§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Defence what assessment he made of the implications for the maintenance of competition in the market for United Kingdom built conventional submarines of the placing of the orders for three follow-on Upholder class patrol submarines with a single yard; and if he will make a statement.
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§ Mr. LeeThree yards tendered for the recent order. We fully expect to be able to place future Upholder class submarine orders by competition.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Defence when he expects the next tenders will be sought for further Upholder class patrol submarines; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LeeNo decisions have yet been taken on the size and timing of future orders for this class, but I would expect that these orders would be placed in the early 1990s.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will indicate the discounts offered for a batch order of three follow-on Upholder class patrol vessels recently offered by (a) Cammell Laird-Vickers Shipbuilding and Engineering, (b) Scott Lithgow and (c) Yarrows, respectively;
(2) if he will estimate the saving to public funds of placing the three recent orders for Upholder class patrol vessels with a single yard as against dividing them between yards.
§ Mr. LeeDetails of individual tenders are commercially confidential. The overall cost is, however, some £20 million below the figure which my Ministry was expecting to have to pay for these submarines, about one half due to competition and one half to batch ordering.
§ Dr. Godmanasked the Secretary of State for Defence if he will make a statement on the manner in which the Cammell Laird-Vickers tender for three follow-on Upholder class patrol submarines represented significantly the best value for money to his Department.
§ Mr. LeeCompetition was strong, but after full assessment of all the tenders received we concluded that the Cammell Laird-Vickers bid offered substantially the best value for money to the defence budget.