Guidance

Next generation estate contracts (NGEC)

Updated 12 June 2014

This guidance was withdrawn on 22 December 2016

This page has been archived as the contracts referred to have been let and are in operation.

1. Overview of changes to defence estate contracts

The defence estate plays a key role in supporting the armed forces as they prepare for operations by providing and maintaining infrastructure that meets military needs cost effectively. From 2014 the current arrangements with industry to provide management, maintenance and development of the UK defence estate will expire.

The Next generation estate contracts (NGEC) programme is replacing those arrangements with a mix of prime contracts and capital works frameworks designed to deliver the best possible service for the armed forces and the rest of UK defence, and achieve best value for money for the UK taxpayer.

The first framework are due to be awarded in summer 2013; the first prime contract will be awarded in early 2014 and be in service by summer 2014.

NGEC is working closely with Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) customers and industry to identify best practice and build it into these future commercial arrangements and with wider government to reflect current and emerging policy in the development and procurement of the new contracts and framework arrangements.

The programme aims to involve companies from across industry, irrespective of size or geographical location, whether as potential supply chain partners or potential prime contractors.

NGEC is following EU guidelines in advertising commercial opportunities in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU).

1.1 What is being delivered?

Following approval by the MOD Investment Approvals Committee (IAC), the NGEC team is developing and procuring a suite of new commercial arrangements that comprises:

• 4 regional prime contracts delivering routine maintenance services: 1. Scotland and Northern Ireland 2. north of England, Wales, the Midlands and east Anglia 3. south west England 4. south east England
• one national and six regional capital works frameworks delivering construction projects, with the possibility of additional functional frameworks for single living accommodation (SLA) and airfield pavements
• a single UK wide national housing prime contract delivering housing maintenance services across the UK
• a single UK wide national training estate prime contract delivering range technical support, hard facilities management (hard FM), soft facilities management (soft FM), and training range booking services

1.2 What is being replaced?

The current suite of estates contracts was let between 2003 and 2005, and comprises:

• 5 UK mainland regional prime contracts (Scotland, south west, south east, central, east) delivering core works and routine maintenance work to existing facilities
• 2 Northern Ireland regional contracts delivering routine maintenance work to existing facilities
• the housing prime contract delivering maintenance, improvements and full upgrades to military homes across England and Wales
• the Defence Training Estate (DTE) contract delivering management of training areas, camps and ranges across the UK
• Project SLAM delivering new-build single living accommodation at defence establishments across the UK

The future suite of DIO contracts is estimated to be worth from £500 million to £600 million per year, and more than £5 billion over 10 years, exclusive of construction projects and work funded by DIO customers and subject to future financial planning rounds.

2. Programme principles

In developing the future suite of contractual arrangements, the NGEC team follows a number of principles to ensure it delivers an outcome that is accountable, equitable and efficient:

• value for money
• assurance
• engagement with DIO staff and customers
• engagement with industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)
• engagement with wider government and the public sector
• other principles

2.1 Value for money

In the current fiscal climate it is essential that NGEC can demonstrate that the future contracts will deliver the estate required by our armed forces in the most cost-effective way; the tendering process will be used to ensure that successful bidders have the right culture of continuous improvement and value for money to be able to achieve this.

NGEC will introduce new measures to deliver value for money, including the use of mini-competitions for individual construction projects under the NGEC Capital Works Frameworks, and fixed price schedules and service modules under the prime contracts.

2.2 Assurance

NGEC is following the principles of Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Gateway™ process, and is running in 4 stages: initial gate business case, model research, model development, contract procurement and delivery through to main gate approval. The programme is currently at the model development stage.

2.3 Engagement with DIO staff and customers

NGEC is engaging with both DIO staff and customers to ensure lessons learnt from current commercial arrangements are built into the research and development of the new contracts, to meet future requirements.

During the initial research and model development stages, the NGEC team ran workshops with DIO staff and customers, and it continues to provide briefings with key internal audiences. Regional roadshows will be run for staff affected by transition to the new arrangements.

2.4 Engagement with industry, including small and medium-sized enterprises

NGEC is engaging closely with industry, tapping into its expertise and knowledge and opening up the commercial opportunities to widest possible array of potential prime contractors, subcontractors and supply chain businesses, across the UK and within the EU, irrespective of size or specialisation.

Research into estate procurement practices has included consultation with Shell UK and National Grid plc and NGEC has drawn on an earlier defence estate energy management study that was informed by organisations such as John Lewis, Sainsbury’s, M&S, Morrisons, EDF Energy, BP and Gaz de France.

