Competitive Tendering (Contracts) (Hansard, 19 March 1996)

§ Mr. Arbuthnot

My Department publishes each year in table 1.14 of "UK Defence Statistics", a copy of which is in the Library of the House, details of numbers and values of contracts placed by headquarters contract branches broken down by procurement route and pricing mechanism. A breakdown of these details by individual agencies could be produced only at disproportionate cost. The figures in table 1.14 exclude contracts placed by the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency and the Meteorological Office since their inception and I have asked the chief executives of those agencies to write to the hon. Member.

Letter from J. Chisholm to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 18 March 1996:

You asked the Secretary of State for Defence for the number and value of the contracts for goods and services awarded after competitive tendering by his Department and its agencies in the last three years. I am replying on behalf of the Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA).

The details you requested are as follows:

Year	Total number	Total value (£000)
1992–93	378	44,822
1993–94	596	66,856
1994–95	3,081	109,907
Total	4,055	221,585

The figures refer to the Defence Research Agency (DRA) which was formed on 1 April 1991 and became a Trading Fund on 1 April 1993. The DRA is now part of the larger agency known as DERA which became a Trading Fund on 1 April 1995.

I hope this is helpful.

125W

Letter from J. C. R. Hunt to Mr. Brian Donohoe, dated 18 March 1996.

I am replying as Chief Executive of the Meterological Office to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the number of contracts let my competitive tender in each of the last three financial years.

Unfortunately the information could only be produced at disproportionate costs, although naturally as an Agency of the Ministry of Defence we follow the Department's policy on competitive tendering. I am sorry that I cannot be more helpful.