§ Mr. DalyellTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the value of the contract awarded to SEMA to install and run a commercially based accountancy system.
§ Mr. FreemanThis is a matter for the Defence Research Agency and I have asked the chief executive, Mr. Chisholm, to answer direct.
548WLetter from John Chisholm to Mr. Tam Dalyell, dated 28 November 1994:
In today's written answer the Minister of State for Defence Procurement informed you that I would be replying to your question concerning the value of the contract awarded to SEMA to install and run a commercially based accountancy system.DRA's Commercial Accounting System (CAS) was developed to facilitate the creation of the Trading Fund in April 1993. The System is one of the largest integrated accounting systems operating in the United Kingdom. Five software companies received orders of £0.5 million or more. SEMA was one of those companies and its contribution was worth £1.2 million.The running of the CAS is undertaken in-house by DRA's Financial Accounting Department. It places a number of support contracts for various services. SEMA has a contract to supply a Financial Systems Management service. This was awarded in August 1993 and the payments to December 1994 are expected to be £0.7 million