Seminars, conferences and workshops are being held to brief industry on progress and gather companies’ views and expertise via professional organisations such as Constructing Excellence, ADS Group, the Civil Engineering Contractors Association, the Business Services Association and the DIO Suppliers Association.

NGEC has held industry focus groups seeking industry best practice to inform contract development across: life-cycle replacement, sustainability and energy, defining the requirement, tender pricing structure, frameworks, pricing and incentivisation, assurance, minor new works, relationship management, estate management, and risk management to make the emerging themes and way forward available to all industry.

During the tendering process for the prime contracts, NGEC is organising site visits for bidders to provide knowledge and affinity for customer requirements, and using competitive dialogue and negotiated processes to help them develop their tender solutions against the statement of requirement.

Local procurement and SMEs. NGEC aims to open the supply chain up to small and medium enterprises; the creation of regional core works frameworks should help towards that and NGEC is working with industry to explore options for greater involvement of smaller and local businesses in regional prime contracts.

2.5 Engagement with wider government and the public sector

NGEC has sought best practice from across wider government and the public sector, engaging organisations such as the OGC, Highways Agency, Home Office, National Health Service, Hampshire County Council, British Airports Authority, Ministry of Justice, and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Engagement with wider government will continue during the model development stage, to ensure that the future contracts are sufficiently flexible potentially to absorb work injected from other government departments. The aim is to establish commercial arrangements compatible with current and planned contracts elsewhere in government and the public sector, to support the HM Treasury vision for cross-government procurement.

2.6 Other principles

Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) and Future Force 2020

The NGEC contracts are designed to be sufficiently flexible to adapt to the emerging impact of wider change programmes on the future size and shape of the defence estate and the commercial activities required to maintain it.

Funding flexibility

The use of input and output specifications will enable DIO expenditure to be properly controlled and managed to ensure the new estate contracts are affordable within the current budget and sufficiently flexible to accommodate future fluctuations in defence spending.

Expertise

The NGEC team has been recruited from across DIO and from the wider public sector and industry, and includes staff with a variety of professional qualifications, and experience of both the current DIO commercial arrangements and contracting arrangements within other organisations.

Related information:

• NGEC programme leaflet

3. Progress and next steps

The NGEC programme aims to develop the optimum mix of future commercial arrangements for the defence estate, and to manage transition from the current commercial arrangements to the new suite of contracts.

From 2014 the current arrangements with industry to provide management, maintenance and development of the UK defence estate will expire. The NGEC programme is replacing those arrangements with a mix of contracts that will deliver the best possible service for the armed forces and the rest of UK defence and achieves best value for money for the UK taxpayer.

3.1 Progress to date

Since its inception the DIO NGEC team has:

• reviewed the current arrangements and researched future contract model options by consulting a wide range of defence, wider government and industry stakeholders, drawing on best practice and lessons learnt
• analysed various contract option packages and obtained MOD Investment Approvals Committee (IAC) approval for a preferred strategic way forward (announced in June 2010)
• run a series of industry focus groups to consult more than 60 private sector companies on key aspects of contract development
• invited expressions of interest (EOIs), held industry days, evaluated Pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQ), and announced shortlisted bidders for all prime contract and 2 capital works frameworks (east regional and national), and started the tendering process for some of these arrangements
• conducted a major programme review to deliver a revised procurement schedule that reflects the impact of various emerging factors, including the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR), the creation of DIO and the high degree of industry interest shown

Next steps

Following the programme review, the NGEC team will now:

1. develop plans for the procurement of the other regional capital works frameworks
2. continue the tendering process through to invitations to submit final tenders, conduct ‘SmartSource’ tender evaluations, and submit a main gate business case for each contract and framework to the IAC for approval
3. issue a Treasury Clearance Note for each prime contract for approval by the Chief Secretary to the Treasury
4. award these contracts to successful bidders, with the current aim of achieving this in a phased approach from 2013 (capital works frameworks) and 2014 (prime contracts)
5. manage the transition from ‘demobilisation’ of the current commercial arrangements to ‘mobilisation’ of the new suite of contracts and into a ‘steady state’ of operation

4. Industry days and potential bidders information

Information can be found in the ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

5. Future energy and water management

The MOD is committed to reducing energy and water (‘utility’) consumption across its estate, to reduce financial overheads and carbon emissions, as well as to reduce its dependency on non-renewable energy sources, and increase its usage of renewable energy.

Future MOD estate contractors and suppliers will play a key role in day to day utility management, and identifying and implementing measures to help the MOD to meet its aims and targets.

Central to MOD utility management is a metered network, providing real-time data at site and building level, from smart meters. Approximately 80% of defence energy consumption is currently smart-metered, and 90% of water supply into MOD sites is metered.

