Information Re: facility contracts
Sam Brown made this Official Information request to Ministry of Defence
Currently waiting for a response from Ministry of Defence, they must respond promptly and normally no later than (details and exceptions).
From: Sam Brown
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please provide all information currently held in relation to Spotless/Downer facility maintenance/management contracts between 2010-2025. Please include information which specifically relates to the Ohakea Air Base, Waiouru Camp and Waiouru Army Museum.
Provide information related to tendering processes, including contract values, and vendor selection decisions. Also include information related to KPI management and deliverables, along with any information supplied by informants or via formal complaint about instances of certification and/or document falsification/forgery by the vendor/s or it's staff/contractors. Additionally, include information related to any official correspondence or complaints about vendor misconduct to MoD.
Please share information relating to MoD processes and how it manages building maintenance/management contract oversight, ensuring deliverable certification, value for money, and adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.
Yours faithfully,
Sam Brown
From: Information
Ministry of Defence
UNCLASSIFIED
Hello Sam,
Please find attached the Ministry of Defence's response to your enquiry.
Ng+AQE- mihi,
Robbie Gillard
UNCLASSIFIED
-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Brown +ADw-fyi-request-33385-324a28b4+AEA-requests.fyi.org.nz+AD4-
Sent: Sunday, 28 December 2025 9:36 pm
To: Information +ADw-Info+AEA-defence.govt.nz+AD4-
Subject: Official Information request - Information Re: facility contracts
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Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please provide all information currently held in relation to Spotless/Downer facility maintenance/management contracts between 2010-2025. Please include information which specifically relates to the Ohakea Air Base, Waiouru Camp and Waiouru Army Museum.
Provide information related to tendering processes, including contract values, and vendor selection decisions. Also include information related to KPI management and deliverables, along with any information supplied by informants or via formal complaint about instances of certification and/or document falsification/forgery by the vendor/s or it's staff/contractors. Additionally, include information related to any official correspondence or complaints about vendor misconduct to MoD.
Please share information relating to MoD processes and how it manages building maintenance/management contract oversight, ensuring deliverable certification, value for money, and adherence to all applicable laws and regulations.
Yours faithfully,
Sam Brown
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From: Ministerial Services
Good afternoon Sam,
Your request below has been received and a decision on your request will
be provided as soon as possible and no later than 13 February 2026.
Responses to requests for information that are considered to be in the
wider public interest will be published on the New Zealand Defence Force
website ([1]www.nzdf.mil.nz).
As you have requested all information covering 15 years, it will require
substantial collation and research efforts. Please refine the scope of the
request. For instance, if you were to limit the scope to the particular
elements of your request (i.e. the named Camps and Bases), it may remove
the reason to refuse your request.
Regards
Corporate and Ministerial Services
Office of the Chief of Defence Force
New Zealand Defence Force | Te Ope Kātua o Aotearoa
[2]www.nzdf.mil.nz
-----Original Message-----
From: Gillard, Robert On Behalf Of Information
Sent: Tuesday, 6 January 2026 12:04 pm
To: Sam Brown
Subject: RE: Official Information request - Information Re: facility
contracts [UNCLASSIFIED]
UNCLASSIFIED
Hello Sam,
Please find attached the Ministry of Defence's response to your enquiry.
Ngā mihi,
Robbie Gillard
UNCLASSIFIED
-----Original Message-----
From: Sam Brown <[3][FOI #33385 email]>
Sent: Sunday, 28 December 2025 9:36 pm
To: Information <[4][email address]>
Subject: Official Information request - Information Re: facility contracts
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CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the organization.
Do not follow guidance, click links, or open attachments unless you
recognize the sender and know the content is safe. If in any doubt, please
forward the email to [5][email address] and then delete the email from
your Inbox. Thank you
Dear Ministry of Defence,
Please provide all information currently held in relation to
Spotless/Downer facility maintenance/management contracts between
2010-2025. Please include information which specifically relates to the
Ohakea Air Base, Waiouru Camp and Waiouru Army Museum.
Provide information related to tendering processes, including contract
values, and vendor selection decisions. Also include information related
to KPI management and deliverables, along with any information supplied by
informants or via formal complaint about instances of certification and/or
document falsification/forgery by the vendor/s or it's staff/contractors.
Additionally, include information related to any official correspondence
or complaints about vendor misconduct to MoD.
Please share information relating to MoD processes and how it manages
building maintenance/management contract oversight, ensuring deliverable
certification, value for money, and adherence to all applicable laws and
regulations.
Yours faithfully,
Sam Brown
-------------------------------------------------------------------
This is an Official Information request made via the FYI website.
Please use this email address for all replies to this request:
[6][FOI #33385 email]
Is [7][Ministry of Defence request email] the wrong address for Official Information
requests to Ministry of Defence? If so, please contact us using this form:
[8]https://fyi.org.nz/change_request/new?bo...
Disclaimer: This message and any reply that you make will be published on
the internet. Our privacy and copyright policies:
[9]https://fyi.org.nz/help/officers
If you find this service useful as an Official Information officer, please
ask your web manager to link to us from your organisation's OIA or LGOIMA
page.
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From: Sam Brown
Dear Ministerial Services,
Please narrow the scope of information to that which pertains to the entirety of the Ohakea and Waiouru camps/bases, including external and/or public facing facilities such as the Waiouru Army Museum.
