黑洞社区

The Ministry of Defence鈥檚 estate arm has delayed issuing an invitation to negotiate for its 拢400m strategic business partner in order to allow the Cabinet Office to review the contract.

In August, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) announced a shortlist of three consortiums to compete for its 拢400m strategic business partner role, with an invitation to negotiate (ITN) expected to be issued within weeks.

However, the ITN is now not expected until December, with a source close to the process saying that the contract was being reviewed by the Cabinet Office, which has concerns over the ten year duration set out in the original OJEU notice.

It is understood that the DIO may yet shorten the contract in a bid to ensure what is one of government鈥檚 largest outsourcing jobs does not go awry.

This comes after 黑洞社区 revealed in July that the DIO revised the initial 拢100m value of the contract, set out in the original OJEU, up to 拢400m plus, depending on the successful consortium鈥檚 performance.

The new uncertainty over the duration of the contract creates added difficulties for the three shortlisted consortiums as they plan their approach to the bidding race, with the length of the contract in many ways determining the approach.

The three shortlisted bidders are: Telereal Trillium, KPMG and Mace; Serco, DTZ and Bechtel; and Capita, URS and PA Consulting.

A DIO spokesman said: 鈥淚n line with government procurement process, the DIO is developing the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) documentation for the Strategic Business Partner procurement.

鈥淭he ITN will be issued once it is sufficiently mature for the bidders to tender against.鈥