The MOD has exceeded its cross government Sustainable Operations on the Government Estate (SOGE) target to reduce carbon emissions by 12.5% by 2010/11 against 1999/2000 levels and water consumption by 25% by 2010/11. It reduced total water supply demand by 29% and energy emissions by 21.5%.

5.1 DIO centralised utilities management

Under the DIO, it is planned that energy and water usage will be managed in a more central, coordinated way. DIO will be responsible for managing demand across the entire defence estate, setting estate wide strategy policy for advancing energy and water efficiency within buildings, auditing utility management and contractor performance, and providing assurance to the MOD, DEFRA, the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC), and HM Treasury.

5.2 Knowledge store

Capturing and sharing best practice will be a vital feature of DIO utilities management. Where best practice is identified or developed, including ‘spend to save’ proposals, DIO will widen that knowledge across energy and water practitioners in DIO and among its contractors via a database of projects and initiatives. This will enable staff in utilities related roles in DIO and among its contractors, to search for and identify ideas and solutions.

5.3 Future contractor responsibilities

The DIO and its NGEC team are working up detailed utility management requirements within the four future Regional Prime contracts (Scotland and Northern Ireland; north of England, Wales, the Midlands and east Anglia; south west England; south east England), National Housing Prime (modified to reflect housing) and the National Training Estate Prime, under the following broad areas of responsibility:

1. Utilities management bureau

• each prime contractor will be required to set up a regional utilities management bureau, with the technical expertise to monitor and analyse site and building level smart metering data, and to work with the MOD to manage and rationalise energy and water consumption
• the regional bureau will supply regional data to a central DIO utilities office, collecting and interpreting data from main-gate meters and sub-meters in MOD establishments, and feeding into the MOD central utilities system
• the regional bureau will also be responsible for analysing the relative utilities performance of individual buildings, identifying and managing increases in consumption, and report on building energy and water efficiency, carbon emissions and costs
• where consumption of energy or water strays beyond expected levels, the bureau will be responsible for liaising with individual sites to identify and manage the issue

1. Surveys and auditing

• at the outset of the contract period, the prime contractor will be responsible for surveying utility metering arrangements currently in place within the geographical area, and will be required to identify and draw up business cases for whatever additional metering is required to ensure accurate and timely data that meets legislative standards
• subsequently the contractor will be required to conduct annual surveys of the metering arrangements and data generated, to ensure that any changes to the size, usage or function of the estate are understood and accurately reflected
• contractors will be required to use annual surveys to identify further opportunities for utilities management and savings initiatives

1. ‘Spend to save’ projects

• prime contractors will be required to identify potential energy ‘spend-to-save’ opportunities, such as overhauling existing MOD energy distribution networks, installing new heating and ventilation systems and insulation measures, running staff education and awareness programmes, and disposal of energy inefficient buildings, as well as measures to manage infrastructure risks and ‘resilience’
• prime contractors will be required to produce robust business cases for taking these opportunities forward, including prescriptive costs, benefits such as financial and carbon savings, and timeframes
• where prime contractors identify potential water efficiency measures, DIO will consider these on a case by case basis, where overall value for money is proven and the necessary funding is available.
• ‘spend to save’ measures will be recorded in the DIO opportunities database, to ensure that best practice is captured and shared by other contractors and energy practitioners across the defence estate
• each regional energy management bureau will be responsible for monitoring and reporting on the performance of ‘spend to save’ projects

5.4 Project Aquatrine

Under a 25 year PFI arrangement, responsibility for the supply of water and wastewater services to defence sites lies with three current service providers, namely: Kelda Water Services (Wales, Midlands and south west England), Veolia Water Nevis (Scotland), and Severn Trent Costain (northern, eastern and south east England). A key aim of the PFI was to reduce historic underlying water leakage from the defence estate. While Project Aquatrine delivers supply to buildings, the prime contractors will be responsible for managing in building water efficiency at site level.

DIO is also considering mechanisms to enable future prime contractors to inject their own or other private capital into energy options and efficiency schemes, on behalf of the MOD.

Finer detail on utility management plans and responsibilities under the future estate contracts will be available in due course.

6. Future sustainable development support

The MOD is among the UK’s largest landowners, with a diverse array of built, training and housing infrastructure, which uses significant amounts of energy and water and is potentially vulnerable to the physical effects of climate change. Many defence sites are situated close to civilian communities, creating social and economic benefits and impacts such as the creation of jobs, access to facilities, increased noise and traffic and the presence of large numbers of military personnel in towns. The estate also includes 160,000 hectares of rural estate, with areas of outstanding natural beauty such as woods, plains and lakes, rich in flora and fauna.

