By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

The Road Traffic Controller yesterday sought to reassure Bahamians that their personal data and security will not be compromised by allowing prison inmates at Fox Hill to manufacture their vehicle license plates.

Ross Smith told Tribune Business that personal data, such as addresses, driver’s licences and vehicle makes, were “not going to be shared” as part of plans to outsource the manufacture of auto licence plates via a joint venture with the Bahamas Department of Corrections.

The Government has yet to award the contract to supply a new vehicle license plate system, but Mr Smith confirmed the administration’s intention for the manufacturing operation to be carried out at Fox Hill prison by the inmates.

This is a key element of the Government’s strategy to equip inmates with marketable skills during their sentences, thus improving their prospects for obtaining a job or starting their own business when they are released back into society.

While the desire to reduce the level of re-offending among former prisoners is admirable, some observers are likely to question whether Bahamians’ personal data and, possibly, their security may be jeopardised through the involvement of inmates in the manufacturing.

And the Request for Proposal (RFP) tender document for the system contract, which has been obtained by Tribune Business, emphasises that “the Bahamas Department of Corrections’ system must be stand alone and secure from the offender workers”.

This suggests that there is a potential risk to data stored in the proposed vehicle licence plate system, especially given the known security weaknesses at Fox Hill prison, and the ability of inmates to ‘game’ or ‘beat’ the system.

Mr Smith, though, said he had visited US prisons where inmates manufactured auto plates, and was “satisfied” that a similar system could work in the Bahamas.

“That’s not going to be shared. Personal data is not going to be shared, and personal data is not going into that system,” the Road Traffic controller told Tribune Business.

“The inmates at the prison will be responsible only for production. They are on the assembly line. The information that will go into it will be done by a manager at the Road Traffic Department.”

Mr Smith implied that all necessary data would be stored at the Road Traffic Department’s end and, while the system would be linked to the prison, the only information sent to the Bahamas Department of Corrections would be “batch orders” specifying the volume/quantity of required vehicle plates.

Describing the manufacturing initiative as “a joint venture”, Mr Smith said the Department of Corrections will supply the labour, with Road Traffic providing the management once the winning bidder had installed the system and trained persons on it.

“They will not be dealing with the data itself,” Mr Smith reiterated of the prison inmates. “That will be dealt with at the Road Traffic Department itself.

“When you manufacture a plate, you’re not attaching to it anyone’s information. That information is not going to be made available for anyone to see. No individual information will be given out in that regard.”

Mr Smith said the ‘prison takeover’ of vehicle licence plate manufacturing had been proposed for some time. He suggested it would be modelled on the US prison system, where such activities were already performed.

“When I came in I visited prisons in the US to see how it’s done, and the security issues related to that, and I was satisfied with what I saw at that time,” the Road Traffic Controller told Tribune Business.

Mr Smith confirmed that the two contenders for the manufacturing system contract are Bahamas Automobile Safety and Inspection Centre, a Bahamian joint venture with the German firm, UTSCH AG, and US-based John R. Wald Company. The latter has experience with prison inmate manufacturing of plates.

The RFP reveals that the Government is seeking a provider who can deliver either “a service bureau” or “turnkey solution” for manufacturing Bahamian vehicle license plates.

“The new vehicle license plate manufacturing system would be located within the Bahamas Department of Corrections (BDOC),” the tender confirms.

“All proposals for a new system must include all installation, set-up, user acceptance testing, training, design, engineering, transportation, delivery to the work room within the proposed site are at the BDOC, liability insurance, and a five-year maintenance programme. The solution acquired/contracted will employ offenders under the care and supervision of the BDOC.”

License plates are currently manufactured at the Ministry of Works, but auto dealers and other ‘new vehicle’ owners/buyers were frequently complaining about shortages last summer.

The RFP says license plate production rates for the next five years are projected to average 310,000 “per non-reissue year”, up slightly from the present 300,000.

It adds that the Government “is committed to exploring the use of new technologies in the manufacturing of vehicle license plates for the Bahamas”, and then sets out its requirements.

“Any new system shall focus on maintaining or reducing production costs; maintaining the quality of vehicle license plate length of usefulness, readability and effectiveness of their security features; creating a ‘greener’ manufacturing process; providing offenders training in contemporary and marketable skills for their successful re-entry transition; creating a safer work environment; gaining system efficiencies; band potentially reducing the required facility space,” the RFP said.

Emphasising the social/crime reduction objectives attached to the initiatives, the RFP added: “The successful transition of released offenders who are re-entering our communities, and the safety of our communities, continue to be of concern to the Government.

“The Government desires proposals which will help train offenders in modern production technologies and processes for license plate manufacturing.”

The Government also wants to make the manufacturing process more health and environmentally friendly. “The current wet-ink license plate manufacturing process creates Volatile Organic Compound (VOC) emissions,” it added.

“The Government is in search of proposals from proposed vendor/contractors which would eliminate or reduce VOC emissions due to plate productions and chemical releases.”