News story

Shortlisted bidders announced for national housing contract

The National Housing Prime will start in 2013, providing repairs and maintenance to more than 49, 000 UK military homes, grounds maintenance…

This was published under the 2010 to 2015 Conservative and Liberal Democrat coalition government

The National Housing Prime will start in 2013, providing repairs and maintenance to more than 49, 000 UK military homes, grounds maintenance, and housing construction projects with an individual value of up to £3.93 million.

Subject to further review the contract could potentially also provide occupancy management activities such as housing allocations, move-in move-out services, and the provision of furniture and fittings.

The shortlisted companies are Carillion Holdings Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd, Babcock Support Services Ltd and Kier Ltd and Turner Facilities Management Ltd.

Air Commodore Alan Opie, Head of DIO Accommodation, said:

DIO’s top priority is to support our Armed Forces. A vital element of this is to ensure we continue to provide our military personnel and their families with good accommodation and related services, which also demonstrate value for money.

Successful collaborative partnering is the key to meeting this requirement, so it is vital that we use the procurement process to identify the best possible industry partner for this significant commercial arrangement.

DIO’s Next Generation Estate Contracts (NGEC) team will now stage detailed ‘competitive dialogue’ discussions with the three bidders.

Colonel Bill Morris, the DIO’s contract project manager, said:

This opportunity has attracted a huge span of businesses of differing sizes and specialisations, and I am delighted that we now have three experienced organisations selected to proceed to competitive dialogue for this prime contract.

These contractors now need to build a healthy and competitive supply chain involving a range of enterprises to deliver the housing service to military families.

During the evaluation of potential bidders, the NGEC team used electronic tendering software to evaluate the evidence of capacity and capability submitted in pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs). This included financial standing, quality assurance, technical capability, health and safety, environmental management, and equal opportunity and diversity.

It is expected that the contract will be awarded in late 2012, and run from April 2013 for five years, with the option to extend it by a further five years. It will replace the current housing contract for England and Wales and the separate arrangements for provision of housing in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

To help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) identify potential supply chain and subcontracting opportunities, the NGEC programme will shortly publish contact details for the shortlisted bidders.

Published 4 August 2011