Yours sincerely,
Sam Brown
SPENCER JONES left an annotation ()
Related Requests (FYI.org.nz)
Defence / NZDF Facilities and Contracting
1. Information Re: facility contracts — Sam Brown’s current request to the Ministry of Defence for Spotless/Downer facilities maintenance contracts, KPIs, tendering processes, and oversight documentation (Ohakea, Waiouru, Waiouru Army Museum).
2. NZDF Base Emergency Vehicles — A request to NZDF on emergency vehicle assets at bases, illustrating how equipment and service provisioning across bases is tracked under OIA.
3. NZDF Medical Officers — A request for medical staffing information at NZDF, showing historical base-related information requests.
4. Summary of NZDF Annual Report Information For FY2012/13–FY2016/17 — A request to NZDF for annual report data, relevant to longitudinal analysis of performance and reporting trends.
5. P-8A Maintenance Locations and Plan — A recent NZDF request about maintenance planning for a defence asset, demonstrating the breadth of defense service provisioning OIAs.
(Note: Items 2–5 are shown under “Similar requests” on the facility contracts request page; these may not directly involve facilities contract performance but contextualise how NZDF estate and services are subject to information requests.)
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Related Publicly Available Contract Information
6. NZDF Facilities Maintenance Contracts (ROI) — A procurement notice (NZDF estate facilities maintenance services) showing that NZDF seeks Prime Providers for maintenance across nine camps, including Ohakea and Waiouru, and that facilities contracts are bundled and regionally segmented.
7. OIA-2023-4850.1 NZDF Facility Management Contracts (Spotless/PAE) — A previously released NZDF OIA response detailing facility management contracts and expiry timelines for Spotless (Central/Southern Region) and the structure of regional contracts.
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Why these are relevant
• Contract segmentation and suppliers: NZDF estate maintenance contracts are structured by region and provider (e.g., Spotless/PAE), with specific expiry and RIP/RFT cycles, directly relevant to understanding the history of the contracts addressed in Sam Brown’s request.
• Public procurement pipeline: The 2025 ROI for future FMS contracts (spanning nine bases/camps) suggests NZDF is moving toward renewed facilities maintenance arrangements.
• OIA patterns: Other NZDF requests linked on FYI demonstrate the breadth of property/operations information that citizens pursue under the Official Information Act, underscoring the public interest in transparency around facilities and service provision.
Things to do with this request
- Add an annotation (to help the requester or others)
- Download a zip file of all correspondence (note: this contains the same information already available above).
Offensive? Unsuitable?
Requests for personal information and vexatious requests are not considered valid requests for Official Information (read more).
If you believe this request is not suitable, you can report it for attention by the site administrators
Report this request
SPENCER JONES left an annotation ()
Public Interest Context and Relevance
This request seeks information about facilities management contracts at Waiouru Camp, Ohakea Air Base, and the Waiouru Army Museum, including procurement, performance management, and oversight arrangements. The subject matter raises important issues of public accountability, value for money, and integrity in defence estate contracting.
Why this information matters
Facilities management contracts in the defence estate involve:
• significant and ongoing public expenditure;
• safety-critical infrastructure supporting Defence personnel, heritage assets, and public-facing facilities; and
• reliance on contractor self-reporting, certification, and performance assurance.
Across FYI.org.nz and other public oversight material, there is a recurring pattern of OIA requests seeking clarity on:
• how large, multi-year service contracts are monitored in practice;
• how KPIs and deliverables are defined, verified, and enforced;
• how complaints, non-conformances, or integrity concerns are recorded and escalated; and
• how agencies ensure value for money where contracts span multiple sites and years.
This request aligns with those wider transparency concerns by focusing not only on contract existence and value, but also on how oversight and assurance mechanisms operate.
Waiouru and Ohakea as sites of public interest
Waiouru and Ohakea are not ordinary facilities:
• Waiouru Camp is a major training and operational site with long-standing facilities contracts and a complex mix of operational, residential, and support infrastructure.
• The Waiouru Army Museum is a public-facing national heritage institution, creating additional public interest in how facilities contracts are managed, certified, and audited.
• Ohakea Air Base is a critical Defence installation with infrastructure that must meet strict operational and safety standards.
Facilities management arrangements at these sites therefore have implications beyond routine contract administration.
Scope refinement and proportionality
The Ministry of Defence has indicated that the original request raised concerns about scope and collation. The requester has clarified and narrowed the request to the specific sites of Waiouru and Ohakea, including associated facilities such as the Army Museum.
This refinement is consistent with Ombudsman guidance encouraging agencies and requesters to:
• identify key document classes (e.g. contract instruments, KPI frameworks, performance reports, audit or non-conformance records); and
• focus on material oversight records, rather than raw operational data.
Usefulness for public understanding
Information released in response to this request may assist the public to understand:
• how Defence facilities contracts are structured and governed;
• how contractor performance is measured and assured over time;
• how complaints or integrity concerns are handled within Defence procurement systems; and
• whether oversight arrangements are consistent with good public-sector contracting practice.
This request therefore contributes to informed public debate about defence estate management, procurement governance, and accountability for public funds, without seeking personal or classified information.
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Note
Further contextual material may be added to this thread as additional publicly releasable information becomes available. This annotation is provided solely to explain the public-interest relevance of the request.
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