HOUSING
DE is now DIO What does that Mean?
The DIO is now in place and centralises the management of the MoD property infrastructure to better support military capability. But what does the formation of DIO mean in practice for Service families living in SFA? A member of the DIO team explains…
O
ne way the MoD will achieve its current and future objectives is by improving the way the
Defence estate is managed.
Chief Executive of the DIO, Andrew Manley said of the new organisation: “The creation of the Defence Infrastructure Organisation on 1 Apr 11 marks a major step towards ensuring we have an affordable and sustainable military estate that gives our Armed Forces the best possible facilities in which to live, work and train”.
Customer service
Other than the fact that correspondence that used to come from DE will now come from the DIO, you should not notice any changes in the level of service that you receive. Existing contracts will continue and staff and contractors across Defence will continue to focus on customer service.
Air Commodore Alan Opie, Head of Operations Accommodation, confirmed his commitment to ensuring that DIO Operations Accommodation and its contractors maintain and continue to
seek to improve their customer service levels. In a message for SFA occupants, he said: “I fully understand the importance of maintaining our customer service for everyone living in Service Family Accommodation. Although there are major changes coming in the way Defence infrastructure is managed, I am confident that the processes and plan that we have in place will continue to effectively support and continue to improve our service to Service Families.”
Maintenance contracts The current contract with MODern Housing Solutions for the maintenance and repair of SFA in England and Wales, which is due to end in late 2012, will be extended to Apr 13 to coincide with the expiry of the maintenance contracts in Scotland and Northern Ireland. This will enable the DIO to let a new National Housing Prime (NHP) contract for SFA throughout the United Kingdom from Apr 13.
The new NHP contract may include activities currently carried out by MoD staff including housing allocations, provision of furniture, and the Move-In and Move-Out role. These
tasks have been included as options within the new contract and will be assessed against the in-house delivery of the services in consultation with the Trade Unions before a decision is made. In developing the new contract, the views of Service families will be sought through regular consultation with the Families Federations before the decision is made.
Meanwhile, DIO Operations Accommodation staff and its contractors will continue to focus on customer service so customers should continue to use the normal maintenance and repairs helpdesks, as well as the Housing Information Centre contacts. These are all available at the SFA Website at: www.
mod.uk/servicefamilyaccommodation
DIO Structure The military estate comprises three main areas. The Built Estate: aircraft hangars, barracks, naval bases and depots; The Housing Estate: around 50,000 Service family homes; and the Defence Training Estate: 16 major Armed Forces training areas and 104 other training areas and ranges in the UK.
The DIO has also acquired the task of supporting military tasks on an overseas estate in Germany, Cyprus, the Falkland Islands, Gibraltar and other remote units and operational theatres including Afghanistan.
The DIO microsite is at: www.
mod.uk/defenceinternet/microsite/dio
Note from the Federation A recent focus of RAF Families Federation work has been to monitor emerging developments within the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), see ‘Federation News’ for further details.
www.raf-ff.org.uk Envoy Summer 2011 33
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