§ Mr. KeyTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) what the cost has been to date of the BOWMAN project;[125783]
(2) what alternatives to the BOWMAN project he has (a) considered and (b) evaluated; and when he will make a decision on the future of the project.[125784]
§ Dr. MoonieThis is a matter for the Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency. I have asked the Chief Executive to write to the hon. Member.
Letter from Robert Walmsley to Mr. Robert Key, dated 20 June 2000:
I am replying to your questions to the Secretary of State for Defence about the BOWMAN communication project. This matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief of Defence Procurement and Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency.
As part of the BOWMAN project, we have examined a number of alternative technical options, and have reviewed whether the basic approach to BOWMAN remains valid in the light of rapid developments in the mobile communications field. The analysis demonstrates that BOWMAN can be a robust solution to the military requirement. Our primary effort has been directed to working with Archer Communications Systems Limited (ACSL), the nominated BOWMAN contractor, to establish whether an adequately de-risked solution can be provided on taut contractual terms. In parallel, study contracts were placed earlier this year with Computing Devices Canada and Thomson CSF to ascertain whether suitable alternatives to the current ACSL solution for BOWMAN might be available. These studies have reported and are being evaluated.
A decision on the way ahead for BOWMAN is expected later this Summer. At 31 March 2000, expenditure on BOWMAN which included work that would be relevant to solutions other than that being developed by ACSL, was some £260M at outturn prices.