§ Mr. McWilliamasked the Secretary of State for Defence (1) why the royal ordnance factories advertised for a new head of computer operations asking for a 856W candidate with experience in a large IBM installation when the existing computer system is an ICL system running under a different operating system;
(2) why, despite EEC rules requiring this on projects of over £100,000, the royal ordnance factories have settled on IBM architecture on an upgrade of their computer system without going to open tender.
§ Mr. ButlerIn introducing information technology, the royal ordnance factories are inviting tenders for all equipment under EEC rules.
So far, orders have been placed for computer aided design equipment (with Ferranti), for personnel systems (with Isis) and for manufacturing and finance systems (with Microdata). These form the bulk of the investment plan and are largely United Kingdom sourced.
Tenders will shortly be invited for central processing/telecommunications equipment. The contingency exists for either ICL or IBM compatible systems architecture. The Royal ordnance factories' recruitment consultants were advised of this contingency and in seeking to identify candidates who might be suited to the appointment in question judged it prudent to ensure that they should have the full range of qualifications and experience which the post might require.