Procurement Risk:
Low
Score:
74/100
Government Policy
Q57
50/100
Does the country have legislation covering defence and security procurement with clauses specific to corruption risks, and are any items exempt from these laws?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations (DSPCR) 2011 implemented the EU Defence and…
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The DSPCR makes brief reference to corruption as a risk in procurement in chapters 8, 15 and 16 but refers to the HM Treasury…
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The NAO frequently identifies issues with defence procurement and Contracting, as outlined in the examples provided [1, 2]. These may not constitute legislative breaches…
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Q58
83/100
Is the defence procurement cycle process, from assessment of needs, through contract implementation and sign-off, all the way to asset disposal, disclosed to the public?
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The defence procurement cycle is formalised as the CADMID cycle, and comprises six acquisition phases: Concept, Assessment, Demonstration, Manufacture, In-Service, and Dispose (CADMIT for…
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The Ministry of Defence publishes an annual Defence Equipment Plan, which sets out spending plans for procurement over a 10 year period and outlines…
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There are detailed policies and procedures for each step of the implementation process of the procurement cycle that can be found within CADMID and…
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Q59
92/100
Are defence procurement oversight mechanisms in place and are these oversight mechanisms active and transparent?
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Defence procurement oversight is undertaken by the Investment Approval Committee (IAC), the National Audit Office (NAO) and, in part, the Public Accounts Committee. The…
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The IAC has the power to cancel or approve spending projects, whilst the NAO publishes regular reports on defence spending, issuing reccommendations [1]. The…
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Comprehensive evidence of activity is available for the NAO and Public Accounts Committee [1][2]. The Major Projects Report also contains detailed information on majro…
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The Ministry of Defence publishes an annual Defence Equipment Plan [1]. The plan sets out the equipment budget and forecast expenditure on equipment over…
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The Equipment Plan sets out the equipment budget and forecast expenditure on equipment over a ten-year period. It includes spending on both new equipment…
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The Defence contracts Bulletin is a monthly MoD publication that provides access to ‘all MoD contracts above £10,000… the MoD’s ongoing and upcoming equipment…
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Data on all spending above £25,000 as well as above £500 on a Governmental Procurement Card is available in an accessible format, viewable online,…
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Capability Gap and Requirements Definition
Q62
38/100
What procedures and standards are companies required to have – such as compliance programmes and business conduct programmes – in order to be able to bid for work for the Ministry of Defence or armed forces?
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There are some procedures in terms of selecting suppliers and sub-contractors on the basis of their integrity. The Pre-Qualification Questionnaire required to be completed…
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Evidence suggests that, despite numerous allegations of corruption and bribery being made, the MoD has not excluded any companies from bidding for contracts, as…
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Q63
92/100
Are procurement requirements derived from a national defence and security strategy, and are procurement decisions well-audited? Are defence purchases based on clearly identified and quantified requirements?
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Procurement requirements are derived from the Defence Equipment Plan, an annually published defence and security strategy for a 10 year period. The plan is…
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Alongside the annual publication of the Defence Equipment Plan, the NAO publishes a report that examines the strategy put forward by the MoD, scrutinising…
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The majority of purchases are based on clearly identified and quantified requirements, which are outlined in the Defence Equipment Plan [1]. However, the NAO…
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Tender Solicitation, Assessment and Contract Award
Q64
50/100
Is defence procurement generally conducted as open competition or is there a significant element of single-sourcing (that is, without competition)?
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Despite the desire for greater competition, the proportion of contracts let competitively has remained largely unchanged for five years at around 50%, while the…
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In January 2015, the UK government established the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) as an independent body responsible for ensuring fairness to government (value…
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Q65
69/100
Are tender boards subject to regulations and codes of conduct and are their decisions subject to independent audit to ensure due process and fairness?
