The government may soon be forced to release many of its secret reports on the costs, benefits and risks of its controversial identity (ID) card scheme after the information commissioner last week ordered it to release a secret Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) feasibility study on the initiative.

The ruling followed a complaint to the commissioner, the UK's data-protection and freedom of information (FoI) watchdog, from Liberal Democrat MP Mark Oaten in 2004, after the DWP refused his parliamentary question request to release the report.

The DWP argued that to release its report on the benefits and risks of the scheme would prejudice the government’s assessment of the ID card initiative and make it harder to get good prices from suppliers.

But in his ruling, released this month, information commissioner Richard Thomas said the public interest of disclosure outweighed the argument for keeping the report secret. He added that his examination of the report found " no information that would put the work of the DWP or any other government department at risk".

Thomas also said that he was "not convinced that the commercial interests of the Home Office would, or would be likely to, be prejudiced by its release".

The DWP now has until 5 July to release the report or appeal against the ruling. A spokesman for the DWP said the department is currently considering its options.

If the DWP does not successfully appeal against the decision, the government can expect a wave of requests for the release of feasibility reports carried out by other departments, according to a spokeswoman for the Liberal Democrats. "If we get the precedent [from the DWP ruling] we'll put in other FoI requests to try to get [the feasibility reports] all released," she added.

A spokesman for the Information Commissioner’s Office said that each future request would be judged on its own merits, so despite the precedent there was no guarantee all government reports on ID cards would be released.

However, the publication of any ID card studies could give IT directors at public sector, local government and even private sector organisations a valuable insight into the costs, risks and benefits expected from the new technology as they develop their own strategies to use of biometric ID cards.

In separate news, the Financial Times today reported that the procurement process for the ID card programme has been delayed until the autumn. It was originally expected to start soon after the bill entered the statute books in March this year.

However, a Home Office spokesman denied that there has been a delay, and said that the government had been undertaking soundings on how the procurement process should be carried out since 2002, and it would publish the feedback it has received "in the next few weeks". He told IT Week that this represented best practice for government procurements on the scale of the ID card project and it was important to work with possible suppliers to develop a viable procurement process.

The spokesman refused say when the Home Office expects to begin the formal procurement process by inviting tenders.

Critics predicted that delays to the bill during the parliamentary process coupled with the scale of the multi-billion-pound project means the government will not meet its target to have significant numbers of ID cards in circulation before the next general election, expected in 2009.