How The MOD’s Defence Infrastructure Organisation Supports Small Businesses

We’re always looking at ways to support and celebrate small businesses and all they achieve across the UK. This week, we decided to take a closer look at one of the ways our Government is utilising the brilliant resources out there provided by SMEs, through the Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The MODs Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO), supports the armed forces by planning, building, maintaining and servicing infrastructure. This enables them to live, work, train and deploy at home and overseas.

The DIO went through a commercial transformation in the past few years, recognising that more needed to be done to enable and support supplies of all sizes to benefit from the opportunities it offers.

They usually spend around £3 billion a year buying infrastructure services in the UK and overseas, and whilst they often work with giants in the industry, their Procurement Pipeline also includes contracts suitable for smaller businesses.

As of the end of October 2021, nearly £73 million of investment was spent with small and medium enterprises at Royal Air Force station Lakenheath in Suffolk. This is 37% of the total project costs, which supports US Air Force F-35s and their crews.

Similarly, the DIO have worked with numerous Scottish businesses to rebuild the ammunition jetty for the Royal Navy at Glen Mallan, on the shore of Loch Long. Some of the businesses included on this project were the local Cafe at Kilcreggan in Helensburgh, who provided catering, and professional welding and fabrication company NJ Slee in Garelochhead, who do steel fabrication.

Another big win for small businesses was the recent contract between the DIO and Mitie, a Facilities Management business. From the 15th of December 2021, they will be maintaining MOD buildings in Scotland and Northern Ireland, working with around 120 small and medium enterprises, most of which will be local to the areas.

The release of their Procurement Pipeline in 2019 marked the first time the organisation outlined its priorities to potential suppliers, explaining how they could navigate the procurement and approvals processes. This made it a lot easier for smaller businesses to compete and has already seen a positive impact in the amount of SMEs now working with the DIO and MOD.