New £256 million facilities management contract for Cyprus awarded
A new contract to provide key services for the UK Armed Forces serving in Cyprus has been awarded by the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO).
RAF Akrotiri, an extremely busy Permanent Joint Operating Base, is one of the MOD’s sites in Cyprus.
The £256 million contract, which provides maintenance work, repairs, servicing, and hard facilities management to the MOD’s estate sizeable estate in Cyprus, was awarded to Mitie Defence Limited. It will cover every part of the MOD estate in Cyprus, from RAF Akrotiri, Episkopi, Dhekelia, Ayios Nikolias, Troodos, Bloodhound Camp and Radio Sonde. The contract will come into force in the autumn and will include Cypriot companies within the supply chain.
It is the second contract to come into service under DIO’s new Overseas Prime Contracts (OPC) programme, following a contract which came into service in Gibraltar in November 2022. Further facilities management contracts will follow in other locations including 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 Cyprus, allowing them to focus on their work in the knowledge that they have 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 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.
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 Cyprus.
Air Vice Marshal Peter Squires, Commander British Forces Cyprus, said:
I’m pleased that this contract has been awarded and look forward to seeing it implemented and the benefits it will bring to our people, both uniformed and civilian, here in Cyprus. The MOD’s sites on Cyprus are varied and geographically-dispersed from each other which adds to the challenge, but I am confident the team are ready to meet it.
Brian Talbot, Managing Director, Central Government & Defence, Mitie said:
Having supported the UK Armed Forces in Cyprus for over 15 years, we’re very proud that this relationship will continue with the award of the Overseas Prime Contract. We look forward to implementing a transformational asset management system which will underpin the new enhanced asset maintenance standard for the DIO estate. We’ll also be upgrading key facilities to meet the changing requirements of British military personnel working across Cyprus.
The next OPC contract to be awarded will be for hard facilities management in Germany and wider Europe next month, with the Cyprus Soft Facilities Management contract award anticipated summer 2023 and the final contract to be the South Atlantic Islands in summer 2024.