A message from DIO’s Head of Accommodation, Air Commodore James Savage
 
I am pleased to confirm that we have reached another important milestone in the transition to the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) Accommodation contracts with the contracts being awarded today. These contracts, worth £650m, will replace the National Housing Prime (NHP) contract from 1 March 2022 and will fulfil the Defence requirement for the delivery of effective and responsive accommodation services for Service personnel and their families.
 
The £144m National Accommodation Management Services (NAMS) contract includes the operation of a National Service Centre, which will be a single point of contact for requests from occupants living in SFA. This contract has been awarded to Pinnacle Group Ltd.
 
Four Regional Accommodation Maintenance Services (RAMS) contracts, worth £506m, will provide statutory and mandatory checks, repair and maintenance services and the preparation of allocated properties for Service families. These contracts have been awarded to:
 
Northern: Amey Community Ltd
Central: Amey Community Ltd
South East: Vivo Defence Ltd
South West: Vivo Defence Ltd
 
Accommodation is such an important part of family life for Service personnel, and safe, secure and well-maintained homes support effective operational capability. That is why we collaborated closely with the individual Services and their respective Families Federations to develop these contracts and ensure that the needs of our people are fully considered.
 
Therefore, it is important to recognise that the new contracts will be different – they have been developed with Service families firmly in mind. As such, they offer the opportunity to break decisively from the past and to build on the commitments made by all suppliers to innovate and deliver more responsive and flexible services to Service families. Importantly, contracted performance standards have been informed by industry best practice and include targets for customer satisfaction, with financial incentives for contractors to exceed the minimum contracted standards.
 
I look forward to working with Amey and the other new suppliers to transition smoothly from the NHP to the new FDIS contracts, and to ensure delivery performance is maintained. In addition, we will keep SFA stakeholders and Service families informed about the changes and opportunities the new contracts will bring as we move towards the In-Service Dates of 1 March 2022. More details will become available as we approach those In-Service Dates, with comprehensive guides to the new contracts to be issued to all families in SFA in good time before the contracts go live.
 
Please do keep checking Gov.uk as all the latest SFA FDIS guidance is there, and we will be updating those pages as appropriate. I have also written a short blog about the new accommodation contracts that can be viewed here.