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Ministry of Defence;Defence Procurement Agency

Answer

Mr. Key: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence when he will make a decision on the new prime contractor for Bowman; and if he will state the (a) in-service date and (b) available budget. [133839] Mr. Hoon: This 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 to Walmsley to Mr. Robert Key, dated 23 October 2000: I am replying to your question to the Secretary of State for Defence about the BOWMAN communication system. This matter falls within my area of responsibility as Chief of Defence Procurement and Chief Executive of the Defence Procurement Agency. Depending on the outcome of the competition, we expect to award the BOWMAN production contract during late summer 2001. We are seeking to maintain the current planned in-service date of late 03/early 04, but until the outcome of the competition is know, it is not possible to give a firm date. We remain confident that competition offers the best route to meeting the requirement within an acceptable time-scale. To date, this has been validated by the vigorous competition currently being conducted between potential Prime Contractors. For the purposes of the new competition, and based on work to date, we have set industry a budget for the procurement of BOWMAN at £1.7 billion. (Vat inc) This figure excludes sunk costs, long term support and Government Funded Material.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

355 c25-6W; 133839

Session

1999-00

Subjects

Contracts Costs Defence equipment Procurement Radio BOWMAN combat radio system

Contains statistics

Yes

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk