2.6m spent on making a press room

[Mr Pointy]

Al Gorithum said:

Eric Mc said:

Apparently they are using a Russian company too

Correct. What could possibly go wrong eh?

It's not as if the Conservative Party accepted money from Russians, or that a Russian paid to have a game of tennis with Boris etc....

MegaHertz were established in 1982 in Cambridge & have built many broadcast installations for various clients in the UK & abroad. The company was bought up in 2013 but if you look at the staff list it's still mostly British employees. The engineers & wiremen on the Downing Street job would almost certainly have been British.

[Eric Mc]

And the owners are.....?

[Mr Pointy]

55palfers said:

Can you imagine The Kremlin using a non Russian company?

Someone needs to be sacked. I am sure we have a suitable firm in the UK. Maybe use the BBC?

We do: MegaHertz is of them. Maybe their quote was best? Or would you prefer going to higher bidder?

If you think the BBC does broadcast installations you've revealed the extent of your lack of knowledge. I suggest you do some research before commenting.

[55palfers]

Mr Pointy said:

We do: MegaHertz is of them. Maybe their quote was best? Or would you prefer going to higher bidder?

If you think the BBC does broadcast installations you've revealed the extent of your lack of knowledge. I suggest you do some research before commenting.

There are some rude people about these days.

[jonby]

Mr Pointy said:

55palfers said:

Can you imagine The Kremlin using a non Russian company?

Someone needs to be sacked. I am sure we have a suitable firm in the UK. Maybe use the BBC?

We do: MegaHertz is of them. Maybe their quote was best? Or would you prefer going to higher bidder?

If you think the BBC does broadcast installations you've revealed the extent of your lack of knowledge. I suggest you do some research before commenting.

even if they did put in broadcast installations, whilst it might be better to use a British company than a Russian one, in my limited experience the BBC are the most incredibly inefficient and uncommercial organisation and when you try pointing out how & why, they just don't get it. They get way too much protection from the real world

[Pegscratch]

55palfers said:

There are some rude people about these days.

Especially those who know little about the subject matter and take offence when they're corrected.

If you told me I was configuring a multi-gigabit, multi-WAN, highly sensitive and high profile network to carry time sensitive broadcasts then I'd be most of a million in before I got to any network switching that needs to be installed. The fact that people equate a £20 to the ISP, "free" router on a £25/month no-SLA broadband package to something they can use as a barometer for the cost of enterprise infrastructure is hilarious in the least.

I'd hazard a guess that the lines that serve the building are most of £10k/month each, and there will be AT LEAST two.

[Eric Mc]

There is more to life than profit and loss and so-called "efficiency".

Stalin once said that the West would strangle itself and that he would sell them the rope. He wasn't wrong - although it will be the Chinese who fulfill his prediction.

[Pegscratch]

Pappyjohn said:

33 grand on broadband equipment.

That's a set of four ISR 4000s on a fairly good discount in my eyes.

[anonymous-user]

Even though I am sometimes involved in this type of 'public sector' work, I still struggle to comprehend the money involved.

Last year, one of my jobs was 2 or 3 hours a week project managing some (very) minor works in a hospital. There were a few fixtures and fittings to change, new floor coverings, one partition wall removed, some paint/decoration, and two new air con units were fitted.

It cost £297k for the work.

If a local builder was allowed to do it, and there didn't have to be dozens of NHS people involved in 'overseeing it', then I could have got it done for £25k.

[Mr Pointy]

55palfers said:

Can you imagine The Kremlin using a non Russian company?

Actually that's reminded me: they did. We built & installed a couple of studios & a large OB truck for Novosti which seemed to be run by scary gentlemen with military titles & one of our engineers & a few wiremen were in the Parliament when the tanks rocked up outside.

Ah Comrade Nadia, where are you now.

[Iminquarantine]

That the end result of £2.6m is some cheap chairs and a high school speech standard podium is mind boggling enough. But to get a Russian company to install IT and AV equipment in Downing Street is just going beyond incompetence. You can be sure every bit if that equipment has been through a Kremlin controlled lab, before being carefully put back in its original OEM packaging.

