LEX Vehicle Leasing's ground-breaking five year contract to supply vehicles to the RAF went live last week at RAF Coningsby in Lincolnshire - with another 49 RAF centres joining the scheme before Christmas.

The scheme involves Lex training RAF staff, and installing computer equipment for stations whose fleet sizes vary dramatically from fewer than 10 vehicles to more than 200. Vauxhall has been chosen as the preferred supplier of cars and car-derived vans to the project through the Lex Retail Group, while LDV will supply the panel vans, chassis cabs and minibuses.

The deal - the first Government fleet deal secured under the Private Finance Initiative - covers the RAF's 'white fleet' of administrative cars and vans. The Ministry of Defence is anticipating savings of £17 million as a result of the deal, which, if successful, could pave the way for outsourcing of the rest of the MoD's 11,000-vehicle administrative fleet.