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The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) today announced that all five of the suppliers still left in the procurement race are to form a "Strategic Supplier Group" to deliver the UK's National Identity Scheme [1]. Three shortlisted suppliers – Accenture, BAE Systems and Steria – had already pulled out, citing political and commercial reasons [2].

Privacy and civil liberties campaigners NO2ID [2] called the move “the set-up for a carve-up” and demanded the immediate publication of all documents the government has kept secret, using the excuse that it needed to do so to get "best value" from the market.

Phil Booth, NO2ID's National Coordinator, said:

"Far from the competitive process promised to Parliament, this is the set-up for a carve-up. The IPS is clearly just making it up as it goes along.

"Not enough bidders for a proper competitive process? – why bother? No clear specification, and independent experts saying the fundamentals aren't in place? – who cares? Can't even quantify the benefits? – spend billions anyway!

"Now that the jobs have been parcelled out, to a cosy consortium, perhaps all the financial and technical reviews of the ID scheme could be published so that the taxpayer can see just what sort of pig in a poke he has bought."