DIO starts bidder discussions on Scotland and Northern Ireland estate
The Regional Prime Scotland and Northern Ireland is estimated to be worth between £200m and £350m over a five-year period. It spans approximately…
The Regional Prime Scotland and Northern Ireland is estimated to be worth between £200m and £350m over a five-year period. It spans approximately 30 key sites including RAF Leuchars, RM Condor, and Glencorse Barracks in Scotland, and Aldergrove Airfield, Thiepval Barracks and Kinnegar Logistics Base in Northern Ireland.
Up to five representatives from each of the bidders - Carillion Enterprise Ltd, Interserve (Defence) Ltd, Babcock Support Services Ltd and TurnerHenry - will now attend an initial one-day ‘competitive dialogue’ session at Forthview House in Rosyth, the main DIO offices in Scotland.
The bidders will engage in one-on-one discussions with the NGEC team, exploring their planned approach to delivering key services such as:
- estate asset maintenance
- management information systems
- energy management
- land management services (e.g. asset disposals, acquisitions, leasing and rent collection)
- helpdesk provision
- technical and professional support
During the one-on-one discussions each bidder will also be asked to share supply chain development plans, and will be encouraged to offer innovative solutions for reducing estate management costs.
Following the initial dialogue, bidders will then be asked to develop outline solutions to meet the service requirements. Further dialogue will follow, with each bidder being invited to submit a more detailed technical solution in summer 2012.
John Brennan, the contract project manager, said:
Defence transformation is driving fundamental changes to the military estate, including the scope of this geographically varied and challenging contract. These discussions should provide bidders with a coherent understanding of what is needed, from which to develop innovative and cost-effective solutions to support our Armed Forces.
The successful bidder can expect wider responsibilities than current DIO industry partners, so we are also considering the bidders’ capacity in new areas such as managing energy consumption, reducing carbon emissions, and providing more comprehensive asset data and estate-related management information.
David McLaughlan, the NGEC commercial manager, said:
A good prime contractor needs healthy, robust supply chain arrangements, which is why we will be exploring bidders’ plans in this area of development during this key stage in the procurement process. For smaller businesses with innovative estate solutions, the message is to make your offering known to each of the four bidders for this contract as early as possible.
To help small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to engage with shortlisted bidders on potential supply chain and subcontracting opportunities, contact details for each bidder are available on the NGEC website (see related links).
The contract is expected to be awarded by early 2014 and in service by mid 2014. In due course a similar competitive dialogue process will be run for the three regional primes for England and Wales, and the parallel National Housing Prime and National Training Estate Prime contracts.