§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence (1) when his Department expects to finalise the Skynet 5 contract with Paradigm; and if he will make a statement; [125570]
(2) on what grounds his Department chose the joint bid for the Skynet 5 deal from BAE and EADS; whether the departure of BAE affected the bid; and if he will make a statement; [125508]
(3) when the Government was first informed about BAE Systems' plan to hand its share of the Paradigm joint venture in Skynet 5 to the European Aeronautic Defence and Space group; how it was informed; how his Department was consulted about the transfer of Paradigm to EADS before the deal was made; and what the substance of such meetings was. [125507]
§ Mr. IngramThe preferred bidder for Skynet 5 was selected because it offered the best value for money. The departure of BAES had no direct affect on the bid from Paradigm.
Paradigm informed the Ministry of Defence of the restructuring of its shareholding in January this year. A series of meetings took place between industry representatives and senior MOD officials to ensure that there was no adverse affect to Skynet 5.
The arrangements required to conclude the Skynet 5 deal are in the final stage. We expect to place the contract in the next few weeks.