FM Contract Worth £155m Comes into Service in Gibraltar

The first of a new suite of contracts to provide key services for the UK Armed Forces on overseas Ministry of Defence (MOD) bases has come into service

The £155 million contract, which provides maintenance work, repairs, servicing, and hard facilities management to the MOD’s estate in Gibraltar, was awarded to Mitie in May by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO). It will cover every part of the MOD estate in Gibraltar, from the harbour and the runway to offices and accommodation.

It is the first contract to come into service under DIO’s new Overseas Prime Contracts (OPC) programme, which will also see further contracts come into force at Defence sites including Cyprus, Germany, the Falkland Islands and Ascension Island. The contract is for an initial period of seven years and aims to be more flexible and responsive to the needs of service personnel and staff in Gibraltar, allowing them to focus on their work in the knowledge that they have the safe and resilient infrastructure to work from.

The new contracts have been developed taking into account recommendations for improvements to the current arrangements and will mean a better service for hundreds of military personnel based overseas. They seek to provide better value for money and quicker repairs, reducing bureaucracy and unnecessary processes to keep the estate operational.

Greater alignment to current industry standards will mean increased collaboration between DIO and its suppliers and allow for services to be better tailored to the requirements of specific sites. A new, integrated software system will enable information to be shared more effectively.

The contracts have been designed to promote more efficient processes and the quicker delivery of high-volume, lower-value works, ensuring increased value for money. Performance targets will encourage a high standard of repairs and reduce the need for repeat visits.

The contract is expected to directly sustain around 200 jobs in Gibraltar.

DIO’s Chief Operating Officer David Brewer said, “DIO is committed to supporting people across the Armed Forces who depend on us to provide facilities and essential services which allow them to work safely and securely. This important milestone follows years of hard work to design a contract that builds on the successes of existing hard facilities management arrangements while adding additional services and improvements to improve the quality of life for our Armed Forces in Gibraltar.”

Commodore Tom Guy, Commander British Forces Gibraltar, said, “I look forward to the new contract coming into effect, and the benefits it will bring to our people, both uniformed and civilian, here in Gibraltar. I am particularly pleased to hear of the promised improvements, which I hope will do two things: firstly help us to execute our mission effectively while preparing Gibraltar better for the future, and secondly, to improve the daily lived experience for all our people.”

Brian Talbot, Managing Director, Central Government & Defence, Mitie, said: “As proud supporters of the British Armed Forces, we are delighted to be running the new Overseas Prime Contract for Gibraltar. We are committed to working with the Defence Infrastructure Organisation to improve services for our Armed Forces based in Gibraltar, delivered by our exceptional colleagues and building on the technology solutions we have implemented on our Future Defence Infrastructure Services contract in Scotland and Northern Ireland.”

The next OPC contract to be awarded will be for hard facilities management in Cyprus in early 2023, with the final contract to be for the South Atlantic Islands in the summer of 2024.