§ Lord Monkswellasked Her Majesty's Government:
Apart from the competition for the supply of Demountable Racks Off-Loading and Pick-up System (DROPS) to the Ministry of Defence, on how many occasions in the last five years have entries which have met the minimum technical requirements specified been excluded from competitions to supply the Ministry of Defence with Systems or equipment; and
On how many occasions in the last five years have entries which did not meet the minimum technical requirement specified been allowed to take part in competitions to supply the Ministry of Defence with equipment or systems.
§ The Minister of State for Defence Procurement (Lord Trefgarne)The Ministry of Defence currently holds about 300 competitions a month, including on average five firms in each competition, for its requirements in defence procurement.
The winner in each competition (including the DROPS one) is chosen to give the best overall value for money on grounds of cost, performance and timescale, subject to the criteria set out in Open Government Document 83/01.
Over the last five years there will have been tens of thousands of individual competition entrants. No central record is kept of the numbers of entrants which are unsuccessful because of one or more of the relevant assessment considerations.