What's A Billion Between Friends
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Posted
by Douglas Barrie at
11/3/2009 12:37 PM CST
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When Bernard Gray’s report into the problems of the British military procurement system was released finally in October it was met as a broad-brush stroke response from the government of a) that the problems weren’t new, and b) that these were in one way or another generally being addressed already.
In announcing his response to the Gray study, Bob Ainsworth, the Secretary of State for Defense, added that he intended to “ publish a wider, more detailed Strategy for Acquisition Reform in the new year” and that Gray would work on this also.
It would appear, however, at least to those of a cynical eye, that some within government continue to try to undermine the Gray work.
Asked about claims in the report that between £1-2 billion ($1.64-3.28 billion) is “lost” each year as a result of the over-heating equipment procurement program, Quentin Davies, the minister for defense equipment and support said: ”Of course I noticed that rather startling figure when I read the Gray report myself.”
Davies went on to add: “ there is no evidential basis for that statement anywhere in it, nor is there an evidential basis for it anywhere else that I have ever come across. The very fact that the figure ranges between £1 billion and more than £2 billion shows, I think, how imprecise that statement inevitably is.”
Imprecise the statement may be – but the minster’s answer doesn’t actually shed light on whether the assertion is wrong.
