The new Future Defence Infrastructure Services (FDIS) Accommodation contracts that replace the National Housing Prime (NHP) contract, will come into service 4 weeks from today, on 1 April 2022.
More details will be made available to Service personnel and their families over the next four weeks through the SFA Gov.UK website, on social media and via the Families Federations and HIVEs. In addition, comprehensive guides will be available for families on the Pinnacle website, which has gone live today. However it is important to note that until 1 April 2022 families must still visit the Amey Defence Services website and continue to use these services to log any repairs and requests and access information regarding their homes.
In January, DIO’s Head of Accommodation, Air Commodore James Savage joined the Army Families Federation to answer questions from families about the new Accommodation contracts.
Families First Approach
In developing the new contracts, DIO collaborated closely with the Housing Colonels from the RN, Army, RAF and UK STRATCOM and the Families Federations to ensure that families’ needs were fully considered. The new contracts have been developed with Service families firmly in mind and will be very different from the current one. They offer the opportunity to break decisively from the past and to build on the commitments made by all suppliers to innovate and deliver more responsive and flexible services to Service families. Importantly, contracted performance standards have been informed by industry best practice and include targets for customer satisfaction, with financial incentives for contractors to exceed the minimum contracted standards.
Another key focus of the new contracts is to change the culture. A ‘Family First’ approach has been agreed with our industry partners, which places the needs of our families at the heart of what we do. This approach will be backed by enhanced customer service training that brings to life what it means to be a Service family.
The introduction of FDIS is intended to represent a step change in the way services will be delivered to families in SFA. There has been excellent collaboration between DIO, Pinnacle, Amey and VIVO during the transition phase – supported by the Families Federations – to ensure the new contracts are successfully delivered.