[Quisling]

Lets spend more on the NHS

As said by the same people screaming how piss poor value for money this is

i do wonder if they can see the connection?

[Mr Pointy]

Iminquarantine said:

That the end result of £2.6m is some cheap chairs and a high school speech standard podium is mind boggling enough. But to get a Russian company to install IT and AV equipment in Downing Street is just going beyond incompetence. You can be sure every bit if that equipment has been through a Kremlin controlled lab, before being carefully put back in its original OEM packaging.

Yep, it's outrageous. We should only install Britsh made networking equipment not the general stuff that comes out of a factory in China. Oh hang on; we don't make anything ourselves these days. Now what do we do?

Just remember the NSA have access to any Yank-built stuff, but maybe you think that's ok?

[Chipstick]

As a Contract Manager in the Public Sector, this thread does raise a smile.

[Iminquarantine]

Mr Pointy said:

Yep, it's outrageous. We should only install Britsh made networking equipment not the general stuff that comes out of a factory in China. Oh hang on; we don't make anything ourselves these days. Now what do we do?

Just remember the NSA have access to any Yank-built stuff, but maybe you think that's ok?

It's curious how you managed to take my statement and from it generate a post which is complete garbage and lacking in any insight or thought whatsoever.

Regardless of country of manufacture, if the project is owned by a Russian company, then they have control over the procurement. Off the shelf items from any country of manufacture can be diverted to Russia and messed with. If the contractor was a British, European or other friendly country company, then any equipment purchased - even if it was the same equipment - would be far less likely to end up in a lab in Russia.

[dai1983]

Imagine coating those flags in spermacide cost a fair bit.

[Pegscratch]

Iminquarantine said:

It's curious how you managed to take my statement and from it generate a post which is complete garbage and lacking in any insight or thought whatsoever.

Regardless of country of manufacture, if the project is owned by a Russian company, then they have control over the procurement. Off the shelf items from any country of manufacture can be diverted to Russia and messed with. If the contractor was a British, European or other friendly country company, then any equipment purchased - even if it was the same equipment - would be far less likely to end up in a lab in Russia.

You know most security software is done in Israel? Besides, it'll all be off the shelf kit and even if it is "messed with" by the British company that happens to be owned by Russians, it can all soon be flashed with off-the-shelf ROMs.

[Vanden Saab]

Iminquarantine said:

Mr Pointy said:

Yep, it's outrageous. We should only install Britsh made networking equipment not the general stuff that comes out of a factory in China. Oh hang on; we don't make anything ourselves these days. Now what do we do?

Just remember the NSA have access to any Yank-built stuff, but maybe you think that's ok?

It's curious how you managed to take my statement and from it generate a post which is complete garbage and lacking in any insight or thought whatsoever.

Regardless of country of manufacture, if the project is owned by a Russian company, then they have control over the procurement. Off the shelf items from any country of manufacture can be diverted to Russia and messed with. If the contractor was a British, European or other friendly country company, then any equipment purchased - even if it was the same equipment - would be far less likely to end up in a lab in Russia.

Am I missing something here, this is the new press room where the UK gov. announce things not a top secret MI5 briefing room. What possible benefit would there be for the Russians to bug it...

[Pegscratch]

Vanden Saab said:

Am I missing something here, this is the new press room where the UK gov. announce things not a top secret MI5 briefing room. What possible benefit would there be for the Russians to bug it...

Don't scrunch his tin foil hat.

[bitchstewie]

Vanden Saab said:

Am I missing something here, this is the new press room where the UK gov. announce things not a top secret MI5 briefing room. What possible benefit would there be for the Russians to bug it...

Press briefing room politicians (not just UK ones presumably) loitering and not always thinking they're speaking "on mic".

Turn it on its head.

If you could why wouldn't you?

I'm (totally) guessing that with this kind of thing the security services have some level of involvement/guidance so you'd assume if it isn't causing them any concerns that's sufficient.