The current National Housing Prime (NHP) contract with Amey, which has encompassed the management and maintenance of Service Family Accommodation (SFA) since 2014, will be replaced in early 2022.

Defence Infrastructure Organisation (DIO) has consulted with service families and collaborated closely with the families federations to develop the new arrangements.

What’s going to change?

There will be five new contracts: A National Accommodation Management Services (NAMS) contract, and four Regional Accommodation Maintenance Services (RAMS) contracts in the North, Central, South East and South West regions.

The NAMS supplier will operate the National Service Centre, which will be your single point of contact for all requests, such as scheduling appointments for repairs and move-ins/-outs. In addition, NAMS staff will attend SFA to conduct move-ins and move-outs, and they’ll be responsible for checking that the RAMS contractors have prepared SFA properly for move-in.

The four RAMS contracts will provide repair and maintenance services and ensure SFA are prepared for occupation when allocated. They will also ensure SFA are safe and compliant, such as conducting gas and electricity safety checks.

DIO will continue to work closely with Amey and the new suppliers to ensure there’s no disruption in service in the run-up to the new contracts coming into effect.

Key benefits

You should see improvements in the way services are delivered:

  • You’ll be able to report faults through different platforms such as phone, online or via an app.
  • Suppliers will be incentivised to fix faults on the first visit and to undertake simple preventative maintenance tasks whilst attending properties. This will help reduce the number of repeat visits. Performance will not only be measured on whether they fix the problem on the day, but also that it doesn’t reappear soon afterwards, to ensure it really is a genuine first-time fix.
  • The appointments system will give you greater flexibility with shorter windows, as well as evening and weekend appointments. If required, follow-ups can be booked by contractors while they are still at your property.
  • Fault diagnosis will be improved to ensure the right contractor attends your SFA to complete repairs.

Look out for further details in the next edition of Army&You and via aff.org.uk

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