Mitie renews £365m deal to run Covid-19 testing facilities
Outsourcer Mitie has today had its contract to run NHS coronavirus testing facilities extended by a year, in a deal that could be worth £1m a day.
It will continue to provide cleaning, waste management and security services at 175 testing sites and 105 mobile testing units across England, Wales, and Scotland.
The deal can be extended for a further six months, and is worth up to £365m, Mitie said.
It comes after fellow service provider Serco said that its deal to run NHS Test and Trace services had also been extended for another year.
Unlike Serco, however, Mitie does not hold any contracts for the tracing element of the programme, which has been widely criticised.
Last week a National Audit Office (NAO) review into the largely privatised service found that 600m tests were unaccounted for and the £22bn scheme was still missing targets and ‘wracked with problems’.
Simon Venn, chief government and strategy officer, Mitie, said: “For over a year we’ve been managing test centres across the UK, supporting the fight against Coronavirus.
“As lockdown restrictions continue to ease and we enter a new phase of the pandemic, we stand ready to support local communities to respond to potential outbreaks and help prevent the spread of Coronavirus.
“We look forward to using our experience delivering services for test centres to help keep the UK running.”