“Embossed number plate will be installed on vehicles, and Smart Card will replace the existing driving license” was one of the policies under the Three-Year Interim Plan (2007/08-2009/10) introduced by the National Planning Commission. It was eight years later that the Department of Transport Management (DoTM), in 2015, called a tender to craft and distribute embossed number plates. It was awarded to Decatur-Tiger IT, a Bangladeshi company, on May 30, 2016, at $44 million. As per the contract, 2.5 million vehicles were to be equipped with embossed number plates by mid-September, 2021. The deadline was extended by two years and four months until mid-November, 2023.