W.S.Atkins brief on NIMSA

Background to NIMSA

The National Interest Mapping Services Agreement (NIMSA) is a not-for-profit agreement between the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister (ODPM) and the Ordnance Survey. The purpose of the agreement is to provide funding to support the delivery of Geographic Information activities which are in the national interest but which cannot be delivered by the full cost recovery model operated by the Ordnance Survey under its Trading Fund status.

The existing NIMSA Agreement was established in the context of easing Ordnance Survey through the transition from vote-funded to Trading Fund status in 1999. At that time, the expectation was that, as Ordnance Survey’s customer base grew with the advent of national contracts like the Pan-Government Agreement, the need for NIMSA revenues would decrease over time.

The scope of NIMSA

The scope of NIMSA is underpinned by a three-part definition of the ‘National Interest’ enshrined in the existing Agreement as follows:

the public interest arising from the mapping of areas that would not otherwise be mapped if the judgement was made solely in terms of revenue generated by sales of that mapping alone. This is particularly crucial in regard to contingencies where there is typically no time to create new mapping: the information must be available ‘off the shelf’ as in the case of serious accidents or missing persons;
the benefits of having national consistency of content, currency, style and manner of mapping which is dictated by needs other than those of the local market. Two different categories of this exist: these are where the information is needed for defence purposes and where sizeable external economic benefits occur (such as from everyone using the same topographic framework and hence all other data collected ‘fitting together’ correctly); and
the inescapable requirement for the creation or maintenance of the underpinning infrastructure of the mapping (notably the geodetic framework), which is widely used by other bodies and by the public and where charging for use is either inappropriate or impossible (such as for the National Grid).

From an early stage in discussions on the current NIMSA agreement, a decision was made to limit the consideration of the National Interest as far as possible to the content, currency and quality of the large scale National Topographic Database, and not to the products derived from it. The rationale underlying this was that if the database was optimally maintained, then creation of products that met customer requirements should be an efficient and cost effective process. This distinction between database and product has been rigorously adhered to when reviewing any proposed changes to the current agreement. Hence NIMSA funding provides for the existence of certain underlying datasets, while income from sales and collective purchase agreements (such as the Pan-Government Agreement) pays for the production of specific products from that data.

The scope and range of activities funded under NIMSA has been updated regularly since the agreement’s inception. A significant review was undertaken in May 2003, which led to a reduction in the scope of the activities and corresponding contribution levels. The aim was to achieve a contribution level of approximately £14m per annum for the remaining three years to the expiry of the current agreement in March 2006.

The purpose of the Consultation Exercise

The main purpose of this consultation exercise is to gather views from a wide range of public and private sector organisations to help inform the development of specific ODPM proposals for the future of NIMSA beyond the expiry of the current agreement at the end of March 2006.

Prior to the start of the financial year 2005/06, ODPM will determine how the resources obtained under the Comprehensive Spending Review should be directed and allocated within departmental priorities for the three years starting April 2006. The findings from this consultation will assist ODPM to ensure that any future NIMSA funding for GI activities after March 2006 is appropriate, necessary and affordable.

In determining the future of NIMSA, four broad options are seen as follows:

(1) Continue with the agreement along the same lines as present, revising deliverables and associated targets as required;
(2) Significantly narrow the focus of the agreement to two or three key deliverables. These would likely involve revision of the topographic database outside urban (1:1250 scale) areas;
(3) Broaden the definition of the National Interest with consequent impact on the nature of the services and indeed who is best placed to deliver them;
(4) Stop the agreement altogether.

The consultation process

The consultation is being run according the Cabinet Office’s Code of Practice on Consultation. The Code sets out six criteria for effective consultation which are as follows:

1. Consult widely throughout the process allowing a minimum of 12 weeks for written consultation at least once during the development of the policy;
2. Be clear about what your proposals are, who may be affected, what questions are being asked and the timescales for responses;
3. Ensure that your consultation is clear, concise and widely accessible;
4. Give feedback regarding the responses received and how the consultation process influenced the policy;
5. Monitor your department's effectiveness at consultation, including though the use of a designated consultation co-ordinator;
6. Ensure your consultation follows better regulation best practice, including carrying out a regulatory Impact Assessment if appropriate.

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