Industry News
MoD: The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has held an industry event attended by around 90 businesses that have expressed an interest in managing, maintaining or supplying the UK's 49,000 military homes through the new National Housing Prime contract.
The event at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire attracted delegates from companies ranging from potential prime contractors, to smaller & local businesses with an interest in supply chain opportunities. Military customer representatives also attended from the Navy, Army & RAF, and from the 3 service Family Federations.
Details of companies with a formal interest in the National Housing Prime are now available via the online NGEC Potential Bidders Directory, enabling SMEs to identify potential supply chain opportunities.
The National Housing Prime will be awarded in late 2012, and will run from April 2013 for 5 years initially, with the option to extend it by a further 5 years. It is estimated to be worth up to £1.5bn over 10 years, depending on which services are included and on whether the contract is extended.
OS: Ordnance Survey has awarded a new 4-year Framework Agreement for the Supply & Maintenance of Geospatial Data, which replaces previous data collection contracts. The Framework Agreement will run from April 2011 to March 2015 and sees Ordnance Survey developing its external supplier base for the supply & maintenance of topography, imagery & height data and services, which are used to maintain the currency, accuracy and information content of its core databases.
The framework agreement is divided into 3 lots;
Lot 1: Remotely Sensed Data Acquisition
Lot 2: Imagery data management & processing
Lot 3: Capture & maintenance of geospatial data content
TfL: The Docklands Light Railway's (DLR's) 3-car upgrade was completed on time & within budget with the launch of 3-car trains on the Tower Gateway to Beckton route. The £325m upgrade also includes longer platforms, improved track & signalling, £13m of improvements to Tower Gateway station and an entire new station at South Quay. It is expected that the Beckton route will carry 70,000 passengers - approximately 55,000 spectators for the 2012 Games and 15,000 other passengers - a day, during the Olympic & Paralympic Games
MO: To help Singapore build up climate science capabilities to prepare for climate change, the Met Office has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Singapore National Environment Agency (NEA). The collaboration aims to enhance the NEA Meteorological Services Division’s climate science capability to produce reliable projections of Singapore’s rainfall, temperature, wind and sea level for different time-scales up to 2100.
The collaboration is expected to last for at least 3 years, covering the joint development & implementation of climate models, the exchange of scientists and the undertaking of regional climate science research. This partnership is an important step towards building a sustainable climate science capability in Southeast Asia.
