13/10/2020

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) recently published its pipeline of procurement covering its anticipated needs for infrastructure services. The pipeline sits alongside the DIO’s existing commercial strategy to expand its supplier base and make more opportunities available for SMEs. The DIO is responsible for some £3 billion of procurement spend annually so the pipeline (which will be updated quarterly) is an essential resource for suppliers looking to break into or continue to develop their offer in the Defence infrastructure market. It affords suppliers the chance to plan and schedule resources against particular elements well in advance.

There is a broad mixture of new tender opportunities as well as planned call-offs/mini-competitions under established frameworks. The types of services required cover a wide range; the DIO’s commercial strategy suggests a typical breakdown of annual spend including, amongst other things, around £750m of build spend, £550m of soft FM and in excess of £1 billion in hard FM services. The strategy also commits the DIO to increasing its supplier base through practical steps such as:

  • reviewing qualification criteria so that they do not discriminate against suppliers based on size or experience with the DCO
  • engaging with SMEs as well as large suppliers before going to market, and
  • ensuring that second and lower tier suppliers benefit from prompt payment.

The pipeline represents one element of this but it is also likely to be supported by pre-market consultation events or other opportunities to participate at an early stage.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) also publishes information on line regarding its Defence Contracts Online (DCO portal), the Contracts Finder portal, and (for above OJEU threshold contracts) the Official Journal of the European Union.

Above threshold competitions run by the DIO or MOD are likely to be governed either by the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or by the Defence and Security Contracts Regulations 2011.

Should you have any queries about procurement opportunities or issues, our team of experts would be very happy to advise.

Our use of cookies

We use necessary cookies to make our site work. We'd also like to set optional analytics cookies to help us improve it. We won't set optional cookies unless you enable them. Using this tool will set a cookie on your device to remember your preferences. For more detailed information about the cookies we use, see our Cookies page.

Necessary cookies

Necessary cookies enable core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility. You may disable these by changing your browser settings, but this may affect how the website functions.

Analytics cookies

We'd like to set Google Analytics cookies to help us to improve our website by collection and reporting information on how you use it. The cookies collect information in a way that does not directly identify anyone.
For more information on how these cookies work, please see our Cookies page.