§ Mr. OatenTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when the contract to run the United Kingdom National Data Centre was put out to tender; [44340]
(2) the contract to run the United Kingdom National Data Centre was advertised; [44342]
(3) if the United Kingdom National Data Centre has responsibility for monitoring data provided by the United Nations on nuclear testing. [44341]
§ Mr. SpellarInvitations to tender for the contract to establish the UK National Data Centre were issued in June 1997, the project having been advertised in the MOD Contracts Bulletin on 15 January 1997. Tenders were received from the British Geological Survey, BGS, and a consortium comprising AWE, Serco and Assessment Services. The contract was subsequently awarded to the BGS and took effect in January 1998. When operational, the National Data Centre will be responsible for evaluating technical data supplied by the International Data Centre, IDC, which is being established in Vienna 313W under the provisions of the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty. The technical data will be provided by the IDC from monitoring stations established throughout the world as part of the International Monitoring System, IMS.