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Security print's biggest players are preparing to do battle to win a high-tech passport production contract that could be worth up to £700m over its 10-year remit.

The Identity and Passport Service (IPS) this week launched a tender for the production of biometric passports, under a contract that will start in August 2010 and involve producing around six million passports every year.

Incumbent Security Printing and Systems (SPSL), which was bought by materials and office supplies giant 3M two years ago and was recently picked to produce the first UK identity cards, is almost certain to bid to renew its contract. However, it would not comment on the tender this week.

If it does, it will square up against De La Rue, the world’s biggest banknote printer, which confirmed to PrintWeek that it is considering bidding for the work.

According to the tender documents, the winner will be expected to improve the biometric anti-fraud features of the passport. Currently, new passports include biometric facial recognition, which was introduced in 2006, but the IPS is planning a second tier of biometric data features.

The documents state: The key driver for the project is to ensure that the security of the UK passport is continually improved... and thus the UK passport remains a world class travel and identity document.

The introduction of a second biometric in passports will greatly reduce the opportunity for passport fraud by adding another level of security which fraudsters would have to breach.