§ Dr. CableTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) if he will publish the bids received for construction of the four vessels under the ALSL performance; indicating how successful and unsuccessful bidders(a) met and (b) failed to meet his Department's selection criteria; [136744]
(2) what reasons underlay the increase in the budget for ALSL vessels from two to four ships; [136818]
(3) what the final bid prices were for tenders for the ALSL design and build contracts received from (a) Appledore/BMT, (b) Swan Hunter and (c) BAe Systems, Govan. [136819]
§ Mr. Hoon[holding answer 6 November 2000]: Four new Alternative Landing Ships Logistics (ALSL), replacing four LSLs, therefore represents a significant increase in capability. The current Landing Ships Logistic (LSLs) are mostly over 30 years old and of decreasing utility. The new ships will each have double the capacity of the old versions, and be able to offload troops into a potentially hostile environment twice as quickly, at a safer distance, in significantly worse sea conditions. We have always known that the LSLs would need replacing at some point; buying four ALSLs in this manner represents better value for money that running a fleet of two ALSLs and three LSLs and then buying more ALSLs closer to the LSLs' Out of Service Dates.
The bids received, the assessment markings and the prices are commercially sensitive and I am therefore withholding these details under Exemption 7 (effective management and operations of the public service) and Exemption 13 (third party's commercial confidences) of the Code of Practice on Access to Government Information.