lighting, sewage, and other systems at the Airport for the next three years.

The three-year contract is expected to cost Government more than the $4.4 million a year it will pay a Canadian firm to run Airport operations, under a separate contract.

By Monday's 5 p.m. deadline, bids were received from: Brown & Root Services Corp. of Houston, Tex.; Day & Zimmerman Services of Greenville, S.C.; Frontec of Ottawa, Canada; Global/Belmont JV Ltd. of Reston, Va.; Halifax Corp. of Alexandria, Va.; and Serco-IAL of the United Kingdom.

Serco-IAL is the parent company of Serco Aviation Services Inc. of Canada, which was recently awarded the five-year air operations contract.

"The (infrastructure) contract will be probably in excess of the Serco (Canada) contract, but it looks like we'll be able to get good value for money for the Government of Bermuda,'' Bases transition manager Mr. Ken Stubbings said.

Mr. Stubbings would not state the price range for the bids. But he said there was a lower-priced group of three bids with similar prices, and a higher-priced group of the three bids with similar prices.

The contractor selected -- who is expected to use Bermudian sub-contractors -- will be responsible for runway lighting, water service, standby power, and building maintenance, among other duties.

Mr. Stubbings said Government would spend the next two to three weeks evaluating the bids and hoped to have the contract awarded by mid-March at the latest. The contractor is to assume responsibility for various systems in phases, starting with runway lighting on June 1 and concluding with building maintenance on August 1.

The bids will be assessed by two teams -- one technical, and one financial, Mr. Stubbings said.

Bermudianisation "will be a major evaluation criteria addressed by the technical team,'' he said.

The successful contractor will have to "work very closely'' with Serco of Canada, Mr. Stubbings said.

Also yesterday, Serco released a breakdown of the 161 applications it received for seven air traffic controller, 11 electrical technician, 33 firefighter, five weather forecaster, and five weather observer jobs at the Airport.

In air traffic control, there were two experienced applicants and 30 potential trainees, Serco project manager Mr. Don Parrish said. In crash, fire, and rescue there were 13 experienced applicants and 51 potential trainees. In ground electronics, there were four experienced applicants and 27 potential trainees. In the weather field, there were no experienced applicants and 26 potential trainees.

Twenty-eight other applications were not considered because they came from foreign nationals with no family ties to Bermuda.