Switzerland has published a public tender for its future passport family, with a general contractor sought to organise and deliver all the necessary technical equipment.According to the tender, an average of 590,000 passports, of various models, will be produced per annum, with a maximum total of 11.5 million units.A main contract with the successful tenderer will be fixed for 12 years and optionally lengthened in parts, or as a whole, for a maximum of 5 years, resulting in a total contractual period of 17 years.The first central production centre of the Swiss Confederation must be based in canton Bern and commence operating productively within 2 years after the signing of the contracts with the successful tenderer. A second, optional production centre may follow a few months later.In addition to this, the systems that are deployed in the cantons and Swiss representations abroad to enable the decentralised personalisation of the emergency passports are to be procured.All information can be retrieved on http://www.simap.ch (project no.125364).The Swiss passport has been dubbed "the gold card" of citizenships to hold due to the country's wealth and status as a banking centre.However, in a survey this month of the world's "most powerful passports" issued by travel website GoEuro, Switzerland's fell to 19th position.

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