§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Defence (Mr. Ivor Caplin)I am pleased to announce that the landmark training consortium has been chosen as the intended preferred bidder for the Ministry of Defence's armoured vehicles training (AVTS).
The AVTS project aims to deliver live and synthetic armoured fighting vehicles training for Britain's armed forces through a private finance initiative (PFI). The service is planned to last for 30 years and covers training in the UK and Germany, as well as refresher training for troops deployed on operations.
In line with the Ministry of Defence's announcement yesterday, AVTS forms part of the policy to modernise defence outlined in the recent defence White Paper. The service will exploit new technologies and invest in a flexible and modern training service that will help our Armed Forces maintain the battle-winning professionalism they displayed recently in Iraq.
PFI offers the opportunity for enhanced training capability faster and cheaper than could be achieved through a conventional procurement. The MOD will now engage with landmark training to assess if a satisfactory, affordable, value for money deal is achievable. Final decisions will not take place until the negotiations have been satisfactorily concluded.