§ Mr. MorganTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will give details of the contract awarded to British Aerospace for the repair of F3 Tornado aircraft damaged while undergoing overhaul by Airwork Services at RAF St. Athan, with respect to the advertising of the contract for competitive tender, the value of the contract relative to the estimate and the length of time to be taken for completion; what other contracts have been or will be awarded with respect to F3 Tornados damaged by Airwork Services; and if he will make a statement.
§ Mr. FreemanSubject to the agreement of satisfactory terms and conditions, we expect to award shortly a contract to British Aerospace for the repair of these aircraft. Details of the price quoted and the potential value of the contract are commercially confidential between my Department and BAe. We expect the first of the 16 aircraft concerned to be repaired and returned to RAF service by the autumn of this year, with the remainder following over the subsequent 18 months. At this stage, we do not expect to award any other contracts with respect to the Tornado F3s damaged by airwork.
Owing to the complexity of the repair task, we concluded that the work would have to be carried out by the United Kingdom design contractor, British Aerospace; the contract was not therefore advertised for competitive tender.