Under NGEC incoming prime contractors will be responsible for helping the MOD to meet its statutory and non-statutory aims, policies and the Greening Government Commitments and targets for sustainable development (SD). Contractors will be required to comply with Government Buying Standards, operate a certified Environmental Management System, and ensure that through-life costs and benefits are used in the development of new works.

(Please note that utilities management is covered separately on the ‘Future energy and water management’ section).

6.1 Sustainable procurement

While the prime contractors are ultimately responsible for delivering results, it is anticipated that SD work could potentially generate new supply chain and subcontracting opportunities for smaller businesses. Prime contractors will be responsible for working with the MOD on its commitments for reducing supply chain impacts, with an initial focus on carbon, water and waste.

6.2 Natural environment management

The MOD estate includes rural areas of outstanding natural beauty, spanning a wide range of designated sites and protected flora and fauna, maintained in some areas by MOD conservation groups formed of civilian and military staff and local volunteers. Contractors will be responsible for managing and maintaining these interests, which include ‘boundary features’ such hedgerows and ditches, parkland, ancient trees and woodland, semi-natural ecosystems and habitats, wetlands and inter-tidal locations. Maintenance activities could include vegetation control, repairs to walls, fences, drains, ditches, culverts and footbridges, heather-burning and cutting, fire-fighting, and land reinstatement following damage from military training.

6.3 Historic environment management

The Defence estate includes many buildings and structures of historic interest, including around 700 ‘scheduled monuments’, 800 listed buildings, and 10,000 archaeological monuments. Contractors will be responsible for the management and maintenance of these assets to standards prescribed by relevant MOD joint services publications, as well as English Heritage, etc

6.4 Statutorily designated nature sites

The defence training estate covers approximately 73,000 hectares of designated sites, including around 170 sites of special scientific interest (SSSIs), and enjoys a positive reputation for managing its biodiversity interests alongside military requirements. Contractors will be responsible for managing these sites to meet MOD statutory obligation to maintain and enhance the features for which these sites are designated, and meet statutory obligations for protected species. Contractors will liaise with defence establishments to develop site-level environmental management plans, working with MOD conservation groups and the statutory conservation bodies such as the Joint Nature Conservancy Council, Natural England, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Countryside Council for Wales, and the Northern Ireland Environment Agency.

6.5 Forestry and arboricultural management

The MOD estate includes around 15,000 hectares of conifer and broadleaf woodland, supporting operational, military training and conservation requirements, and for other purposes. The contractor will develop long-term plans for MOD forestry assets and commercial woodland, and woodland and trees within grounds maintenance, and implement as appropriate. Activities could include maintaining tree data, conducting tree surveys, re-planting, tree shelter maintenance, weed control, repairs to fences, gates and walls, thinning and brashing, coppicing, harvesting, tree surgery and hedge cutting.

6.6 Waste management

Under the Waste Charter between the MOD and its prime contractors, prime contractors will be responsible supporting MOD in meeting Greening Government targets and statutory waste obligations for recovering 80 percent of waste material resulting from construction, demolition, excavation, maintenance and repairs, progressing towards zero construction waste to landfill by 2020, and reducing waste to landfill by 25%from a 2009/10 baseline. On Defence training sites and other particular MOD sites, the contractor will also be responsible for managing waste disposal and recycling initiatives.

6.7 Sustainable communities

The MOD invests considerable time and effort in engaging with civilian communities that are local to defence establishments and therefore with a vested interest in defence activity. Prime contractors will support the MOD in promoting UK defence and maintaining good relations with local stakeholders.

6.8 Sustainable development reporting

The contractor will be required to provide performance data and annual reports against MOD sustainable development targets and metrics, including examples of good practice that can be publicised and shared across the contractor community. The reports will include recommendations on initiatives that could drive efficiency improvements across energy, waste, and water.

6.9 Public access

The MOD maintains a policy of enabling public access unless there are operational or training requirements, safety or security limits. The contractor will be responsible for providing management plans for the maintenance of MOD land subject to public access.

6.10 Environmental protection

The delivery of estate management activities can occasionally result in environmental incidents, such as contamination, oil and fluid spills, leakages, and accidental greenhouse gas emissions. The contractor will be responsible for recording and reporting these incidents and instances where incident have been narrowly avoided, using the MOD Health and Safety Management System, and updating land condition files where necessary.

6.11 Climate change adaptation

As a major landowner the MOD recognises the potential risks that climate change presents to its estate operations. Future contractors will be responsible for recording and reporting reactive maintenance triggered by abnormal weather events, participating in climate impact risk assessments, and contributing to site ‘risk and adaption’ plans.

