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.
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.
Maj Gen (Retd) Jamie Gordon, Chief Executive, Council Reserves
Forces’ and Cadets’ Association said:
I see the delivery of Hard Facilities Management on the Volunteer
Estate by the Built Estate suppliers providing the RFCAs with the
opportunity to transform the approach in assuring statutory and
mandatory compliance and providing a safe place for reserves and
cadets to work and train.
It also keeps the RFCAs front and centre in its role of
maintaining and developing the Volunteer Estate. This is but one
of the changes that the RFCAs have enacted to deliver their vital
support of the reserves and cadets over the last 115 years.
Jerry Moloney, Managing Director of VIVO Defence Services, said:
We are proud to work for the UK military and its partners through
the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and are committed to
ensuring the services we provide help enable our country’s
defence capability.
Extending our Hard FM services to the Volunteer Estate, via the
important work we already do on the military’s Built Estate
across the central and southwest regions, is a natural
progression and we are very much looking forward to mobilising
and working with this critical part of the MOD as well.
Grant Cristall, VINCI Facilities Regional Director, Defence,
said:
We are very pleased to have secured the Hard FM services to the
Volunteer Estate. This great opportunity brings the learnings
from the FDIS framework and regional estate mobilisation and
service delivery and will support the ambition to improve the
estate and provide safe places to work and train.
We look forward to working with the RFCA team in the development
of these important strategic infrastructure assets.
Brian Talbot, Managing Director, Central Government &
Defence, Mitie, said:
We’re proud to be supporting the Ministry of Defence by extending
our services to include the Volunteer Estate. We’re committed to
supporting our military personnel, including the important role
our cadets and reservists play, and look forward to bringing our
technology-led facilities transformation services to ensure they
have safe and sustainable sites to meet their needs.
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.
