A Thomson-CSF led consortium has been forced to pull out of the bidding for a 50% stake in the UK Government-owned National Air Traffic Services (NATS) after it was inadvertently shown confidential information by a NATS consultant regarding the tender process.
The consortium, known as Airsafe, was expected to be one of the frontrunners in the race to take the air traffic services provider into a public/private partnership sometime next year. Aside from the French company, other major concerns involved in Airsafe included Air Services Australia, the government-run air traffic control services provider, and Innisfree, an investor in private finance initiative projects.
Thomson-CSF says Airsafe will now be dissolved following the disclosure that a member of the team "inadvertently received unauthorised information" from a consultant engaged by NATS. In a statement, NATS implied that the rules for submitting a tender had been broken, while Thomson-CSF said it "became aware of a failure on its part to to comply with the PPP process rules."
NATS is taking legal action against the unnamed consultants.
The Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR), which is responsible for the sale of NATS, says that it is "sifting" through eight other "expressions of interest" and will be issuing an "information memorandum" in the next two months to short listed bidders (Flight International, 25-31 July). The final decision will be announced by next April, says DETR.
Source: Flight International
