The first of a new suite of contracts to provide key services for the UK Armed Forces on overseas Ministry of Defence (MoD) bases has come into service.
The £155m contract which is for an initial period of seven years, was awarded to Mitie in May by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) for the provision of maintenance work, repairs, servicing, and hard facilities management to the MoD’s estate in Gibraltar, and is expected to directly sustain around 200 jobs.
It is the first contract to come into service under DIO’s new Overseas Prime Contracts (OPC) programme, which will also see further contracts come into force at Defence sites including Cyprus, Germany, the Falkland Islands and Ascension Island.
The new contracts have been developed taking into account recommendations for improvements to the current arrangements and will mean a better service for military personnel based overseas. They seek to provide better value for money and quicker repairs, reducing bureaucracy and unnecessary processes to keep the estate operational.
Greater alignment to current industry standards will mean increased collaboration between DIO and its suppliers and allow for services to be better tailored to the requirements of specific sites. A new, integrated software system will enable information to be shared more effectively.
The contracts have been designed to promote more efficient processes and the quicker delivery of high volume, lower value works, ensuring increased value for money. Performance targets will encourage a high standard of repairs and reduce the need for repeat visits.
DIO’s Chief Operating Officer David Brewer said: “DIO is committed to supporting people across the Armed Forces who depend on us to provide facilities and essential services which allow them to work safely and securely.
“This important milestone follows years of hard work to design a contract that builds on the successes of existing hard facilities management arrangements while adding additional services and improvements to improve the quality of life for our Armed Forces in Gibraltar.”
Brian Talbot, Managing Director, Central Government & Defence, Mitie, commented: “As proud supporters of the British Armed Forces, we are delighted to be running the new Overseas Prime Contract for Gibraltar. We are committed to working with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to improve services for our Armed Forces based in Gibraltar, delivered by our exceptional colleagues and building on the technology solutions we have implemented on our Future Defence Infrastructure Services contract in Scotland and Northern Ireland.”
The next OPC contract to be awarded will be for hard facilities management in Cyprus in early 2023, with the final contract to be the South Atlantic Islands in summer 2024.
