The Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) and Amey continue to work collaboratively, through the challenges of the Covid-19 lockdown, to ensure the UK’s 47,000 Service family homes and 23,000 MOD buildings are kept operational, safe and compliant.
Our own army of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) continue to carry out essential response and planned maintenance, and grounds maintenance across the Defence Estate. These frontline key workers play a vital part in ensuring our Armed Forces are able to focus on their operational duties and we’re really proud of the huge efforts they are showing as they continue to deliver and respond to the crisis.
We have a long history of working with SMEs and a shared understanding of what each Defence contract requires. It’s this long-standing and collaborative relationship of trust and openness that has allowed us to provide a continuous service to our customers throughout these unprecedented times.
Without exception, all our SMEs have responded quickly to meet the requirements of DIO and our end users. They have adapted quickly to the ongoing advice from the Government and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) and have found new and innovative ways of working.
In our Regional Prime contracts, teams in the South responded quickly to a Defence Equipment and Support (DES) request to DIO to reinstate five disused storehouses at MOD Bicester to meet increased storage and equipment needs. DIO teamed up with Amey’s site team to meet this request swiftly. With efficiency, determination, pace and collaboration, our SME teams from RDM, ANTAC, Avon Lifting, Ashdales and Aston Environmental ensured that all five warehouses were ready for use within days of the request and the DES was delighted with the speed and quality of delivery.
In Regional Prime Central, our SMEs are equally as supportive. Daubney is maintaining statutory compliance throughout the lockdown and despite restrictions, keeping overdue responses down to a minimum. They have sourced new material suppliers and are obtaining parts quickly when deemed urgent. Their administrators have also been provided with laptops so they can work from home to keep delivery running. Tom Willoughby’s are working with Amey to review and amend dynamic risk assessments and processes to allow their employees to safely undertake work. As a result, there have been no missed statutory hard FM tasks and no disruption to service.
In our housing contract, our SMEs continue to adhere to the new ways of working. They are calling our customers before attending an appointment and are strictly following the guidance on hygiene and social distancing once inside their homes. The continued focus of our SMEs to protect themselves and our customers whilst still delivering our service has resulted in the lowest complaint rate since contract commencement which currently stands at 0.99% for April. Customer satisfaction following maintenance work on properties has reached a contract high of 61.84 against a target of 60. Both these figures have been achieved with just an 8% reduction in customers contacting our customer services team compared to the same period last year.
Whilst many businesses in the UK are facing challenges, Amey has continued to promptly pay all its SMEs for the work they do every two weeks, securing jobs and supporting the local economy. Our collaborative and open relationship with SMEs has made the transition into these new ways of working relatively seamless and as a result, our service delivery has remained consistent.
We are extremely proud of our SMEs and their frontline key workers who are doing an extraordinary job in very difficult times. They remain flexible, driven and fully focused on the requirements of our contracts and are committed to the safety of our Defence customers.