Uganda Security Printing Company Takes Over Face Technologies to Issue Driving Permits

Ministry of Works and Transport has signed a contract with Uganda Security and Printing Company (USPC) to start issuing driving permits to Ugandans — thus, taking over South Africa based company Face Technologies that was contracted by the Government of Uganda through the Ministry of Works and Transport in 2003 for the
‘Designing, Printing and Supply of Computerized Driving Permits’ in Uganda.

The Permanent Secretary, Bageya Waiswa while signing 15th of October, 2020 with USPC, noted that the Government is making deliberate efforts to automate its processes to improve service delivery. “The new Uganda Driver Licensing System is one of them; USPC is taking over at a time when the issuance of driving licenses is one of the best services in the country receiving tremendous reviews”

During the negotiations, the Ministry was able to look at the sample card design to be produced by USPC. The card is ISO compliant. It can be used in EAC, SADC and COMESA regions, even at a Global level.

Upon execution of this Contract, the Ministry together with USPC will embark on the following activities with immediate effect to ensure a successful launch on 1st December 2020:

Pre-inspection of the Hardware, Complete Data migration from UCDP to UDLS, Final User Acceptance Testing of the new Software, Card Testing at an accredited ISO laboratory, Gazetting of the new driving license, Recruitment of Staff, Communication Strategy – Training and sensitization, Decommissioning process with FACE for all the driving license stations.

The contract will take immediate effect after signature but the issuance of Driving Licenses commences on 1st December 2020.

Face Technologies’ contract is officially expires in November this year after the Ministry extended their permit contract to six-month starting from May this year. The company had been expected to handover permits-related operations to government at least by May 31st when its contract had been scheduled to expire. However, in an interview Daily Monitor, Bageya said Face Technologies will would continue beyond the May 31st deadline to facilitate a smooth handover.

Meanwhile, USPC is expected to work in partnership with Veridos, a Germany company that produces integrated identity solutions. Veridos is famous for providing a number of biometric solutions to individuals and government s including National IDs, passports among others. In Uganda, the company is already producing electronic passports.