NVT Group now an aglomeration of NVT Computing and Wisdom Consulting, based in Bellshill and Flame Multimedia located in Central Glasgow.  Flame recently entered into a partnership with GeoGraphics Design Consultants.

The new joint partnership is called Geo-Flame and has been created to provide a complete design service in both web and print  giving the group a claimed edge over its competitors in provision of a full digital service.

In the seven months since NVT won the framework contract with the Scottish Government The Herald now reports that this could provide £6.8m of revenue over four years, always depending on how many government agencies opt in to the shared computer support.

Stephen Park Brown (right)  MD NVT, said the contract was currently on track for around 50% of that goal, Strathclyde Police being the latest organisation to join. NVT landed the contract previously held by a major non-Scottish competitor.

Park Brown said: “In the past, many agencies were doing their own thing, we did a marketing campaign and a social networking site to let everyone know, and we put a big emphasis on [reducing our] carbon footprint."

NVT is also allowing new users to
sign up for the remainder of the four to five-year framework term, rather than insist they take a four-year contract from when they join.

NVT maintains around 40,000 items for government users, but  Park Brown is on record: “We think local government in most cases has got so much duplication in there that they don’t want to fall in line with this.

“In my opinion individual councils do not pay enough attention to what other agencies are trying to do by sharing and reducing costs, there is empire-building at every level all over the public sector.”

But as empires go, NVT lifted its turnover by a third to £8m by September 2010 year end, profits only down marginally at £616,000, as the contract got under way incurring start-up costs.

Park Brown says “There is a paradigm shift out there ... people are asking why not look at Scottish and smaller businesses to help us reduce costs?”

[Postscript: another NvT potential security teamup?]