A total of 586 firms have submitted bids for selection as private vendors to partner the National Identity Management Commission in the provision of data capture and National Identity Number enrolment services.

A statement issued on Monday by the General Manager, Operations/Corporate Communications, Abdulhamid Umar, said submission of bids for selection had ended.

According to the statement, the Expression of Interest forms submitted by the firms were opened and sorted at NIMC headquarters in Abuja.

The EOI advertised by the NIMC in November was in line with the process of implementing the Digital Identity Ecosystem project for the National Identity Management System in Nigeria.

The General Manager, Corporate Services Department, Abdullahi Ibrahim, who represented NIMC Director-General/Chief Executive Officer, Aliyu Aziz, at the bid opening ceremony, reiterated the importance of stakeholders’ collaboration for accelerated delivery of digital identity in Nigeria.

He explained that the NIMC would partner competent and qualified public and private sector service providers for the delivery of data capture to citizens and legal residents.

Deputy General Manager Procurement Unit, Nkoyo Iwok, oversaw the sorting processes in the presence of external observers and a representative from the Office of the Secretary to the Government of the Federation.

Bidders witnessed the opening of the bid boxes and submission of register to ensure transparency in the process as stipulated by provisions of the Public Procurement Act.