The contract for providing the Scottish Road Works Register service for the next five years has been awarded to Symology Ltd. The scope includes a fully hosted service for the national centralised Road Works Register, including electronic notification and integrated digital mapping. Plant Information Requests and a "Dial before you Dig" service are also included.
The contract includes options to extend the service both to allow exchanges of data in real time between SRWR and individual works management systems and to provide a centralised electronic records service for all underground apparatus. The overall service will be backed up with a comprehensive range of maintenance, support, help-desk and training services.
The decision was made following a detailed evaluation of the bids submitted by six short-listed organisations, based on determining the offering that provided a comprehensive, quality solution on the most economically advantageous terms.
John Gooday, in his role as Scottish Road Works Commissioner, is the "Keeper of the SRWR". He commented "Following a rigorous procurement process, I am pleased to confirm that Symology will be the provider of our new SRWR service. This is not 'business as usual' as the contract contains a number of additional enhancements over the current service with the option to add other innovative services, particularly the possibility of centralised access to electronic underground apparatus records. The Scottish road works community has worked very closely with Symology in developing the current service and I am sure that they will continue to do so and keep SRWR at the leading edge of such systems worldwide."
Susiephone Ltd is responsible for arranging the provision of the SRWR on behalf of the Commissioner. Brian Cooper, Chairman, explained "…The Directors are proud to be involved with the ongoing provision of the SRWR by enabling the contract re-tendering process. The continuation of the SRWR service with the enhancements included in the new contract specification will significantly benefit not only the user community but other organisations and the travelling public as well.
Ken Hickson, Chairman of Symology Ltd, added "We are delighted to retain the Scottish Road Works Register contract for another term, and view this as an endorsement of the hard work we have done over the last five years to establish the Register to its current level of functionality. This has only been possible because of the excellent partnership relationship that has been established with the Scottish community. We are determined to build further on this and continue the incremental improvement process, to ensure that the SRWR retains its position as the most advanced system of its kind".
a consultation on proposals to revise the existing Safety at Street Works and Road Works Code of Practice was launched today on the DfT website. The purpose of the Code is to ensure that road users and operatives at sites remain safe when works are taking place in the highway. All the relevant documents, including the consultation paper and pro forma for responses can be found at:
http://www.dft.gov.uk/consultations/open/2010-15/
DfT welcomes responses from all interested parties. If you would like to respond please can you complete the pro-forma and send it to STREETWORKS.safety@dft.gsi.gov.uk by 5pm on 2nd June 2010.
The formal consultation has begun on the Specification for the Reinstatement of Opening in Highways - 3rd Edition that will apply in England and Wales. Although there has been representation on this working group from Scotland, the specification will not apply to Scotland in its current format. A Scottish working group has been formed to review the specification and amend the references, to take into account local agreements and to produce a new annex looking at alternative materials specific to Scotland. Once this working group have reported back, the Specification for the Reinstatement of Opening in Roads - 3rd Edition will undergo formal consultation through the Scottish Government at which time the Scottish community will be given the opportunity to contribute.
There are various examples of good practice, 38 cases in total, that have been published on the NJUG website. These case studies align with the principles set out within the NJUG Vision for Street Works document. The following link will provide more information: NJUG Case Studies
Nominations are required for HSC 10 Industry awards. This year the work on the Scottish Road Works Register was recognised by being nominated as a finalist in the Product Invention and Innovation category.
This was the only submission from Scotland and we would like to think that we should be in a strong position to be nominated in a number of areas given the good work we are doing. So, if you have done or are about to do something which is different and which makes a contribution, then please consider submitting an entry. More information and a nomination form can be found on the HSC website at: http://www.surveyorevents.com/hsc10/awards.aspx . Please note that your entries must be received by 11th January 2010
At the beginning of April the DfT re-published a revised version of Chapter 8 of the Traffic Signs Manual, now available on their website at: Revised Version of Traffic Signs Manual