Related information:

• DIO estate and sustainable development

7. Future estate information systems

DIO is committed to improving the quality of information on the condition of its buildings, infrastructure, and other estate assets. In support of that aim, DIO is currently developing and procuring a new Infrastructure Management System (IMS) to replace existing systems and applications with a single property management solution.

Incoming prime contractors will be asked to host an information system which is able to exchange data with any new IMS system that DIO may procure. DIO will work closely with prime contractors to develop new standards for data exchange. They will then be required to provide regular data to these new defined data standards and exchange formats for estate assets, contractor tasks and activities undertaken, with which to update and refresh central DIO records.

Prime contractors will be responsible for recording changes to the estate for which it is responsible, including acquisition, disposal, construction or demolition of assets, repairs, replacements, refurbishments, changes to asset usage – to ensure that it is reflected in estate data.

Prime contractors will be required to adhere to the new data standards and the existing policy on ‘Referencing MOD Property Assets’ (SPEC 024). This sets out the current standards for the recording and codification of estate assets (land parcels, buildings and infrastructure) in both electronic and non-electronic formats, and defines the correct codes and values for cataloguing defence establishments, tenure types and asset usage, to maintain data standards.

The provision of accurate and useful data will provide vital support to DIO in making investment and disposal decisions, in addition to routine maintenance and property management activity, and production of management reports.

8. Regional primes

Under the NGEC programme, DIO is developing and procuring four regional prime contracts for the provision of hard facilities management (Hard FM) across the UK defence estate. Each contract will deliver maintenance and repairs to the built estate, with other services including a 24/7 helpdesk for estate-users, a regional energy management bureau, grounds maintenance, and snow and ice clearance. The contracts also include options for land management services and construction projects valued below £3.93 million.

The contracts are being procured in two tranches. The first is for the regional prime covering Scotland and Northern Ireland. The second is the three regional primes as follows:

• regional prime Scotland and Northern Ireland: procurement
• regional prime central: procurement
• regional prime south west: procurement
• regional prime south east: procurement

8.1 Regional prime Scotland and Northern Ireland: procurement

The Regional Prime Scotland and Northern Ireland contract was launched in December 2010. The contract is to provide Hard Facilities Management (Hard FM) to the defence estate across Scotland and Northern Ireland. The contract will deliver maintenance and repairs to the built estate and will include options for lands management, rural services, and construction projects valued below £3.93 million.

The contract is estimated to be worth between £200 million and £350 million over an initial five-year period, with the option to extend it by a further five years. It will replace the current Regional Prime Contact (RPC) for Scotland and two estate contracts covering estate service delivery in Northern Ireland.

It is expected to be awarded by January 2014 and in service from July 2014.

The contract will cover around 30 key sites including Fort George Barracks, RM Condor, Glencorse Barracks and Craigiehall in Scotland, and Aldergrove Airfield, Thiepval Barracks and Kinnegar Logistics Base in Northern Ireland.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on 24 January 2011. An industry day was subsequently held at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, in March 2011, to brief potential bidders on the procurement process, and the scope of the Regional Prime Scotland and Northern Ireland contract and to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD. In June 2011 a shortlist of bidders was announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following the evaluation of PQQs. The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the PQQs. This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The four shortlisted bidders are:

• Carillion Enterprise Ltd: a joint venture between Carillion and Enterprise
• Interserve (Defence) Ltd
• Babcock Support Services Ltd
• TurnerHenry: a joint venture between Turner Facilities Management Ltd and Henry Brothers (Magherafelt) Ltd

In September 2012 these organisations attended familiarisation visits to 13 defence sites across Scotland and Northern Ireland. They attended initial one-day ‘competitive dialogue’ sessions at the DIO offices in Rosyth in April 2012, then in July 2012 were invited to submit their detailed solutions.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC potential bidders directory: bidders directory.

Related information:

• NGEC regional prime maps

8.2 Regional prime central: procurement

The contract is to provide hard facilities management (FM) to the defence estate across the north of England, Wales, the Midlands and east Anglia. It will deliver maintenance and repairs to the built estate, with other services including a 24/7 helpdesk for estate-users, a regional energy management bureau, grounds maintenance, and snow and ice clearance. It also includes options for land management services and construction projects valued below £3.93 million.

The contract is valued at between £800 million and £1.8 billion over a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years. It will replace 2 separate regional prime contracts (RPC Central and RPC east) currently in service.

It is expected to be awarded by March 2014 and in service by September 2014.

The contract covers more than 130 main defence establishments including Catterick Garrison, Beacon Barracks, Stafford, RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley training bases, DST Leconfield, Wattisham Airfield, RAF College Cranwell, and the intelligence and security centre at Chicksands.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on the 23 March 2012. An industry day was subsequently held at the Defence Academy Shrivenham in Wiltshire to brief potential bidders on the procurement process and the scope of the regional prime central contract, and to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD.

