3M buys out firm in Transport Division project

News of the acquisition was announced in the United States on July 20 just as Archon-Digidata were involved in final negotiations here for the Transport Division contract. It is not yet known if this development will have any impact on the local project.

Archon was the eighth company to be acquired by 3M this year. While terms of the acquisition have not yet been revealed, industry watchers say the deal will strengthen 3M’s Traffic Safety Systems Division which operates in the area of motor vehicle registration, including safety, registration and identification systems.

Archon is a Denver, Colorado-based pro-vider of software solutions for motor vehicle agencies. It is a small company by United States standards, with a staff of approximately 70 persons. The acquisition is expected to be completed in the third quarter of this year.

On its official website, Archon is described as “striving to be a leader in the development and implementation of systems to support . . . motor vehicle requirements.” An overview of the company’s operations states, “We developed a complete set of components to enable jurisdictions to efficiently support their commercial and non-commercial customers in driver licensing and vehicle registration and titling. Our focus is on integrating driver and vehicle data into a single coherent view.”

In the area of motor vehicles and drivers systems, which is the focus of the Transport Divison project, Archon is known to have implemented one such project for the State of Iowa’s Department of Transportation.

A top official of the Ministry of Works and Transport told Sunday Newsday Archon was “an experienced American firm” which has entered into a joint venture with Digidata, “a locally-owned experienced Trinidadian computer firm that has been in the IT business in Trinidad for more than 20 years.”

Meanwhile, Claudio Providas, Deputy Resident Representative for the United Nations Development Progrramme (UNDP) in Port-of-Spain has defended the public procurement process used to select Archon-Digidata for the project. He described it as “pretty much standard in terms of international procurement rules and standards.”

He said the UNDP, which in September 2004 entered into a US$4.9 million technical assistance agreement with the Ministry of Works for the project, reviewed the tender evaluation report through a local contract committee, then made a recommendation to Resident Representative Dr Inyang Ebong-Harstrup. Dr Ebong-Harstrup then submitted the evaluation report to a Contract Committee at UNDP Headquarters in New York.

According to Providas, in the recently concluded procurement process, the “ultimate deciding authority” was the UNDP’s Chief Procurement Officer (CPO), Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of Management, all based at headquarters in New York.

“The CPO certainly does not make contract decisions solely on the basis of an undocumented and supported choice of the Resident Representative,” Providas pointed out.

“The CPO must look at the entire record of the tender process to ensure that all aspects are handled appropriately.” He said UNDP Headquarters has investigated and cleared the local office with respect to allegations raised about the first round of tendering for the project. He insisted that there is no ongoing probe of the matter.

Providas told Sunday Newsday the process is now at the negotiation stage and “should be signed off within the next week.”

He said he was unaware of any legal action being filed in the matter.