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Civilians working for tender boards are bound by the Civil Service Management Code which requires them to declare conflicts of interests to senior management,…
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The Commercial Policy Statement on Tender Preparation and Process Management requires tender boards to “maintain full records of the Pre-Contract Award Evaluation (PCAE) activity…
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Chapter 16 of the DCSPR provides regulations for Tender Boards and is fully accessible [1]. Tender Boards are also bound by the Civil Service…
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User requirements are set by the military capability customer, and then the Delivery Agent works up detailed technical requirements specifications and multiple independent functions…
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Q66
94/100
Does the country have legislation in place to discourage and punish collusion between bidders for defence and security contracts?
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The Competition Act 1998, which applies to defence and security bidding, outlaws anti-competitive behaviour such as collusion [1]. Chapter 2 of the Act provides…
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Regulation 57 of the Public contracts Regulation 2015 empowers procurement officials to exclude companies and senior company officials where there is a conviction or…
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The Competition Act 1998 established a non-ministerial body currently called the Competition and Markets Authority which has the power to investigate and prosecute violations…
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In December 2017, the Competition & Markets Authority (CMA) announced new guidance and learning resources designed to help combat collusion between suppliers bidding for public…
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Contract Delivery and In-Service Support
Q67
69/100
Are there mechanisms and procedures that ensure that contractors meet their obligations on reporting and delivery?
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There are formal policies and procedures that outline how to monitor, assess and report upon a supplier’s service and or delivery obligations. The Commercial…
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Research was not able to identify any publicly available data relating to contract failures and modifications post-award [1]. However, it is worth noting that…
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The Commercial Policy statement “Contract Management – the Commercial Role” [1] suggests that Contract monitoring and completion reports are produced for each Contract. However,…
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The Commercial Policy statement “Contract Management – the Commercial Role” [1] has a separate section on breaches of contract, and states that “addressing poor…
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Q68
92/100
Are there mechanisms in place to allow companies to complain about perceived malpractice in procurement, and are companies protected from discrimination when they use these mechanisms?
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There is a general, MoD-wide complaints procedure which outlines how to make a complaint and what to do if one is not satisfied with…
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The complaints mechanism available to companies is free. However, it does not appear to be used a lot, as there were only 20 complaints…
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Based on the multitude and regularity of complaints, some of which are expressed publicly by companies, there is no reason to assume that companies…
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The grounds for exclusion of bidders from public procurement procedures are set out in The Public contracts Regulations 2015 [1]. Bidders should be excluded…
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Cases are investigated and prosecuted through formal processes, and there is no public evidence to indicate any potential undue influence [1, 2]. It can…
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There have been concerns expressed over the application of sanctions when it comes to corrupt activities of a supplier [1, 2]. According to the…
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Offset Contracts
Q70
100/100
When negotiating offset contracts, does the government specifically address corruption risk by imposing anti-corruption due diligence on contractors and third parties?
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable, given the fact that offsets are prohibited under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable, given the fact that offsets are prohibited under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable, given the fact that offsets are prohibited under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable, given the fact that offsets are prohibited under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)…
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This indicator is marked Not Applicable, given the fact that offsets are prohibited under the World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) Agreement on Government Procurement (GPA)…
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Agents / Brokers
Q73
63/100
How strongly does the government control the company’s use of agents and intermediaries in the procurement cycle?
View QuestionFinancing Package
Q74
50/100
Are the principal aspects of the financing package surrounding major arms deals, (such as payment timelines, interest rates, commercial loans or export credit agreements) made publicly available prior to the signing of contracts?
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Key information about the total spend on procurement and the date of planned spend is published in the MoD’s Defence Equipment Plan [1]. This…
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Seller Influence
Q75
NS/100
How common is it for defence acquisition decisions to be based on political influence by selling nations?
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. UK defence purchases are conducted within clear policy frameworks such as the Defence Equipment…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. The UK MoD does not operate with preferred supplier lists and has clear procurement…
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This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. UK defence purchases are conducted within clear policy frameworks such as the Defence Equipment…
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