The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the PQQs. This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The 4 shortlisted bidders are:

• Axiam Ltd: a joint venture comprising Interserve Defence Ltd and DynCorp International LCC
• Babcock Support Services Ltd: a division of Babcock International Group plc)
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd: a joint venture comprising: Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• KBR: a proposed joint venture comprising Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd and Balfour Beatty Workplace Ltd

The bidders will be taken on a series of familiarisation visits to defence sites. They will be issued with an ‘invitation to negotiate’, after which they will attend a briefing event and begin to develop their tenders.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC potential bidders directory: ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

Related information:

• NGEC regional prime maps

8.3 Regional prime south east: procurement

The contract is to provide hard facilities management to MOD sites across Hampshire, Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Sussex, Surrey, Kent and Greater London. It will deliver maintenance and repairs to the built estate, with other services including a 24/7 helpdesk for estate-users, a regional energy management bureau, grounds maintenance, and snow and ice clearance. It also includes options for land management services and construction projects valued below £3.93 million.

The contract is valued at between £500 million and £1.2 billion over a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years. It will replace the current regional prime contract south east.

It is expected to be awarded by March 2014 and in service by September 2014.

The contract will cover around 60 main defence establishments including RMA Sandhurst, DMRC Headley Court, HQ Land Forces Andover, Hyde Park Barracks, Woolwich Barracks, Horse Guards, RAF High Wycombe and RAF Northolt.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on the 23 March 2012. An industry day was subsequently held at the Defence Academy Shrivenham in Wiltshire in 2012, to brief potential bidders on the procurement process, and the scope of the regional prime central contract, and to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD.

In June 2012 a shortlist of bidders was announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following the evaluation of pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs).

The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the PQQs. This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The 4 shortlisted bidders are:

• Babcock Support Services Ltd: a division of Babcock International Group plc
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd: a joint venture comprising Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• KBR: a proposed joint venture comprising Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd and Balfour Beatty Workplace Ltd
• PriDE (SERP) Ltd: a joint venture comprising Interserve Defence Ltd and SSE Contracting Ltd

The bidders will be taken on a series of familiarisation visits to Defence sites. They will be issued with an ‘invitation to negotiate’, after which they attend a briefing event and begin to develop their tenders.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC potential bidders directory:’Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

Related information:

• NGEC regional prime maps

8.4 Regional prime south west: procurement

The contract is to provide hard facilities management to MOD sites across Cornwall, Devon, Somerset, Avon, Dorset, and parts of Wiltshire, Hampshire and Gloucestershire. It will deliver maintenance and repairs to the built estate, with other services including a 24/7 helpdesk for estate-users, a regional energy management bureau, grounds maintenance, and snow and ice clearance. It also includes options for land management services and construction projects valued below £3.93 million.

The contract is valued at between £600 million and £1.35 billion over a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years. It will replace the current regional prime contract south west.

It is expected to be awarded by March 2014 and in service by September 2014.

The contract covers around 40 main defence establishments including various Royal Marines bases, RNAS Yeovilton, RNAS Culdrose, Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) headquarters at Abbey Wood, Bristol, where around 10,000 staff are based.

A shortlist of bidders has been announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following the evaluation of PQQs.

The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the PQQs. This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The shortlisted bidders are:

• Babcock Support Services Ltd: a division of Babcock International Group plc
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd: a joint venture comprising Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• Landmarc Support Services Ltd: wholly owned by Interserve plc and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

The bidders will be taken on a series of familiarisation visits to defence sites. They will be issued with an ‘invitation to negotiate’, after which they will attend a briefing event and begin to develop their tenders.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC potential bidders directory: ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

Related information:

• NGEC regional prime maps

9. National housing prime: procurement

Procurement of the national housing prime contract was launched in February 2011.

The national housing prime will provide repairs and maintenance to more than 49,000 UK military homes, grounds maintenance, and housing construction projects of an individual value of up to £3.93 million. Subject to further review it could potentially also provide occupancy management activities such as housing allocations, move-in move-out services, and the provision of furniture and fittings.

It is expected that the contract will be awarded by March 2014 and be in-service from November 2014. It will run for an initial 5 year period, with the option to extend it by a further 5 years. It is estimated to be worth up to £1.5 billion over 10 years, depending on which services are included and whether the contract is extended.

The new contract will replace the current housing contract for England and Wales and the separate arrangements for provision of housing in Scotland and Northern Ireland.

