§ Mr. Alan HowarthTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence if he will list the contracts awarded by his Department to(a) EDS, (b) Andersens, (c) BMI and (d) Capita and (e) Sema since 1992 and the broad function to be carried out by the contractor and the value of the contract in each case. [17611]
§ Mr. ArbuthnotThe table summarises the number of contracts recorded on my Department's headquarters contracts database for each of the companies and each of the years requested. Because of the way in which the information is recorded, this is shown by financial year ending 31 March, rather than calendar year. I am withholding under exemption 7 of the code of practice on access to government information details of individual contract values and, when there are only a few contracts, total values.
To list each contract individually and research even the broad function of each could be carried out only at disproportionate cost.
Company Number of contracts Total value £ million Anderson 2 0.2 Capita 6 0.2 EDS 412 39.0 Sema 126 8.0 I hope this is helpful.
Letter from J. C. R. Hunt to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 26 February 1997:
I am replying to your Question to the Secretary of State for Defence about contracts awarded to EDS, Andersens, BMI, Capita and Sema since 1992, as this falls within my area of responsibility as Chief Executive of the Meteorological Office.Of the companies you list the Meterological Office has, since 1992, awarded:-257W
- (a) a software development contract to EDS Defence Ltd valued at £27K, VAT exclusive
- (b) a contract for consultancy support for the introduction of a new Management Information System placed with Capita Recruitment, with a value of £72K, VAT exclusive.
I hope this answers your question.Letter from Michael R. Pack to Mr. Alan Howarth, dated 26 February 1997:
1. You recently asked the Secretary of State for Defence a Parliamentary Question about contracts awarded by the Ministry of Defence to a number of commercial companies.2. For the United Kingdom Hydrographic Office Defence Agency, the issues raised fall within the responsibilities delegated to the Chief Executive, Rear Admiral J P Clarke. In the normal course of events, Admiral Clarke would have replied to you personally but he is at present absent from the Office on official duty so I am replying on his behalf.3. Before 31 March 1996, contracts were not let by the Hydrographic Office but by the appropriate contract branch within the Ministry of Defence. Since becoming a Trading fund on 1 April, however, we have let one small contract with EDS to provide training in a software package for the management of geographic data; and a more substantial contract to provide post design services for the document management and geographic management systems themselves. The former is complete; the latter ongoing.5. As regards the value of the contracts I am sure you appreciate that such information is commercially sensitive.