At the start of January 2018, on behalf of the MOD, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) announced a new commercial strategy around defence infrastructure procurement.
Moving forward, DIO wants to work with a range of suppliers in the soft and hard facilities management, construction and property advisory sectors as this will increase the value which is given back to the taxpayer by generating wider competition.
Find out more about defence infrastructure below.
What is defence infrastructure?
As of March last year, the Ministry of Defence held land and dwellings valued at £32 billion. This land is managed by DIO on behalf of the MOD.
Defence infrastructure includes everything from airfields and firing ranges to headquarters buildings and office blocks.
This land, and the buildings on it, must be looked after and maintained to meet the needs of the UK military.
What does the Defence Infrastructure Organisation do?
The Defence Infrastructure Organisation is responsible for planning, procuring and managing the contracts that maintain the UK Government’s military estate.
The budget which DIO is allocated is spread across 4000 sites worldwide.
DIO is a key client for hard and soft facilities management, construction and property consultancy contracting suppliers in the UK.
How much does DIO spend on defence infrastructure?
DIO spends £3 billion each year buying infrastructure services. Details of this budget will be published in the DIO 2018 Procurement Plan, which is due to be released in March.
New defence infrastructure strategy
DIO plans to broaden its supply base, giving prospective suppliers a new sense of confidence in working with defence. DIO Chief Executive Graham Dalton has stated that:
“DIO aims to increase supplier numbers and create a genuinely competitive supply base which offers greater opportunities to small and medium-sized enterprises as well as larger suppliers”
The new defence infrastructure strategy outlines DIO’s guiding principles. The organisation wants to improve defence infrastructure procurement by:
- Becoming more accessible and easy to do business with
- Offering a more efficient service for customers
- Gaining a broader and more diverse supply base
- Improving engagement with DIO stakeholders
- Paying more attention to value, not price
In the future, DIO aims to engage with those working in the defence sector in advance of planned procurements to help shape the market. This encouraging move will help to support suppliers and improve economic growth both nationally and in the regions.
Find defence infrastructure opportunities
DIO and the MOD plan on opening their supply chains to new and non-traditional suppliers – this makes now the perfect time for your business to look for defence infrastructure tenders.
We publish defence infrastructure tenders that are suitable for businesses working in many areas, from Service accommodation projects for those working with the MOD at home or abroad to waste and facilities management schemes for the defence estate and DIO properties.
If you would like to find defence infrastructure opportunities, our team can help you during a free DCI demo.
Find out more about our demo service here.
