Way is lit for Olympic bids
Feb 6 2008 by Sue Scott, Evening Gazette
A STOCKTON metal company has become one of the first on Teesside to sign up to a new tendering system that matches more than 50,000 contracts for the London Olympic project with local firms.
Launched last month by development agency One NorthEast and the Olympic Delivery Authority, the web-based CompeteFor system is an automatic “dating agency” that matches small and medium sized companies with potentially lucrative contracts, estimated to be worth £4.4bn locally by the time the Olympic torch enters the stadium in 2012.
Stadium Metal, which employs 165 staff with a turnover of £15m, and has been involved in tenders for national and international stadia, is hoping to secure a bid for lighting the dockside arena.
The company, which specialises in lighting columns and whose bread and butter work comes from street lamps, said the new tendering system offered a superb opportunity for smaller firms to get in on the act.
“When the website was launched we registered immediately,” said Stainton’s Kim Rigg.
“It’s not just street lighting for the stadium and infrastructure There are various other things we could supply, such as CCTV columns and flagpoles - there will probably be quite a few of those!
“The system has been very easy to use. Putting the company profile on and key words is simple and I check the emails regularly for alerts of potential contracts.”
