The National Audit Office (NAO) has just published its annual Major Projects Report which informs Parliament on the success or otherwise of the MoD's most important, high value procurement projects.The NAO summarises the position by stating that despite "a number of reforms to the way it procures defence equipment, [the MoD's] performance on Major Projects remains variable"
In its examination of twenty of the largest defence equipment projects, the NAO found:

• Forecast costs for these projects rose in aggregate by a further £205 million over their original budgets.
• Forecast in-service dates slipped in aggregate by an additional 96 months.
• On current forecasts a quarter of these projects will not achieve all of their key performance objectives.
• The MoD has worked well with its commercial partners to deliver urgently needed operational requirements and made sensible decisions to prioritise where this is appropriate.
• The MoD successfully responded and adapted to emerging threats - e.g. by using the Urgent Operational Requirements to accelerate the delivery of Watchkeeper UAVs, to buy 13 High Mobility Engineer Excavators from JCB for £6.2 million.
• But five of the projects examined showed significant cost or schedule problems: the Nimrod Maritime and Reconnaissance Mark 4 Aircraft, Terrier armoured engineering vehicle, Soothsayer electronic warfare system, Naval Satellite Communications Terminals and the Beyond Visual Range Air-to-Air Missile.
  

• The NAO examined only 20 out of some 350 complex equipment projects with a total value in excess of £65billion.
• Many of these projects are at the leading edge of technology and therefore involve risk.
• The MoD's priority is current operations and getting the right kit to the troops as quickly as possible - £5.8billion of new equipment was delivered last year.
• Key MoD successes last year were:
  • Improved protection for Warrior infantry combat vehicles on operations.;
  • Introduction of new unmanned surveillance drones for operations;
  • Delivery of a range of armoured patrol vehicles for operations;
  • Sea King troop-carrying helicopters upgraded for operations;
  • Launch of two Skynet communications satellites;
  • Award of contracts for a £13Bn Strategic Air Tanker service; and
  • Delivery of a sixth C-17 transport aircraft.
• Recent commitments include £700M for Protected Patrol Vehicles and £70million to upgrade 12 Lynx Mk 9 helicopters.

• shortcomings in project management;
• a lack of realism at the project outset;
• a failure to identify project dependencies (such as limited influence over United States’ weapons development programmes); and
• underestimated costs.

These failings all sound pretty basic (and familiar) to me.

The timing of the publication of the NAO's report was interesting, coming as it did just two days after James Arbuthnot MP, Chairman of the House of Commons Defence Committee slammed the Future Rapid Effects System (FRES) armored vehicle project as the most disastrously managed program in the history of defence. Arbuthnot's attack on the competence of the MoD to run the £16 billion FRES program came after the Government's decision last week to abandon long-running talks with General Dynamics UK over the supply of its Piranha V wheeled armored vehicle design to meet the utility vehicle element of Britain's key army program because the two sides failed to agree on commercial terms.

National Audit Office: Ministry of Defence Major Projects Report 2008
Whitehall Pages: MoD responds to National Audit Office's MoD major projects report

MoD staff have won four of the Whitehall & Westminster World Awards 2008. One of the awards was won by the Army OP TELIC 11 GEMS scheme which encourages and adopts ideas from personnel on the front line in southern Iraq.
The four awards won were:

• The Joined Up Government Award for work at the British Embassy, Kinshasa, DRC
• The Financial Management Award for the MoD's FM Shared Service Centre
• The Innovation Award for the Army Op Telic GEMS scheme
• The Cabinet Secretary Award for work at the British Embassy, Kinshasa

Congratulations to the teams involved!

MoD: Defence teams triumph at Whitehall awards
Civil Service Network: Civil Service Awards 2008

organisation. If she fails to get a job she will launch claims for another £200,000-300,000 in compensation against the MoD. She said: 'I'm really happy with the payout. It is what I deserve for what I've been put through.' Asked about the size of her payout when set against awards given to wounded soldiers, she added: 'You cannot compare the two. I have been through four years of hell". ****!!!!!!!!!!!!

Unfortunately this is just another example of the MoD simply rolling over and handing over vast sums of cash in civil law suits. Remember:

• the sex change soldier who was given £250,000 when she lost her job for refusing to wear a male uniform for a medical,
• the typist with a strained thumb getting £202,000 and
• the clerk awarded £217000 for back strain and depression.

It's about time the MoD got some guts and fought these civil claims.

The Mail: Lesbian soldier pestered for sex by her male boss wins 'obscene' £200,000 payout
The Telegraph:Controversial payouts by the Ministry of Defence

Normally considered Scrooge when it comes to providing equipment to the troops on the frontline, the MoD has taken it one stage further and actually cancelled Christmas this year.

In the spirit of austerity the MoD's Whitehall offices will be without Christmas decorations this year and the £5,000 that would have been spent on them will instead be put back in the pot.

