Aircraft
British Embark on Radical Procurement Reform Plan
The British Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, confirmed a radical plan to ‘privatize’ the UK’s defense procurement organization. (Photo: UK MoD Crown Copyright)
The British Secretary of State for Defence, Philip Hammond, confirmed a radical plan to ‘privatize’ the UK’s defense procurement organization. (Photo: UK MoD Crown Copyright)

British Defence Minister Philip Hammond published the details of his plan to appoint a commercial company to manage the UK’s defense procurement. The controversial proposal has been mooted for more than a year and is Hammond’s response to what is widely perceived to be a long history of under-performance by the 15,000-strong Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organization. “Two separate independent studies carried out for the Ministry of Defence [MoD] have suggested that the costs arising from inefficiency in the procurement process are between £1.3 billion and £2.2 billion per annum,” he told Parliament. The UK spends more than £13 billion annually on defense equipment and support.