Cabinet approved the award of three contracts at its meeting held last Monday.

Among the contracts is one for the completion of a nationwide active reference network based on Global Positioning Systems (GPS).

The contract has been awarded to Spatial Innovision Limited in the sum of US$452,000 (J$32.5 million).

The GPS/Virtual Reference Station (VRS) Network, which consists of 13 high precision GPS base stations, will be strategically positioned across the island to collect positioning data.

Organisations will benefit

The network will provide government organisations and the private sector with land-related and position-fixing services to significantly reduce the costs of under-taking cadastral surveys.

The submission for work to be done to complete the network came from the Ministry of Agriculture and Lands.

Approval was also given for the Registrar General's Department (RGD) to award a two-year contract to Eagle Courier Services for the provision of courier services in the RGD's Delivery Zone Nine, comprising Clarendon and Manchester and Delivery Zone 11, which is Hanover, Trelawny and St James.

The contract is worth $19 million.

The RGD has responsibility for registering all vital events, births, stillbirths, marriages and deaths occurring in Jamaica. Prompt certificate delivery is an integral component of the RGD's function and customer service delivery.

The submission was made by the Ministry of Health and Environment.

In the case of the third contract awarded, the Ministry of Energy, Mining and Telecommunications sought approval of the variation in the amount of $16.2 million to a contract which was awarded to Quality Plus Contracting Company Limited for implementing extensive repairs to Gasolene Storage Tank 111 at Petrojam.

The original contract amount was $36.8 million and the variation will result in a new contract of $53 million.

In March 2007, Cabinet gave approval for repairs to be carried out by Quality Plus Contracting Company on Tank 111. During the repair work, an inspection revealed that the condition of the tank had deteriorated beyond that which was initially determined when the project was tendered.

It was explained to the Infra-structure Subcommittee that Petrojam proceeded with the additional works, as failure to carry out the additional repairs would shorten the useful life of the tank and could have led to leakage of gasolene if returned to service as is.

The Infrastructure Subcommittee noted the 'no objection' of the National Contracts Commission and recommended Cabinet's ratification of the variation in the amount of $16.2 million to a contract which was already awarded to Quality Plus Contracting Company for undertaking extensive repairs to Gasolene Storage Tank 111.

- JIS