Recommendation 15

Problems with supplier performance include their inability to undertake complex design work within agreed timetables, difficulties in satisfying safety regulators’ requirements, and their inability to project management effectively due to under- resourcing.37 However, the Department has also contributed to problems, in particular it has managed the integration of different elements of programmes and the work of different contractors poorly. In equipment procurement, a particular challenge for the Department is its inability to deliver ‘Government Furnished Assets’ (GFA), such as equipment, information or resources, to suppliers in line with contractual obligations. On the Type 31e frigate programme, the Department had not finalised its schedule of GFA 18 31 C&AG’s report, para 3.2 32 C&AG’s report, para 3.10 33 Q 12 34 House of Commons Defence Committee, Oral Evidence: Ajax: recent developments, HC 550, 20 July 2021, Q 80. 35 C&AG’s report, para 3.2 and Figure 6 36 Q 93 37 C&AG’s report, para 3.8 14 Improving the performance of major defence equipment contracts months after awarding the contract.38 The Department also makes suppliers’ achievement of contract milestones more challenging by often changing its mind about what it wants during the contract, as in the case of the Warrior armoured vehicle upgrade.39