Consultancies awarded 4-year contract by the Ministry of Defence
Baines Simmons has partnererd Frazer-Nash Consultancy to win a new four-year contract from the Ministry of Defence. The multi-million pound contract will see the consultancies design training initiatives for the MOD, as the institution works to enhance its safety processes.
Baines Simmons, the aviation safety wing of professional services firm Air Partner, was founded in 2001. Baines Simmons specialises in aviation safety consulting, with an emphasis on aviation regulation, compliance and safety management. It counts more than 750 aviation organisations and more than 40 aviation authorities among its client base, offering them consulting, training and outsourced services. The firm believes it has trained more than 120,000 aviation professionals across multiple facets of the aviation industry.
The consultancy has been at the heart of the aviation safety industry for the best part of two decades, supporting the development and implementation of Defence Airworthiness Requirements since 2002. More recently, in November 2017, Baines Simmons was awarded a four-year contract to provide consultancy and training services to the EDA, supporting continued development and deployment of the full suite of European Military Airworthiness Requirements (EMARs). Meanwhile, earlier in 2018, it was also announced that the firm had secured two separate contracts with two NATO operating units to understand the benefits and the challenges associated with EMAR (European Military Airworthiness Requirements) implementation.
Building on this momentum, the firm has now been awarded the contract for the Safety Training for Error Prevention (STEP) programme, by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), in partnership with engineering specialist Frazer-Nash Consultancy. STEP is the successor to the Defence Aviation Error Management System (DAEMS) contracts, which were technical support initiatives designed to assist cultural change and facilitate the establishment of an effective Safety Management System (SMS) across the Defence Aviation Environment (DAE). With the formation of the Defence Safety Agency (DSA), there is the potential opportunity for STEP to deliver a Training Needs Analysis (TNA) to identify emerging training requirements across the other MOD regulatory domains and develop appropriate training and technical support solutions.
Frazer-Nash, an aerospace firm of around 800 employees operating from a network of twelve UK and Australian offices, will work with Baines Simmons, to provide support within the STEP programme to further embed Error Management (EM) and to support the progression towards the next stage of safety maturity, as an effective SMS is developed across the DAE. The contract for this work is worth between £2 million and £3 million, and will span the next four years, with the option of two one-year extensions. The agreement will also serve as a framework to support and facilitate safety-related sub-projects across the MOD.
Commenting on the contractors, Real Admiral Paul Chivers, Director MAA, said, “The Military Aviation Authority have been working with Baines Simmons over the last 6 years to comprehensively deliver Air Safety training. The awarding of the STEP contract will allow the MAA to continue delivering assured Air Safety training alongside our strategic partner with a common aim of ensuring an increased awareness of Air Safety with the Defence Aviation Environment.”
Meanwhile, Andy Llewellyn, STEP Programme Manager at Baines Simmons, said, “It has been a fantastic team effort to secure the STEP contract, which allows Baines Simmons and Frazer-Nash to build upon the success of the Defence Aviation Error Management System (DAEMS) programmes. Together with the safety professionals within the Military Aviation Authority (MAA) and those across the DAE regulated community (with whom we have worked to establish DAEMS), we have paved the way for the STEP programme. This represents a challenging but exciting opportunity and we will continue to act as trusted advisors to the MOD and assist in any way we can to ensure that an effective SMS prevails, not only within the DAE but across the MOD as a whole.”
Tim Andrews, Business Manager at Frazer-Nash Consultancy, added, “Working collaboratively, we look forward to providing change management, training analysis and specialist technical support to the programme, which will help the MOD to prevent accidents, reduce risk to life, enhance its operational capability and drive down unnecessary resource expenditure.”
