weather office as Government prepares for the departure of the US Navy.

But the owner of a local company is still hoping to win the contract.

Pennsylvania-based Unisys, a Forbes 500 company, was awarded the $696,000 contract, said Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons.

Four companies were invited to bid, and proposals ranged from $600,000 to $1.7 million, Dr. Gibbons told The Royal Gazette .

Marine Communications of Pembroke, the only local company invited to bid, submitted a higher price than the one from Unisys. Dr. Gibbons said there was another reason why the American contractor was preferred.

"We thought it provided the best value for money in terms of giving us a well-integrated weather facility,'' he said.

Mr. Peter Waterson, owner/manager of Marine Communications, said he did not believe the contract with Unisys was signed and he was continuing correspondence with Dr. Gibbons. "I have some technical differences of opinion with their selection,'' he said.

Marine Communications provided a global positioning system for the Island and electronic ramp control at the Airport.

Dr. Gibbons said yesterday he was not sure whether the contract had been signed, but "as far as we're concerned, the decision has been made''.

The Unisys system with computerised work stations might result in manpower savings, Dr. Gibbons said. The Navy had about 16 people in its weather service.

"Unisys also took 30 years worth of Bermuda climatological data to get a good handle on the type of weather systems, intensities, and that sort of thing that we can expect, and they based their recommendation on that particular data.'' The Navy is quitting Bermuda next September, and the new weather facility must be ready before Government and its contractor take control of air operations on June 1. As well as providing weather information for flights, the office will serve boaters and the general public.

The Navy is taking much of its weather equipment when it leaves. And some equipment, like the 30-year-old weather radar, had to be replaced anyway, Dr.

Gibbons said.

As part of the change, the weather office is being moved to a room inside the Civil Air Terminal from its current location in a building down the runway.

This will allow pilots to receive direct weather briefings inside the terminal building. A local company will be hired to prepare the room inside the terminal for the American contractor.

The Unisys work, expected to take about 20 weeks, is only to outfit the weather office. Bermuda's weather service will be provided by one of two companies which have bid on the over-all Airport contract, estimated to be worth $25 million to $50 million over five years.

Equipment provided by Unisys will include a weather radar, satellite feed capability for weather information, a weather balloon, and other standard equipment like barometers and rain gauges.

Weather equipment Unlike the one it is replacing, the new weather radar will have Doppler capability to detect turbulence and improve forecasting of hurricanes and other violent storms.

Unisys, with 50,000 employees, is an information services, technology, and software company. Its government services group provides weather radar and information to the US National Weather Service.