The Enquirer revealed this week that the bulk of the defence prime contracts would be awarded in 2014 – two years later than the original timetable.

The Defence Infrastructure Organisation has now confirmed shortlists for the facilities management work under the Next Generation Estate Contracts programme.

The contracts have an estimated combined value of up to £4.35bn over a minimum of five years and a maximum of 10 years.

Individual contract values range between £500m and £1.8bn, depending on potential contract extensions..

The contracts and shortlisted bidders are:

Regional Prime Central (including Catterick Garrison, Beacon Barracks Stafford, RAF Shawbury and RAF Valley training bases, DST Leconfield, Wattisham Airfield, RAF College Cranwell, and the intelligence and security centre at Chicksands):

• Axiam Ltd – a joint venture comprising Interserve Defence Ltd and DynCorp International LCC
• Babcock Support Services Ltd – a division of Babcock International Group plc)
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd – a joint venture comprising: Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• KBR – a proposed joint venture comprising Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd and Balfour Beatty Workplace Ltd

Regional Prime South East (including RMA Sandhurst, DMRC Headley Court, HQ Land Forces Andover, Hyde Park Barracks, Woolwich Barracks, Horse Guards, RAF High Wycombe and RAF Northolt):

• Babcock Support Services Ltd – a division of Babcock International Group plc
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd – a joint venture comprising Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• KBR – a proposed joint venture comprising Kellogg Brown and Root Ltd and Balfour Beatty Workplace Ltd
• PriDE (SERP) Ltd – a joint venture comprising Interserve Defence Ltd and SSE Contracting Ltd

Regional Prime South West (including various Royal Marines bases, RNAS Yeovilton, RNAS Culdrose, Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) headquarters):

• Babcock Support Services Ltd – a division of Babcock International Group plc)
• Carillion Enterprise Ltd – a joint venture comprising: Carillion Services Ltd and Enterprise Managed Services Ltd
• Landmarc Support Services Ltd – wholly owned by Interserve plc and Computer Sciences Corporation (CSC)

The successful bidders will provide maintenance and repairs to the Defence estate. Other services will include a 24/7 helpdesk for estate-users, a regional energy management bureau, grounds maintenance, and snow and ice clearance, with the delivery of Soft FM services to some sites included for the South West.

Each contract also includes options for land management services and construction projects valued below £3.93m.

Steve Rice, Head of the NGEC programme, said: “Our top priority is to support our Armed Forces as they prepare for operations, while ensuring value for money, and our next generation of industry partners and suppliers will have a significant part to play in achieving that.

“The regional primes have attracted a high level of interest from businesses of all sizes, and I am pleased that following a rigorous evaluation process we have established strong competitive shortlists of bidders with whom we can discuss our detailed requirements.”

The bidders will shortly begin the tendering process with a programme of visits to selected Defence establishments, followed by invitations to submit tenders in October 2012.

Final tenders are expected before March 2013, with the preferred bidder being announced by April 2014.

The three regional contracts for England are expected to be in-service from September 2014.