The Department of Transport has announced the appointment of IDEMIA Identity and Security - South Africa as the preferred bidder to produce new smart driving licence cards.

The appointment was approved on 8 August 2024.

IDEMIA is expected to enter into a service level agreement with the department before commencing with its work to put in place the infrastructure and systems.

More information in terms of the timeframes will then be made available to the public once the service agreement has been signed.

"The new licence card will incorporate new security features aimed at eliminating the ever-increasing risks of fraudulent and counterfeit driving licenses.

"Considering the cost drivers of producing the driving license and the risk of fraud and corruption, the new driving license will continue to be manufactured centrally," the department said.

The department embarked on a process to find a service provider with a tender advertisement in the government tender portal on 5 April 2023, which closed on 5 May 2023.

This resulted in five bidders' responses that were received and subjected to a thorough and transparent process of evaluation and adjudication by the bidding committee.

"It was also subjected to a probity/audit process - the probity conclusion being that all the processes were in compliance with prescribed legislation and policies," the department said.

On 30 August 2022, Cabinet of the 6th administration approved a proposal by the department to produce a new driving license card for the country.