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View Paper |
Session Topic: 8D, How NMIs are Reacting to Change |
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Paper Title: Government Ownership Contractor Operation of the UK's National Physical Laboratory - a Septennial Report |
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Date & Time: WEDNESDAY, August 7, 2002 |
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2:30 - 4:00pm - PARALLEL SESSIONS - SESSION 8 |
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Speaker: David Richardson
National Physical Laboratory |
Email: David.Richardson@npl.co.uk |
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The 1990’s saw more change in the UK’s national metrology infrastructure than at any other time in the last century. At the beginning of the 1990’s, the UK government’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) owned and operated an extensive network of laboratories with a long history of scientific success. However it was government policy to transfer operational assets to private ownership or operation. DTI saw its role as supporting fostering a thriving science base, without necessarily owning it. In the case of the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the UK’s national standards laboratory, DTI decided to continue with Government ownership but with the introduction of private sector management. This model is known as Government Owned Contractor Operated (GOCO). In 1995, DTI awarded the contract to operate NPL to NPL Management Ltd (NPLML), a wholly owned subsidiary of Serco Group plc. All NPL staff transferred to NPLML and all operations, both scientific and support, became the contractual responsibility of the company. This paper will review seven years’ experience of this initiative. Key issues addressed will include:
1. Managing cost reduction and growth;
2. Improving the quality of programme development and delivery;
3. Sustaining the mission and scientific excellence;
4. Making partnership with Government a reality;
5. Evolution in staff management and structure.
The paper will conclude by examining the impact of GOCO operation on the performance of NPL as the UK’s national standards laboratory and considering the future of the laboratory under this arrangement. |
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