FMJ Facilities Management magazine providing industry-specific intelligence to FM and property professionals
Ministry of Defence (MoD) sites used by Reserves and Cadets will benefit from new hard facilities management arrangements following an amendment to contracts.
Approval has been given to bring sites which make up the Volunteer Estate into the MoD’s existing Built Estate contracts, which already provide hard FM services to Defence facilities across the UK. The Built Estate contracts were awarded to Mitie, VIVO Defence Services and VINCI by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) in 2021.
The amendment will see 1,622 sites, which are supported by the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations (RFCA), receive key maintenance work, repairs, servicing and hard facilities management through the existing MoD Built Estate contracts.
The adoption of the Built Estate arrangements across the Volunteer Estate will not only achieve better value for money, but also deliver a higher standard of service for users by enabling the Volunteer Estate to build on the benefits of the contracts already in use across the Regular Estate.
These include the adoption of industry best practice maintenance standards, improvement in Health and Safety compliance and the use of improved technology to inform and manage the delivery of services.
Mobilisation of the new arrangements will follow the same best practice approach that was used to successfully mobilise the Built Estate contracts and will be completed for all four regions by 1 August 2024.
The decision to change the contract arrangements followed significant consultation with stakeholders and the completion of a Value for Money Study to determine if hard FM requirements could be more cost effectively met by Built Estate suppliers than through the existing arrangements.
James Crosfield, DIO’s Senior Responsible Owner for the Volunteer Estate Value For Money Study said: “I’m delighted that the MoD Built Estate contracts will now be adopted by the Volunteer Estate to deliver hard facilities management for the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations. This move supports the strategic alignment of the Volunteer Estate with the wider MoD Estate, generating a ‘one defence’ ethos and offers the opportunity to transform the approach to maintaining the Volunteer Estate.
“Mobilisation of these new arrangements will now commence following the best practice operational readiness approach, which was used to successfully mobilise the Built Estate contracts.”
