§ Sir Hal MillerTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence when the result of the competition to supply 4-tonne trucks to the services will be made known.
§ Mr. SainsburyDetailed appraisal of the results of demanding and comprehensive user and evaluation trials of vehicles supplied by the three competing companies—AWD Ltd, Leyland DAF and Volvo (GB) Ltd.—has now been completed. This, together with a comparative assessment of the three companies' commercial proposals in terms of both capital purchase and whole life costs make it clear that the Leyland DAF vehicle is the one giving best value for money. I am pleased to anounce, therefore, that we shall shortly be placing an order with Leyland DAF for the supply of 4-tonne trucks to meet the services'534W requirements over the period 1990–91 to 1994–95. I should add that the competition provided an excellent example of the effectiveness of our procurement policy. It was hard fought between three very good companies, any one of whose vehicles would have met the services' requirements.