’s decision to award Gemalto the contract.
The announcement that the new, blue passport would be made by an overseas firm was met with outcry by pro-Brexit politicians and groups. At the time, Tory MP Sir Bill Cash , chairman of the Commons European Scrutiny Committee, said the decision was “incongruous to say the least”.
“It is completely unnecessary and it is symbolically completely wrong,” he added.
“Whatever the conditions which led to the decision in terms of pricing, the fact is that this is a symbolic event.”
Additional reporting by news wires
