Defence privatisation in peril

Back in 2011, the FT broke the news that the MoD was looking to do something no other country in the world has done: privatise its procurement arm.

You can understand why the government felt this was necessary: buying weapons and equipment for British troops has often gone terribly wrong in the past – just look at the saga of the aircraft carriers with no planes to land on them.

The idea is being pushed by Bernard Gray, a senior civil servant (and former FT reporter) in the MoD. Gray wants a particular model of privatisation, whereby the public would own the company that buys weapons on behalf of British forces, but private companies staff and run it. This model, known as a Goco, would run in the same way the British Olympics Authority did.

But the plan is starting to unravel. Two years after it was first floated, detailed negotiations between the government and two consortia competing to run the new company are starting to break down.

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Source: http://blogs.ft.com/westminster/2013/10/defence-privatisation-in-peril/

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