The Philippine government has cleared a P2.48-billion project that seeks to expand and modernize the country’s national identification system, according to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).
The Philippine Digital National Identity (PDNI) project was approved by the Investment Coordination Committee-Cabinet Committee, which is chaired by the Department of Finance and co-chaired by the Department of Economy, Planning and Development.
The approval allows the project to proceed to procurement, including a competitive challenge for the unsolicited proposal submitted by Unisys Public Sector Services Corp., the project’s original proponent.
Under the process, other companies will be given an opportunity to submit competing proposals. The government is expected to accept competing offers through the fourth quarter of the year, while Unisys will have the option to match the most advantageous offer.
The project will use a build-transfer-operate model and is designed to cover the continued operation and upgrading of the national ID system. The arrangement will run for 20 years after a six-month transition period.
Among the services included are national ID registration and card production, along with identity authentication. The project will also support the technical onboarding and integration of private companies and other organizations that rely on the national ID for verification.
The concession will likewise cover the operation of critical information and communications technology infrastructure supporting the national identification system.
The national ID program was created under the Philippine Identification System Act in 2018, with the goal of establishing one identification system for Filipino citizens and foreign residents in the country.
Its rollout has encountered implementation issues, particularly involving the distribution of physical national ID cards. In 2024, the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas ended its agreement with All Card Inc. after the company failed to meet its obligations for the production and supply of the cards.
The PSA has previously maintained that physical national ID cards would continue to be provided in accordance with the law. It also clarified that both the printed electronic Philippine Identification and the digital national ID are valid identification documents.
