Industry news

Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin has announced the creation of a new bidding process for the running of the East Coast London to Edinburgh rail line.

The move away from public sector control follows the government’s takeover of the rail line in 2009, after National Express pulled out of the process during the height of the recession.

The management and maintenance contract for tender is expected to select a winning bid by February 2015.

The new tendering process will follow a new approach after the public procurement failing of the West Coast rail franchise procurement process, which resulted in significant losses for bidders.

Unions have been quick to attack the new procurement process, with Manuel Cortes, leader of the TSSA rail union, criticising public sector privatisation, saying: “The £50m West Coast line fiasco revealed that private franchises are a shambles.”

The procurement process for a new franchise for the West Coast rail service has now been delayed until April 2017, with Virgin Trains continuing to run the service in an interim deal.

Patrick McLoughlin said: "This programme is a major step in delivering tangible improvements to services, providing long-term certainty to the market and supporting our huge programme of rail investment.”

O2 selected for £2.6 million East Coast rail infrastructure contract

Global security giant G4S is facing high workloads in Cyprus as it works to prepare for the opening of two of the struggling countries’ biggest banks on Thursday.

Both the Bank of Cyprus and Cyprus Popular Bank have featured as part of the Cypriot Government’s move to reduce debt, with large depositors having had their accounts frozen under the bailout conditions agreed over the weekend.

G4S will oversee the openings of the banks after their closure over 11 days ago. The demand for the banks services are still expected to be high, after crowd gathered at banks at the height of the EU bailout talks.

Managing director of G4S in Cyprus, John Arghyrou, said to Reuters, that: “"I've never seen anything like it in terms of what is going on from a security perspective. I would say the workload has quadrupled because the whole system has changed."

Leaked letter reveals the struggle of G4S partners with asylum seeker contract

New regulation proposed by Europe's Digital Agenda Commissioner, designed to allow broadband to be delivered with fewer obstacles and at a cheaper rate.

The European Commission has estimated that by cutting red tape to broadband delivery projects, as much as €60 billion can be saved.

The main costs of broadband rollout projects relate to infrastructure construction projects, with 80 percent of costs stemming from civil engineering such as digging up land to insert fiber-optic cabling.

Digital Agenda Commissioner, Neelie Kroes, said: "The high cost of building new broadband infrastructure and relatively low density of demand in isolated and remote places, has sometimes deterred telecom companies from investing".

The European Commission have proposed that governments provide broadband suppliers with access to civil infrastructure, including conduits, ducts and manholes, in order to help reduce the costs of infrastructure deployments.

The proposed regulation would also see new buildings created with ducts in the architecture to facilitate broadband installation.

BT leaves competition behind in broadband project as final competitor exits

IT services company Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) is to provide services aimed at modernising and developing efficiencies at Southern Water.

IT transformational services will be focused on both back and front-office operations including revenue management, internal redevelopments and customer services.

Services will be aimed at increasing mobility and customer interaction with support being focused at flexible web and mobile deployments.

TCS will also deliver analytical services and tools to drive the value of intelligence in the business.

Darren Bentham, chief customer officer at Southern Water, said: “The transformational programme TCS is delivering will support two of our major goals: increase a customer’s ability to find a solution through self-service channels; and empower our teams to deliver flawless service with first time resolution”.

The contract value was not disclosed.

New delivery centre constructed by TCS in Liverpool to comply with regulation

A 10-year £1.6 billion contract to supply search and rescue services has been awarded to U.S. firm, the Bristow Group.

The move to the privatisation of search and rescue services, away from services currently carried out by the MoD, is expected to generate significant savings alongside increased coverage.

Services will be provided from two Welsh bases, located at Caernarfon and MoD St Athan. The new service with greater coverage is expected to improve flight times to incidents by 20 percent.

The Bristow Group is not a newcomer to the U.K., having already rescued 7,000 people in operations throughout the country. It currently provides services in Netherlands, Norway, Trinidad and Tobago, Australia, Russia, Brazil and Canada.

Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service go live with Public Services Network

Centrica have entered into a 20-year deal with U.S. shale gas suppliers as it looks to take advantage of the U.K. demand for gas.

The U.K. is placing increasing demand on alternative sources for gas, with pipelines failing to meet requirements at peak demand. With the U.K suffering from a protracted period of cold weather, fears have mounted surrounding the sustainability of energy supplies and the threat of blackouts.

Gas line closures sparks price surge

The growth of U.S. shale gas production has created an attractive and competitive opportunity for the U.K. market, for the owners of British Gas.

Sam Laidlaw, Centrica’s chief executive, said of the deal: “In an increasingly global gas market, this landmark agreement represents a significant step forward in our strategy, enabling Centrica to strengthen its position along the gas value chain and helping to ensure the UK’s future energy security.”

The deal with Cheniere Energy is expected to provide the first exports by 2018.

The growth of the shale gas market has seen U.S. firms provide gas to multiple countries, with companies from Korea, Spain, Indian and France all recently agreeing on shale gas contracts.

Tekelec which delivers services including network signalling, mobile data management and mobile subscription services, has been purchased by Oracle, as the IT giant continues to expand its communications portfolio.

The deal is expected to be finalised in the first half of 2013, with Oracle looking to capitalise on recent acquisitions and the increasing use of mobile services.

The deal will also bring Tekelec’s customers under the roof of Oracle, including main telecoms providers such as T-Mobile, AT&T, Verizon and Orange.

Oracle CEO, Larry Ellison, described how the company was looking to become: “one of the most strategic suppliers to telcos overall, which involves broadening our footprint of what we supply them”.

Oracle acquires Acme Packet for $1.7 billion

The UK Border Agency (UKBA) is to be closed down after continued poor performance, with its role being taken back by the Home Office.

The Home Office will now take back the functions that had been originally taken over by the UKBA in 2008, what the agency split off from the Home Office as a separate organisation.

Home Secretary, Theresa May, had told MP’s that the UKBA’s “performance was not good enough” echoing the comments of past Home Secretaries.

Mrs May added: “The Agency struggles with the volume of its casework, which has led to historical backlogs running into the hundreds of thousands.”

The return of services provided by the UKBA to under the Home Office will see MP’s being directly reported to. "UKBA was given agency status in order to keep its work at an arm's length from ministers. That was wrong. It created a closed, secretive and defensive culture", said Mrs May.

The move comes after the UK Border Force separated from the UKBA in 2012, having since gone on to enjoy significant performance benefits from the move.

Expectations are now on how the new division of the services carried out by the UKBA will affect its past ‘ineffective performance’, having undergone division in the past with no turnaround.

Government criticises UK Border Agency inaccuracies

Capita have acquired STL Technologies, who specialise in providing legal software and services to criminal justice agencies, including the courts, as well as immigration and police services.

The acquisition will increase Capita’s offering to departments involved in the justice sector, aimed at increasing UK public sector contract uptake as a whole to deliver a multi-service offering, alongside the company’s current public sector contracts.

“The acquisition of STL will provide further depth to the range of solutions we offer the emergency services, criminal justice system and wider public and private sector clients”, said Andy Parker, Capita joint chief operating officer.

Barnet Council saved by Capita

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