14 Jun 2005

The official signing of the £400 million contract for South East Regional Prime, between PriDE - a joint venture between Interserve Defence Limited (IDL) and Southern Electric Contracting (SEC) - and Defence Estates took place on the 23rd May 2005.   The two organisations also celebrated the mobilisation of the final phase in the South East Regional Prime Contract.

PriDE is responsible, as the Prime Contractor, for the provision of estate management and construction services at 96 MOD sites throughout the south east region, encompassing the counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Hampshire, Kent, Oxfordshire, Sussex, Surrey and Greater London. The contract will run for an initial seven-year period with an MOD option to extend to 10 years.

Vice Admiral Peter Dunt, Defence Estates Chief Executive said:  "Today marks two important milestones for Defence Estates and PriDE; firstly, the signing of the formal contract and secondly and more importantly, celebrating the beginning of the mobilisation activities in the final phase of the South East Regional Prime Contract. The collaborative approach between DE and PriDE has enabled progress on the Contract to be made extremely quickly, and is the third of five innovative Regional Prime Contracts in the UK to go live."

Speaking on behalf of PriDE, Sam Maroli, Managing Director of Interservefm added: "Today celebrates the formal recognition of the significant achievements already made by both the PriDE and DE teams.  In only a few short weeks, a total of 96 sites across the south east region have been mobilised successfully and we will be entering full Prime delivery across the entire south east region by August 2005; in such a short time-scale, this is a truly remarkable achievement."

Adrian Pike, Managing Director, SEC commented: "This is an exciting and challenging time for everyone involved in South East Regional Prime.  The PriDE and DE teams are today celebrating the major milestones they have already achieved and we look forward to continuing this successful partnership going forward."

Implementation of Regional Prime Contracting is a core feature of Defence Estates' strategy to improve the value for money gained from expenditure on the construction and maintenance of the estate. Efficiencies will come from improved supply chain management, contract incentives, economies of scale and collaborative working to promote a culture of continuous improvement. This applies the principles of 'Smart Acquisition' to estate procurement with a clear separation of responsibilities between the MoD and the Prime Contractor.