Recommendation 12

An illustration of the poor long-term management of the Weybridge site is the inappropriate facilities management contract. The Department explained that in 2009 it consolidated a number of facilities management contracts across its estate resulting in one contract covering a large part of its estate including the Weybridge site. The Department stated that while this did result in some improvements and cost savings across its estate, the contract was not suited to the specific requirements of a high containment science site such as Weybridge. For example, the National Audit Office highlighted that the contract did not have suitable key performance indicators for a high containment science site. The Department confirmed that this added to the decline of the Weybridge site.24 The Department stated that it had not provided enough staff to manage the site and the facilities management contract. Prior to 2016, it had less than five people involved in managing the site which was not enough for a site of that complexity.25