By Helen Mooney
14 October 2009
The Ministry of Defence’s programme for procuring equipment for the armed forces is ‘creaking’, according to a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
The report, published on October 13, found that the MoD had had some success in providing support to the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the provision of life-saving medical treatment. But it added that overall the speed of procuring equipment for the front line had led to problems of reliability.
The report examined the availability of equipment and spares, the re-supply of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the training of service personnel for operations and support to service personnel in theatre. PAC chair Edward Leigh said the fact that the MoD ‘continues to fail to meet its own supply chain targets is of concern’.
He added: ‘Most of the new equipment needed by our forces has been procured through an accelerated process, designed to deliver urgently needed kit as fast as possible to deal with rapidly evolving threats and harsh environmental conditions. And this equipment has mostly performed well.
‘But the serious downside is that problems with reliability have sometimes emerged only after the kit has actually been deployed. The MoD’s high degree of reliance on this procurement process must be questioned.’
It found that the MoD had not met its supply chain targets for the delivery of stock to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since July 2007, only 57% of demands made in Afghanistan and 71% made in Iraq met the supply chain targets.
Leigh called on the MoD to improve its logistic information systems to ensure that it always knew where stocks were and could ‘fully track’ through the supply chain their movement to troops on the ground.
14 October 2009
The Ministry of Defence’s programme for procuring equipment for the armed forces is ‘creaking’, according to a report by the Commons Public Accounts Committee.
The report, published on October 13, found that the MoD had had some success in providing support to the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, including the provision of life-saving medical treatment. But it added that overall the speed of procuring equipment for the front line had led to problems of reliability.
The report examined the availability of equipment and spares, the re-supply of troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, the training of service personnel for operations and support to service personnel in theatre. PAC chair Edward Leigh said the fact that the MoD ‘continues to fail to meet its own supply chain targets is of concern’.
He added: ‘Most of the new equipment needed by our forces has been procured through an accelerated process, designed to deliver urgently needed kit as fast as possible to deal with rapidly evolving threats and harsh environmental conditions. And this equipment has mostly performed well.
‘But the serious downside is that problems with reliability have sometimes emerged only after the kit has actually been deployed. The MoD’s high degree of reliance on this procurement process must be questioned.’
It found that the MoD had not met its supply chain targets for the delivery of stock to Iraq and Afghanistan. Since July 2007, only 57% of demands made in Afghanistan and 71% made in Iraq met the supply chain targets.
Leigh called on the MoD to improve its logistic information systems to ensure that it always knew where stocks were and could ‘fully track’ through the supply chain their movement to troops on the ground.
