National Air Traffic Service to dump EDS (300)

EDS and Network SI are set to lose the outsourcing contract from the National Air Traffic Services (NATS) division of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA). It emerged today that former financial director Richard Brett has left the organisation. CAA and NATS now have separate financial directors.

NATS was spun off on 1 April last year and looks after routing of aeroplanes in British air space. It is jointly funded by both the Ministry of Defence and the CAA.

But a source at the CAA revealed that both EDS and Network SI are likely to lose the contract before the end of the current financial year. ?There are three others in the frame,? he said. ?EDS and Network SI weren?t big enough to handle us. The deal expires at the end of this financial year.?

Two of the likely candidates to take up the work at both the CAA and NATS are IBM and ICL/Fujitsu. ?Both of those are probably still in the frame,? the source said.

A spokesperson for CAA and NATS, which still share the same press office, said: ?The only tender going out is for NATS. The CAA still does most of its own work inside. It?s a bit of a mix-up.?

She said that now Brett had left, there were two financial directors, one for the CAA and one for NATS. ?NATS' financial director is Dr Peter Johnson while the financial director for the CAA is Anthony Herron,? she said. These take overall responsibility for IT.