MoD to name firm to run its military estate
THE MINISTRY of Defence (MoD) yesterday said that it is close to announcing a preferred bidder for a £400m contract to support the management of its military estate.
Three consortiums are bidding for the defence infrastructure organisation contract. One is led by beleaguered outsourcing firm Serco, which recently had a ban lifted on winning new government work, following allegations of fraud. The two other consortiums are being led by Capita and Telereal Trillium.
“The MoD announced in 2012 that we would be looking to bring in a strategic business partner for the defence infrastructure organisation and inject private sector expertise to run the defence estate,” an MoD spokesperson told City A.M. “We expect to make an announcement shortly on the preferred bidder to take that plan forward.”
The MoD has denied that it is privatising or outsourcing the way it runs its military estate, saying it is looking for a private partner to run infrastructure support. But Labour has criticised the plans after a high-profile gaffe regarding the MoD’s outsourcing for an IT contract, which wasted £15.5m on a failed system. Capita and Telereal Trillium declined to comment. Serco was not available for comment.