The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the pre-qualification questionnaires (PQQs). This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The 3 shortlisted bidders are:

•Carillion Holdings Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd •Babcock Support Services Ltd •Kier Ltd and Turner Facilities Management Ltd These bidders have been escorted on various housing site visits, and are now engaged in the ‘competitive dialogue’ and tendering process, which began in June 2012.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC Potential Bidders directory: ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

10. National training estate prime: procurement

The national training estate prime was launched on 28 July 2011. The contract is to manage approximately 200,000 hectares of UK training estate, including management of all training establishments, areas, camps and ranges, including air weapons ranges, in the UK, when the current arrangement expires in 2014. Key sites will include Salisbury Plain training area, Catterick training area, Dartmoor, Sennybridge, and Otterburn.

Services to be provided under the project will include management and operation of ranges and training areas, specialist range safety and range warden services, built estate facilities management, accommodation services, management of the rural estate, catering, cleaning, construction, range bookings and information management.

The contract is valued at between £450 million and £900 million over a minimum of 5 years and a maximum of 10 years. It will replace the current contracts for the DTE. It is expected to be awarded by March 2014 and in service from September 2014.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended in September 2011.

In January 2012 a shortlist of 4 bidders was announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following the evaluation of PQQs.

The evaluation process had looked at the evidence of the bidders’ past performance which was submitted in the PQQs. This included technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

The shortlisted bidders are:

• Babcock Support Services Ltd
• Kellogg Brown & Root Ltd and Balfour Beatty Workplace Ltd
• Landmarc Support Services Ltd

The bidders have been escorted on a UK-wide programme of visits to provide familiarisation with the training estate and training activities. The ‘competitive dialogue’ process began in July 2012.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders have been made available via the online NGEC Potential Bidders Directory: ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.

Related information:

• National training estate prime contract: list of sites

11. Regional and national capital works frameworks: procurement

Under the NGEC programme, DIO is developing and procuring one national and six regional capital works frameworks for the design and build of construction projects across the defence estate

The national capital works framework will be used for higher value projects, more complex projects and cross-region programmes up to a value of £50 million and the regional capital works frameworks will be used for projects valued below £12 million.

The forward plan for the delivery of construction projects will be determined by the Defence Infrastructure Programme, which balances future requirements against affordability levels, and the MOD’s emerging Footprint Strategy, which is focusing on the optimum geographical solution for meeting those requirements.

Procurement has begun for:

11.1 1. National Capital Works Framework: procurement

Procurement of the National Capital Works Framework was launched in January 2011.

The National Capital Works Framework will be used for the design and build of higher value construction projects, more complex projects and cross-region programmes up to a value of £50m. It will include up to five companies who will participate in ‘mini-competitions’. It will be awarded by May 2014 and run for an initial four-year period, with the potential to extend for up to three years.

The framework has an estimated value of between £250m and £400m over the four-year period and could be used at any site across the UK estate.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on 28 February 2011. An industry day was held during the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) phase at Imjin Barracks, Innsworth, in Gloucestershire on 1 September 2011, to brief potential bidders on the procurement process and the scope of the framework, and to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD.

PQQs were submitted by 19 organisations by the deadline of 10 October 2011. On 28 February 2012 a shortlist of 10 bidders was announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following evaluation of their evidence of past performance provided in the PQQs.

The shortlisted bidders are:

• Balfour Beatty Group Ltd
• BAM Construction Ltd
• Carillion Construction Ltd (trading as Carillion UK Construction)
• Interserve Construction Ltd
• Kier Regional Ltd
• Lend Lease Construction (EMEA) Ltd
• Miller Construction (UK) Ltd
• Morgan Sindall plc
• Skanska UK plc
• Wates Construction Ltd

It is expected that invitations to tender (ITT) will be issued to these companies later in 2012.

Related information:

• Industry days and potential bidders directory
• NGEC regional prime maps

11.2 2. Regional capital works framework east Midlands and eastern England

Procurement of the Regional Capital Works Framework east Midlands and eastern England was launched in January 2011.

The Regional Capital Works Framework east Midlands and eastern England will be used for the design and build of construction projects in the region valued up to £12m. It will include up to five companies who will participate in ‘mini-competitions’. It will be awarded by August 2013 and run for an initial four-year period, with the potential to extend for up to three years.

The framework has an estimated value of between £100m-£250m over the four-year period and could be used at any site across this region. Key sites in the region include RAF Waddington, RAF Cranwell, RAF Wittering, RAF Marham, RAF Wyton, RAF Honington, Chetwynd Barracks (Chilwell), the Defence Intelligence Services Centre (DISC) at Chicksands, Woodbridge Barracks and Carver Barracks in Wimbish.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on 28 February 2011. An industry day was held during the PQQ phase at RAF Wyton in Cambridgeshire on 29 March 2011, to brief potential bidders on the procurement process, and the scope of the framework, and to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD.

