§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
Which defence procurement programmes, where the prime contractor is yet to be chosen, have a value over £1 billion. [HL3842]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Ministry of Defence (Lord Bach)The following projects have formally passed their initial gate approval point, are expected to cost most than £1 billion, but have not yet down selected to a single preferred prime contractor:
Indirect Fire Precision Attack—An incremental acquisition programme, which will provide a wide range of network-enabled munitions.
Future Rapid Effects System—Will provide a family of medium weight armoured fighting vehicles, deployable by air and with levels of mobility, 112WA survivability, lethality, battlespace awareness and availability significantly greater than those vehicles currently in service.
Support Vehicles—Replacing the current in-service cargo truck fleet.
Defence Information Infrastructure ( Future)—Will deliver a defence-wide information infrastructure to enable business process improvements across the MoD.
UKMFTS—An incremental programme which will provide a future flying training system for all three services.
§ Lord Astor of Heverasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will provide their 12-month forecast of procurement announcements of a value over £250 million. [HL3843]
§ Lord BachThe Ministry of Defence does not maintain a rolling 12-month forecast of procurement announcements. The timing of announcements depends on a number of factors, including the time required for project approvals, progress on contract negotiations and how decisions relate to the departmental financial planning cycle. It is therefore difficult to predict these announcements accurately this far in advance. However, the following announcements are expected to be made over the next six months on equipment programmes that are valued in excess of £250 million:
- C vehicles—contract
- Defence information infrastructure (future)—Preferred bidder
- Support vehicles—way ahead
- Typhoon tranche two—main gate and contract Watchkeeper—main gate and contract
- Future carrier CV(F)—confirmation of alliancing arrangements
- FSTA—way ahead
In addition, as my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Defence made clear in his Statement on 21 July, we are reviewing our capability requirements and plans for our future helicopter programme. We plan to make a further announcement in due course which will clarify the position.