According to presidential order No. 26/2022, the need to acquire Mills passport books and films is due to the constraints and delays recorded in the introduction of the electronic passport.
Furthermore, "taking into account the technical shortcomings and the low efficiency of the equipment for issuing passports, due to their useful life, there is also an urgent need to replace them, under penalty of registering the paralysis of the issuance of passports in Angola", the document also mentions.
Thus, two contracts will be awarded by direct agreement (simplified contracting): one, worth 781.7 million kwanzas for the purchase of 550 thousand passport books and 162 thousand Mills films from the company, of Mozambican origin, Brithol Michcoma Angola, and another, worth US$6 million, to acquire equipment and consumables needed to issue passports, awarded to British firm Hid Cid-Limited.
The Migration and Foreigners Service (SME) admitted, in July last year, that it was "without technical conditions" for the issuance of ordinary passports, due to "the gradual reduction in the amount of consumables in 'stock' for financial reasons" .
In a press release, the SME clarified that the process of "granting the normal passport" involves the use of "a set of consumables not produced in the country, acquired from a supplier in the foreign market through payment of foreign exchange".
