Rakchanok admits insufficient cooperation after Chaichanok skipped his third committee briefing, citing overseas commitments. She raises suspicion over contract amendments and pay-per-use calculations, noting the screen specification may actually be worth 9 million baht.
On 16 Jul 2026 GMT+7 at the Parliament Building, Ms. Rakchanok Srinok, an MP from the People's Party and chair of the budget management study and oversight committee, revealed that today's committee meeting covered three agendas. The first was to follow up on the TH AI Passport project, initially expected to open registration on 15 July, which has not yet started.
Ms. Rakchanok said the committee planned to question contract amendments and the criteria for pay-per-use cost calculations, as well as other concerns. Notably, a representative from QMed Internet Genius had stated that the display screen in the project was a minor component worth about 900,000 baht, thus not a key part of the project.
However, Ms. Rakchanok stated the facts differ. Although the screen's value may appear low, it is a crucial element that can determine the bid winner. The committee's business-style calculations suggest the screen specified in the TH AI Passport project details likely totals around 9 million baht, not just 900,000 baht as the company claims.
Regarding today's meeting, the committee invited Minister Chaichanok Chidchob of the Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and Permanent Secretary Patchara Anantasilp to provide explanations. Ms. Rakchanok said the minister informed them he was overseas on official duties. This is the third time the minister has missed a committee briefing, which she views as insufficient cooperation, despite parts of the project already being tested by tech influencers and stakeholders.
“We want to emphasize again that while the project's front-end or features may look good or reasonable, and even though I believe it is good to offer free AI use to the public, the real focus must be on the locked specifications and the fact that this company was reportedly working on the project even before the terms of reference were finalized,” Ms. Rakchanok said.
The second agenda was reviewing the NDLP project, which Ms. Rakchanok described as irregular because it hired over 400 consultants—nearly 500—but only delivered a learning platform with about 5,000 content items.
Additionally, the committee requested the list of consultants hired by the Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and information from Thammasat University but did not receive the list. Since OBEC directly manages the consultancy budget, it should know who was hired.
The third agenda was to follow up on local governance issues. Ms. Rakchanok said she would build on points from yesterday’s legal committee meeting. Asked about the government's clear stance to proceed with this project and the committee's aims, she responded, “Our ultimate goal is to cancel the project. That goal remains unchanged. What we may do now is to make sure the project is as cost-effective as possible.”
Ms. Rakchanok added that the project originally planned to open registration between 5 and 10 June but was postponed by a month, with several changes including switching from flat-fee to pay-per-use payment, reflecting a possible lack of careful design from the start.
“Does this mean the original project was intended to be neither cost-effective nor transparent from the beginning? If this issue did not become news, would they have just let it go, comfortably profiting without concern?” she asked. /