Serco secures additional multi-million pound Covid test centre contract

Public Services giant Serco has secured an additional multi-million pound contract to support the government’s fight against COVID-19.

Serco has announced that it has been awarded a contract by the UK Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) to continue providing support services to COVID-19 regional, local and mobile test centres in England and Northern Ireland.

The contract is for 12 months, with an option to extend for a further six months. The value of the award may be up to £322m, with flexibility to change in order to match services to the demand for testing over the coming months.

As part of the contract, Serco will provide test site operations, asset administration support, cleaning and security services at around 20 per cent of sites in England and Northern Ireland, including a mixture of drive-through and walk-in testing centres, as well as mobile testing units.

Rupert Soames, group chief executive of Serco, commented: “We are proud of the part we have played in building and operating the UK’s highly successful Covid-19 testing infrastructure.

“From a standing start in March 2020, NHS Test & Trace has grown a network of regional, local and mobile sites which have delivered over 18.5 million individual tests, an average of 51,000 tests a day.

“We are delighted that the DHSC has selected us to continue to support them in providing these services for at least the next twelve months.”