§ Mr. Hawksleyasked the Secretary of State for Defence whether a decision has been taken on the production arrangements for MCV80 and AT105 vehicles.
§ Mr. PattieThe MCV80 is a programme to provide the Army with a highly mobile armoured personnel carrier and combat vehicle to replace the aging FV430 series fleet. A very successful development phase for the basic vehicle, for which GKN Sankey is the prime contractor, is nearing completion and detailed planning for production is now being undertaken.
Negotiations with GKN Sankey for an initial production order are well advanced, but further orders for the Army's MCV80 requirements will be open to competitive tendering by both GKN Sankey and other interested and qualified manufacturers. In addition, agreement has been reached with GKN Sankey on means by which competitive pressures will be exercised on the prices of the initial batch of vehicles which MOD intends to order from the firm.
These arrangements, which allow competitive pressure to be brought to bear on the whole of the production programme, reflect in a major defence project the particular emphasis which the Government place on securing as much competition as feasible in public purchasing, as a means of securing value for money in terms of lower costs, tighter time scales and sound products.
In parallel with preparations for production, the Ministry will be contracting with GKN Sankey for full development of variant and derivative vehicles, subject to the satisfactory completion of preliminary studies. In due course, these vehicles will be embraced in the production arrangements mentioned above.
Separately, GKN Sankey will be awarded an order for the SAXON (AT105) wheeled armoured personnel carrier which was designed and developed as a private venture by it. The order will be broken into batches to allow for the kind of flexibility we would expect in an order of this size.