20 September 2005

The Highways Agency has announced the award of a Private Finance Initiative (PFI) contract for its £490 million National Roads Telecommunications Services (NRTS) project. Detica, a leading IT consultancy specialising in information intelligence, is playing an instrumental role in advising the Agency on this major initiative that supports the delivery of real-time information to drivers using England's motorways and main roads.

The ten-year NRTS project will provide a telecommunications backbone for a range of new highway services, involving the provision of new systems that will link over 14,000 message signs, emergency phones, CCTV cameras and traffic monitoring systems to the Agency's network of traffic control centres.

Commenting on the project, Richard Bradshaw, Senior Transport Consultant at Detica, explains: "The step change to NRTS will bring the Agency up-to-date with consistent internet-based technologies, similar to those being implemented by the major national telecoms operators. As well as increasing the reliability and timeliness of information that is made available to the Agency, its partners and motorists, the Highways Agency will also be in a good position to deploy new services such as wireless communications, faster and more easily than ever before."

He continues, "NRTS will become the central nervous system for the Highways Agency. With more services and the faster transmission speeds that NRTS enables, the Agency will have the potential, with the appropriate use of analytics, to provide better information to motorists when planning their journeys and using the motorways."

During the initial phase for NRTS, Detica analysed the Agency's future communications requirements, capacity in the telecommunications market to supply these requirements and technology trends in the industry. As the project progressed, the consultancy also helped to manage the specification, procurement and tender evaluation process. The successful bidder is a consortium led by Fluor, an international engineering firm.

Detica is advising the Highways Agency on the NRTS project as part of the KHHD consortium, which comprises KPMG Corporate Finance, Hyder Consulting, Herbert Smith and Detica.

Sally Clift or Rachel Ringstead Porter NovelliTel: +44 (0)207 853 2222email: or