It may be that the winning consortium do a fine job, but I find the involvement of QinetiQ, and the preferential treatment they so obviously receive from MoD, disturbing. I know industry “competitors” have been voicing this concern for some time – in fact predicted it from the day one – and even MPs are voicing disquiet now.
The simple fact is that, through many years of being automatically tasked (not contracted after a competition) to carry out work while part of MoD, QQ has inherited a vast array of Government funded knowledge. While MoD denies it, this clearly places them in an advantageous position when responding to invitations to tender. More so if MoD deny other bidders a level playing field by refusing to release this information during the tender process.
Some of this knowledge is obviously in the form of MoD decisions or direction as to what the solution to a given requirement should be. For example; companies may be invited to conduct research with a view to narrowing down a technical solution. Ordinary bidders may have to spread their effort over a wide range of solutions, whereas QQ may be privy to an MoD decision which has already rejected most candidate technologies – so their bid appears more focussed.
Those familiar with MoD research establishments will know that QQ and Dstl staff are often physically co-located. It is common for them to be ex-colleagues; when DERA was split one happens to have moved to QQ, the other to Dstl. Dstl often act as MoD bid assessors. Taking the above research example, it is entirely possible that the bid assessor has, in the past, actually made the decision on the solution which QQ are proposing. Is that fair to other bidders who have spent a lot of money formulating their bid?
It follows that, if a company wants to mount a serious bid, their chances of success increase if they partner with QQ. Put another way, the company who QQ choose to partner with has a better chance of winning. The logical conclusion is that MoD is abrogating its responsibilities and, in effect, QQ are on occasion selecting the winning contractors.