PQQs were submitted by 50 organisations by the deadline of 20 April 2011. In September 2011 a shortlist of 10 bidders was announced to go forward to the next stage of the procurement process, following evaluation of their evidence of past performance provided in the PQQs

The shortlisted bidders (‘tenderers’) are:

• Babcock Support Services Ltd
• Henry Brothers (Magherafelt) Ltd
• Interserve Project Services Ltd
• Leadbitter Group
• Lend Lease Construction (EMEA) Ltd
• Mansell Construction Services Ltd
• Morgan Sindall plc
• Shepherd Construction Ltd
• Skanska UK plc
• VINCI Construction UK Ltd

On 29 June 2012 the tenderers attended a conference at RAF Brampton focussed on the ongoing tender ‘Invitation to Tender’ process and the proposed operating model for the framework. Delegates were also taken step-by-step through a typical Defence construction project, looking at processes involved, legislative influences, sustainability and other requirements.

During the tendering process each tender will be rigorously evaluated based on the company’s approach to commercial and technical matters such as supply chain management, quality assurance, sustainable development, health & safety, and issues relating to the Government Construction Strategy. The tenderers have also been provided with a demonstration construction project and will be evaluated on their proposed approach to its delivery.

Related information:

• Industry days and potential bidders directory
• NGEC regional prime maps

11.3 3. Regional capital works framework Scotland

Procurement of the Regional Capital Works Framework Scotland was launched in March 2013.

The Regional Capital Works Framework Scotland will be used for the design and build of construction projects in the country valued up to £12 million. It will include up to five companies who will participate in ‘mini-competitions’. It will be awarded by mid-2014 and run for an initial four year period, with the potential to extend for up to three years.

The framework has an estimated value of between £100 to £250 million and could be used at any site across Scotland.

In March 2013 a contract notice was issued to the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union) Tender Electronic Daily (TED) and the Defence Contracts Online (DCO) websites, providing further information on the framework and the process for submitting expressions of interest (EOIs). The period for all potential bidders to submit EOIs for this contract ends at 1200 hours on 12 April 2013.

An industry day will be held during the pre-qualification questionnaire (PQQ) phase at Redford Barracks, Edinburgh, in April, to brief potential bidders and suppliers on the procurement process, and the scope of the framework, to raise awareness of other aspects of working for the MOD, and to provide a supplier networking session.

Related information:

• Industry days and potential bidders directory
• NGEC regional prime maps

11.4 Other frameworks

The procurement programme for the following is under review:

• regional capital works framework south west
• regional capital works framework south east
• regional capital works framework west Midlands and Wales
• regional capital works framework north-west, north east, and Yorkshire and Humber

12. US Force estate prime: procurement

The US Visiting Forces estate Prime Contract (USVF) will be used to provide building and facilities management and minor construction projects at Royal Air Force bases used by the US Air Force, on behalf of the US Forces (USF).

The contract will deliver maintenance and repair services on all UK military sites utilised by the USF. These will include a 24/7 emergency helpdesk, pest control, snow and ice clearance, maintenance of housing, hospitals and utilities infrastructure, grounds maintenance and a refuse collection service.

The contract will also include an option to provide ‘injected’ capital works such as construction projects, upgrades, life-cycle replacements and demolitions, valued up to £4.34 million.

The USVF Prime Contract has an estimated annual value of £70 million and an estimated value of £350 million over a 5 year period, with an option to extend for a further 5 years.

It is expected that the contract will be awarded by spring 2016, coming into service in late 2016.

The contract will potentially cover a number of UK air bases that are currently used by US Force, including: RAF Lakenheath and RAF Mildenhall in Suffolk, RAF Alconbury and RAF Molesworth in Cambridgeshire, RAF Croughton in Northamptonshire and RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire.

The period for potential bidders to submit expressions of interest (EOIs) in this contract ended on the 21 May 2014. An industry day was subsequently held in April 2014 at The Defence Academy, at Shrivenham in Oxfordshire for potential contractors and supply chain businesses to be briefed on the procurement process, the scope of the US Visiting Forces Estate Prime contract, and other aspects of working for the MOD and the US Forces.

The evaluation process will look at evidence of the bidders’ past performance submitted in the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ). This includes technical capability, health and safety, financial standing, quality assurance, environmental management and equal opportunity and diversity.

To assist companies with an interest in potential supply chain opportunities, details of potential bidders will in due course be made available via the online ‘Industry days and potential bidders directory’.