The IT procurement is on hold until the legislation is passed

The technology procurement for the national biometric identity card plan remains on hold as the enabling legislation continues to 'ping pong' between the Houses of Parliament.

The government bill was first passed by MPs in October but since then has been rejected by the House of Lords three times.

The current sticking point focuses on when or whether the scheme becomes compulsory. Under the proposed legislation anyone applying to renew their passport from 2008 will automatically be registered on the central database that will underpin the ID card scheme.

The Lords reject the proposal on the basis that it is 'compulsion by stealth', as Conservative peer Baroness Anelay of St John's put it in the last-but-one Lords debate earlier this month.

The bill was rejected again by the upper house yesterday, having been re-approved by MPs by 310 votes to 277 last week.

Peers' suggested compromise is to hold off mandatory registration on the ID database with passport renewal until 2012, giving time for the issue to be debated as part of a general election campaign.

But the government says it will not back down and says opposition peers are 'playing politics' with the scheme.

Home Office Minister Andy Burnham said: 'The amendment adopted today by the Lords is unworkable and risks inflating the cost of introducing the scheme and adds uncertainty, delay and inefficiency.

'Opposition parties, through their representatives in the Lords, are now playing politics with a flagship government bill,' he said.

The IT procurement for the scheme cannot start until the bill has been passed by Parliament and given Royal Assent, which had been expected later this month.