Every little bit helps, I suppose

Telegraph: MoD goes without Christmas decorations

The father of Royal Anglian war hero Captain Dave Hicks MC, mortally wounded last year in fierce fighting in Afghanistan, is expected to hit out at the MoD during tomorrow's inquest into the death of his son. Once again the MoD is likely to come in for heavy criticism for poor equipment, lack of medical facilities and not enough helicopters.
Captain Hicks, who was posthumously awarded a Military Cross for his heroism, is understood to have requested a medical officer for weeks, but one did not

arrive until the day after he was shot during a Taliban assault on his remote Inkerman base. Talking about his son's death Alun Hicks also said: "I have little doubt that the absence of helicopters contributed to events. It's a disgrace."
The MoD and Army chiefs maintain that frontline equipment and medical facilities have improved considerably in the last 18 months and that additional funding for vital new equipment (e.g. £700m for too new armoured vehicles) is being made. However, last week's resignation of SAS Major Sebastian Morley continues to raise concerns over under-investment in the Army.
What is certain is that the Armed forces were ill-prepared for a large-scale war in Afghanistan and that the MoD has been playing catch-up from the outset. The Government must not be allowed to let the exigencies of the current economic situation take us back to the bad old days of military budget cuts and the consequent additional risks to frontline troops.

The Guardian: Courageous captain's father hits out at MoD
Daily Telegraph: Army captain pleaded to go back into battle after being mortally wounded

Last September the High Court ruled that the Government's refusal to grant residency to all Gurkha veterans was "unfair" and "unlawful".

This week Rifleman Yubraj Rai of the 2nd Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles was killed in Afghanistan fighting for Britain.

This week four soldiers from the 1st

Battalion The Royal Gurkha Rifles were each awarded the Military Cross by the Queen in recognition for their individual acts of bravery while recently fighting for Britain in Afghanistan.

This week the total number of people who have signed the online Gurkha Justice Campaign petition exceeded 121,000.

This week the House of Commons Home Affairs Committee, having considered the right Gurkhas to settle in the UK, and have sent written to the Home Secretary urging her to take "urgent action to redress the currently unfair situation by extending settlement rights in the UK to all Gurkhas". The Rt Hon Keith Vaz MP, Chairman of the Committee said: "The evidence that we heard today was extremely moving and the committee was united in its call to highlight the debt of gratitude that this country owes Gurkhas. We wrote immediately to the Home Secretary to recommend that all former Gurkhas be given settlement rights as soon as possible."

....and yet the Government still prevaricates! When will the Government recognise the debt of honour that Britain owes these loyal soldiers and grant all Gurkha veterans the right to settle in this country?

NB: A rally will be held in Parliament Square at 11am on Wednesday 20th November after which the Gurkha Justice petition will be handed in at 10 Downing Street.

BBC: Gurkhas win right to stay in UK
MoD: Rifleman Yubraj Rai killed in Afghanistan
MoD: Gurkhas honoured by Queen for bravery in Afghanistan
Gurkha Justice petition
Parliament.UK/Home Affairs Committee: Gurkhas
AquilaVictrix: Absolutely Scandalous

MoD has paid out £2.4million to a wounded Kosovan ..... TWO HUNDRED times what a British soldier would have got for a similar injury. His lawyers got a nice handou too, thank you very much.
The Kosovan was mistakenly shot by a British soldier who thought he was under attack by gunmen - they were actually firing off to celebrate a national holiday.
The MoD claims that you cannot

compare a civil claim payout for negligence with the amount paid out for an injury under the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme.     But you can!

Not only is this £2.4million a totally disproportionate handout, it's also £2.4million that could have been spent on proper kit and equipment for the guys fighting on the frontline!

This is just another example of the craven MoD dishing out millions to civilian claimants (remember the £multimillion payouts for wrist injury, backstrain, sex discrimination) whilst at the same time awarding miserly compensation to those injured in the service of their country.

The Mail: MoD pays £2.4m to a wounded Kosovan
Daily Express: Fury at Kosovan's payout

Since the hard drive has gone missing from one of EDS's "secure" areas, it is believed that the data would not have been encrypted.
Despite all the assurances given following previous data losses, EDS's security systems have failed yet again. This is the company which has been walking away with £millions of British taxpayers money for providing the MoD with (guess what?) secure defence and personnel systems!
The MoD (along with other government departments) will no doubt continue to enter into lucrative contracts with EDS, ignoring not only EDS's incompetence but also the harm the company is doing to the morale of British servicemen and women fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. One can only wonder why the MoD continues to do business with these cowboys.

The Sun: MoD data on 1m is missing
ZDNet: EDS loses unencrypted armed-forces data
The Guardian: MoD loses hard drive holding military personnel data

A new government-wide directive will mean that all suppliers and contractors to the MoD will now have to sign up to the new Sustainable Procurement (SP) Charter.
Believe it or not, arms manufacturers will in future have to account for the impact their weapon systems will have on the environment and on society. The charter says: “SP is a process whereby organisations meet their needs for goods, services ... and utilities in a way that achieves best value for money on a through life basis with minimal adverse impacts on the environment and society.” Not only is there an inherent lunacy in this "Charter" but it will place further burdens on already creaking procurement processes ............. or, as one business executive neatly put it:

“This is yet another example of civil servants living in a parallel universe. Everyone knows the MoD is broke and by its own admission is constipated with process, much of it pointless and counter-productive, so why has it launched another vacuous initiative that will consume resources?”

The answer: nuLabour political correctness, of course.

It is the result of a study by the Sustainable Procurement Task Force established in May 2005 with the aim of drawing up an action plan to bring about a "step-change in sustainable public procurement" and to make sure that the UK is among the leaders in Sustainable Development in the EU by 2009. In other words, to make procurement in the UK the most cumbersome and expensive in Europe. As with so many of these initiatives, only the UK adopts them, none of our EU "partners" do.

The Times: MoD to require tally of environmental impact
Sustainable Procurement Task Force
The National Audit Office: Sustainable Procurement