10 Sep 2019

Babcock secures six and a half year small boat support contract

Babcock has been awarded a six-and-a-half-year contract from the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to provide repair and maintenance to small boats used by the Royal Navy, Royal Marines and the MOD Police.

Babcock is one of a number of companies appointed by the Commercially Supported Shipping (CSS) team at Defence Equipment and Support to provide in service support for planned and reactive maintenance to the small boat fleet, including Archer Class patrol and training vessels, Rigid-Inflatable Boats, yachts, static training vessels, small cadet boats and police boats.

Work will take place across naval bases such as Devonport and Portsmouth, training establishments and UK overseas territories (Gibraltar, Cyprus, Brunei and the Falkland Islands).

The work will include transportation, spares, trials, post design services (PDS) and reliability monitoring. Opportunities to increase the safety, economy and reliability of the vessels will be realised using the latest machinery, navigation and material technology and equipment.

Defence Minister Anne-Marie Trevelyan said:

“Our armed forces rely on having the finest kit available and this multi-million-pound contract ensures the thousands of vessels used across the entire British military will be maintained and repaired to the exceptionally high levels demanded by our service men and women.”

Babcock Naval Engineering Director Simon Knight said: “We are delighted to have been awarded this contract by the MOD to work on the repair and maintenance of its small boats. “With our network of experienced staff and sub-contractors we look forward to supporting the fleet by delivering an agile support package which will highlight our capability in integrated engineering as well as our commitment to quality.”

This contract builds on Babcock’s unrivalled depth of naval and engineering know-how with its previous delivery of in-service support to small boats such as cadet boats, dive boats, Mexeflotes and the Gibraltar region police and patrol boats. With a bespoke team leading the work, Babcock will pull on its engineering experience across Devonport and Rosyth to deliver post design tasks, where necessary, throughout the term of the contract.