SNC-Lavalin ProFac Inc.,has been awarded a contract by Standard Life to provide facility management services for its investment real estate portfolio.The five-year contract begins on January 1, 2008, with options for renewals.

SNC-Lavalin ProFac was selected by Standard Life to improve services, optimise building operations and deliver cost-savings for its 70 facilities in the Life Account real estate portfolio.

"Standard Life is a great partner, and we are delighted to be working with them on this mandate," said Charlie Rate, President of SNC-Lavalin ProFac. "We are confident that we will deliver the level of service expected by both Standard Life and its tenants."

The new contract calls for SNC-Lavalin ProFac to take over the operations and maintenance of approximately eight million square feet (about 800,000 m2) of real estate.

"Following our RFP process, SNC-Lavalin ProFac was the obvious partner of choice for us," said Gary Aggett, Vice-President, Real Estate Group for Standard Life. "Their systems, processes and procedures provided us with the peace-of-mind necessary to smoothly transition the servicing of our buildings over to them."

SNC-Lavalin (TSX: SNC) is one of the leading engineering and construction groups in the world and a major player in the ownership of infrastructure, and in the provision of operations and maintenance services. The SNC-Lavalin companies have offices across Canada and in 34 other countries around the world and are currently working in some 100 countries.