About Stichting Incident Management Nederland
The contracting of recovery companies by open tender procedures
SIMN ("Stichting Incident Management Nederland") is a collaborative venture bringing together emergency assistance centres active in the recovery of passenger vehicles. On behalf of the affiliated emergency assistance centres, SIMN is responsible for the contracting of recovery companies that operate on trunk roads.
Contracts are established through the periodic organisation of open tender procedures. In these tender procedures, contracts are awarded according to which for a limited period of time, all recovery work in two hundred precisely described districts is awarded to a single company (for each district).
Calling out recovery companies to individual accidents
Stichting Incident Management Nederland is also responsible for calling out recovery companies to deal with individual accidents. This second, more operational task, is executed by the so-called Landelijk Centraal Meldpunt (National Centre Reporting Point) (or "LCM").
The LCM acts as the central contact location for incoming reports of incidents by the Police and road managers. Each report received by the LCM is translated into an order to the recovery company in possession of a contract with the Stichting or another contracting party for the location and the vehicle in question. The LCM is able to fulfil this task having been provided by all major contracting parties with a vehicle registrations file and a file of all the recovery companies contracted by them.
Whereas the contracting activities of the Stichting are restricted to recovery work on trunk roads, the activities of the LCM cover the entire road network. A detailed description of the activities carried out by the LCM on behalf of Stichting IMN can be found in this document (Dutch).