NEW ARRANGEMENTS TO SUPPORT SERVICE FAMILY ACCOMMODATION – FUTURE DEFENCE INFRASTRUCTURE SERVICES PROGRAMME
Update for UK SFA
1.
You
will be aware that the current National Housing Prime (NHP) contract, which
provides management and maintenance services for SFA, will be replaced
on 1 April 2022 by the Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS)
Accommodation contracts. An overview of the new contracts, who they
have been awarded to and the benefits they are intended to bring for Service
families is available at SFA.Gov.uk.
Background
2.
FDIS will
replace the current NHP Contract with 5 new contracts, each awarded for 7 years
with the option to extend to 10 or to terminate after 3 depending on
performance:
a. The National
Accommodation Management Services (NAMS) contract will provide a single
National Service Centre that families will use to access housing services, plus
local Housing Officers who will supervise Move Ins and Move Outs and the
management of individual patches. This will in include allocations and families
will continue to use the existing e-1132 for this.
b. Four Regional
Accommodation Maintenance Services (RAMS) Contracts will maintain homes and the
community spaces around them. Win restrictions in the tender process meant that
no one contractor could win more than two regions to ensure that we were not
vulnerable to the collapse of one of our key suppliers, a key lesson from the
failure of Carillion.
3. The national contract has been awarded to Pinnacle, who are specialists in providing housing services to customers ranging from social housing to luxury flats. This is the first time the MOD has employed a housing specialist to deliver services to SFA.
The maintenance
contracts covering the South East and South West Regions have been awarded to VIVO,
which is a joint venture between Serco and Engie. Engie will bring extensive
expertise in the production and supply of low-carbon energy and services. The
maintenance contracts covering the North and Central Regions have been awarded
to Amey.
Intended Changes
4. Although two of the regions have gone to Amey, the new contracts are designed to be very different from the current one.
They have been designed very much with Service families in mind and DIO collaborated closely with the Housing Colonels from the RN, Army, RAF and UK STRATCOM and all three Service Families Federations to ensure that families’ needs are fully considered, drawing lessons from the current NHP with Amey.
Not all the changes
will come on Day One and some will take several months to roll out fully as
this brief will explain. With that caveat, here is a summary of some of the key
changes that these new contracts will deliver:
a.
Estate agent-style information on all
properties. Under the new contract ‘estate agent-style’ information will be
provided on all homes available for allocation. This will include floorplans
and internal and external photographs of individual homes. It will take some
time to build this library as homes will need to become vacant in order to
capture this information but, over time, this will provide much better
information to allow personnel to select their preferred home.
This will allow families to raise service requests from their smart phone, tablet or personal computer. They will also be able to use the Home Hub to select their own appointment time for Routine appointments if they wish.
The Home Hub is expected to go live a few days after the new contract begins in order to de-risk the technical transition on switchover from the Amey to the Pinnacle systems.
c. FDIS will introduce shorter appointment windows, plus evening and weekend appointments.
For all appointments made from Day One onwards, appointments will initially cover a four-hour window but on the day before the appointment this will be narrowed down to one hour.
On the day of the appointment families will be given the
engineer’s contact number by text and they will also have the option to track
their engineer in real.
d.
There will be a greater focus on ensuring
properties fully meet the standards for move-in, including cleanliness. This
responsibility will rest with the RAMS contractors, but independent checks on
every home will be conducted by Pinnacle Housing Officers two days before
families move in to allow time for issues to be resolved. Again, this will
begin from Day One.
e.
FDIS will also simplify response repair
categories from 5 to 3 and reduce most target times.
Importantly, under FDIS, suppliers will be incentivised to complete reactive
maintenance sooner than the deadline. The new response times will be:
(1) Emergency: respond and make safe
within 2 hrs (vice 3 hrs under NHP).
(2) Urgent: respond as soon as
possible and within 48 hrs (vice 5 working days under NHP).
(3) Routine: respond as soon as
possible and within 12 working days (vice 15 working days under NHP).
f.
A new target will be introduced to fix at
least 85% of repairs on the first visit. This encourages
suppliers to improve fault diagnosis, keep more spares in their vehicles and
ensure the right engineer is allocated to complete the repair.
g.
FDIS will introduce more robust targets and
incentives. These will include specific targets for both
delivery performance and – for the first time - customer satisfaction[1].
If the suppliers fall below minimum standards there will be financial
consequences, but there will also be financial incentives for them to exceed
the minimum contracted standard. This approach is very different from the NHP. Thus,
for example, the minimum acceptable standard for repairs to be fixed first time
will be 85% but suppliers will be able to increase profits the closer they can
get to 95%. Similarly, they will be incentivised to bring their average
response time closer to 24 hrs for Urgent and 8 working days for Routine
repairs. As FDIS involves significant change, the new suppliers will be allowed
six months from ISD to bring their performance up to the new minimum standards.
h.
Suppliers will be paid on a price-per-home
basis rather than price-per-visit. This is a proven approach in the wider
housing sector.
i.
The responsibility to fund compensation for
missing an appointment or failing to get a home ready for move-in falls on the
suppliers, instead of DIO. In these instances, compensation will
continue to be in the form of vouchers (£30 for a missed appointment and £100
for a failed Move In, as under NHP) but making the suppliers responsible for
payment should incentivise them to deliver to a satisfactory level. This will
apply from Day One.
j.
An improved process will be introduced for
managing Additional Needs and Disability Adaptations (ANDAs). FDIS
will introduce a target of approving works within 15 days of receiving the
application and Occupational Therapist’s report. Pinnacle will be responsible
for providing weekly progress reports to families thereafter; and each family
will be provided with a dedicated focal point. Again, these changes will apply
from Day One.
k.
Grounds maintenance requirements will be
re-baselined in Year 1 and delivered as Billable Works to allow the
new suppliers to build up and price a comprehensive understanding of ongoing
needs. This reflects the need to address the serious weaknesses with the
service provided under NHP, which prevented the provision of robust information
to support the Invitation to Tender. Grounds maintenance for SFA estates –
including garden maintenance where appropriate – will be delivered by the RAMS
suppliers outside the wire but by the FDIS Built Estate suppliers inside the
wire.
l.
The role of the Housing Officer (formerly the
Accommodation Officer under NHP)will be extended toprovide them with greater ownership of
their housing ‘patches’ to improve their management. This change in role will
take place from Day One but it will take the Housing Officers some time to make
a difference on the ground.
5.
A key focus has also been on changing the
culture of delivery by agreeing a ‘Family First’ approach with our industry
partners, placing the needs of our families at the heart of what we do. This
includes shifting our language and culture from maintaining assets and
properties and allocating them to occupants, to providing high-quality homes
and community spaces for families. This approach will be backed by enhanced
customer service training that brings to life what it means to be a Service
family through video interviews with families from all three Services.
Managing Expectations
6.
A key lesson from the current contract was not
to over-promise at launch. Although
the new contracts are designed to deliver significant benefits for families, they will not transform families’ experiences
overnight and some of the changes FDIS is designed to bring will take some time
to deliver
National Service Centre Contact Details:
Free to call from landline or mobile:
0800 031 8628
If calling from overseas, please use:
+44 (0) 161 605 3517
[1]20% of Pinnacle’s Variable Profit, and 17% of Amey and VIVO’s, will be linked to customer satisfaction.