The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has granted a £560 million contract to Landmarc Support Services for the management of the UK’s military training estates.
Landmarc Support Services, a collaboration between Mitie and Amentum, will manage facilities, rural estate management, and operational services across the 156,000 hectares of the UK Defence Training Estate.
The estate consists of 16 major armed forces training areas and 104 minor training areas, including Salisbury Plain in the South West and Barry Buddon in Scotland.
The contract ensures that UK and visiting Armed Forces have a secure environment for living, working, and training. Additionally, Landmarc will be responsible for maintaining and improving the land, buildings, and facilities used by the military.
The contract includes the provision of essential services for training troops, such as approximately four million meals per year and around one million bed spaces. The agreement aims to introduce more responsive and adaptable services for personnel using the training estate, allowing for the accommodation of changing needs within the Armed Forces.
Minister for Defence Procurement, James Cartlidge, stressed the value of the investment in maintaining the training facilities: “This significant investment will help to ensure we continue to offer safe, secure and well-maintained training facilities for our Service Personnel as they prepare for operations worldwide.”
Cartlidge also acknowledged the economic benefits of the UK’s Defence Training Estate: “The UK’s Defence Training Estate also provides a huge boost to our economy, with this contract sustaining more than a thousand jobs across the country.”
All vital facilities often overlooked.
The CEO of this outfit, is a Director of 5 other companies. No conflicts of interest then?
Landmarc is only interested in how much they can rip out of the defence budget.
Thy guys on the ground running ranges and camps do a sterling job but Landmarc management is only interested in how much they can screw out of the system, but I suppose it is the same with all the current batch of defence contractors.
I wonder what the Performance Indicators are in this Contract and how they are measured?
You are assuming the management give a hoot about what happens on the ranges or the camps all they are bothered about is how much money they can screw out of the MoD so that their next bonus is better than the last one.
Pay rates are a bit on low side for the guys on ground !
At the moment they are below minimum wage with a pay rise imminent but this will only push the guys on or just above minimum wage levels. I do not think that it is going to be too long before the is trouble on the shop floor.
Outsourcing is part of the reason why the housing benefit bill has risen to 23 billion !
Not mentioned is that Landmarc has worked in partnership with the MoD for nearly 20 years, ‘providing the support services that enable the Armed Forces to live, work and train on the UK Defence Training Estate’ to quote their website. They are not ‘new kids on the block’. I do not have a very favourable impression of Landmarc – for 5 years to July 2022 I was an Adult Volunteer with the ACF and went to training camps run by Landmarc. At one camp the hot water for the showers did not work and Landmarc took 4-5 days of our… Read more »
Got to Love the plastic mattresses and nato numbered grey bunk beds. A nice itchy blanket under the sheet keeps the sweats under control😂😂
We need to cut out this ppi type contracts and take things in house,
Create a purple trade that is procurement and facilities management and let them crack on and bring those profits in house and retain – profit – for the Armed Forces.
We have MoD Plod as an example, now extend that to other areas such as catering, facilities and procurement for the purple.
Honestly, this Con, privatise, is just Bullh!t of the highest order.
I agree 100% David.
Just a note, plenty of this privatisation stuff was happening before 2010, it is not a Conservative phenomenon.
One of our greatest Jewells, DERA, was split up in 2001.
Network Rail credit card is another thing that comes to mind… buy on the never never which allowed you to raise the asset base and thus borrow on that RAB. Nonsense.
To be clear though, I would like to see a purple procurement and facilities administration (PFA) of command with those people being able to fight alongside if needed: it took a long time for Provost to come into being but, in Iraq and Afghanistan, they fought as line infantry; no reason why a PFA branch could not do the same.
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Agreed.
Agreed. Defence Estates used to be mainly in-house with civilian staff (civil servants) – contractors were only brought in to do a major rebuild job, re-wire a barracks etc.
We have lost out on quality of life by messes being contractorised too.
In all things, there is balance.
Sending profits to a private contractor without in-house expertise is not path that should be taken.
Then you reference esprit de Corps- invaluable, as you know.
I’d suggest a purple procurement and facilities administration might be a good idea; why?
Promotion has to be undertaken differently, so many badly managed projects with incredible cost over-runs, and no one held responsible.
A fighting, purple trade would bring in-house a fighting arm who over time would build up enough experience to become involved in project procurement and thus, held accountable.
Just an idea.
There is of course a purple procurement organisation for HM Forces – DE&S at Abbey Wood, Bristol – predecessor purple organisations being DPA and DLO. DPA’s predecessor was MoD (PE). All purple.
I worked at both DLO and DE&S.
The article was about a different organisation – the Defence Infrastructure Organisation and also a subordinate organisation, Defence Training Estate.
Sir, with respect, you are missing my point. I suggest a PFA able to take their place in the ORBAT. However, over time, able to develop their procurement skills so much that they become the ‘Buyers’ not some Rupert on 2 year secondment who will bear no responsibility for the failing, failed programmes that cost UKMil huge sums Is Rupert derogatory? Ajax to name one is £5Bn over – who was in charge? Who has been brought to account? I’m sure you don’t need more examples. Money should be focused on the teeth providing effect, not the Brass enhancing their… Read more »
Thanks David. You advocate a purple PFA – Procurement and Facilities Administration. That could be achieved by merging DE&S with DIO, but it would be a huge unwieldy organisation. Many thought it might be impossible to merge DPA and DLO to form DE&S in 2007. But I am puzzled as to configuring this PFA as a fighting arm in the operational Orbat. DE&S is 11,500 strong (was 29,000 before brutal cutbacks). DIO comprises 4,900 staff. I suppose about 10% of staff at DE&S are military and almost none in DIO. How would you have a fighting PFA when the vast… Read more »
The con is a transfer of wealth to the rich , just like the bloated housing benefit bill of 23 billion , would have been cheaper to build more council houses !
Is that for cutting the grass?🌱