As promised, the government will later this month go on the market to find a new supplier for the electronic monitoring system.

In fact, National Security Minister Dr. Bernard Nottage on Friday revealed that that day is drawing near.

“We are going out to tender,” he said. ‘We have put together a request for proposal and that would be issued shortly and we will look at what comes in.

“In the meantime, we have spoken to ICS about continuing the service until such time as that process is complete.”

ICS’ contract ends on November 19.

In recent months, ICS Security Concepts has received major flack from the public, particularly after 32-year-old Anthony Fox Rolle turned up dead through a track road near the South Beach canals.

At the time, the murder victim was wearing an ankle monitoring bracelet and his every move was expected to be tracked.

Soon after, another man outfitted with an ICS ankle bracelet was found in Canada, but it was soon revealed that he had permission to travel.

The government then vowed it would look for a new supplier.

ICS Security Concepts President and CEO Stephen Greenslade has meantime gone on record saying that he is prepared to go to all lengths to protect the reputation of his company even if that means forfeiting his $2.7 million a year government contract.

But while a lot of talk about the efficiency of the current system has died down, Dr. Nottage said there has always been some concerns lingering about the service.

“The problem with us inheriting the service is that we are not fully aware of the conditions that were set and the agreement they had to provide services,” he added. “What we have found out is that if you don’t put something in the request for proposal you may be expecting services you don’t get.

“So, having the experience of the past few years, we are now trying to make sure that we place in the request all those matters we are dissatisfied under the contract. Bahamian firms will have the opportunity to bid for it and to the extent that they satisfy what our needs are and give us value for money, we’ll be signing a new contract in the not too distant future.”

So far a number of companies have already expressed interest in taking over the service, according to the minister.

But he added that until the government clearly outlines what it wants the service to be, no one company is a frontrunner.

“Mind you, we haven’t even put the request out yet, but companies knowing that there is the likelihood that there will be a request for proposal have made submissions to us,” he said. “But we aren’t paying any attention to those because we don’t know if the submissions they have made will be responding to what we will be requesting.

“So once we put the request out then we will be asking people to bid at that time and those are the ones we will be considering.”

ICS has not yet revealed if it plans to resubmit its bid for the service.

Meantime, Dr. Nottage said issues still persist with the government’s CCTV system as it relates to imagery.

He however assured that BTC has brought in technicians to rectify the issue.