It is the way the bean counters have (been forced to(?)) charge for BND that have forced many customers away....including us in the near future.
Other organisations are allowed to spread the cost of large costly facilities (airfields) over their entire business. DERA are forced by treasury to have each large facility pay for itself (airfields,ranges etc), and are not allowed to spread the cost across the rest of the business. They are then told to go out and compete on the open market!?!? Even DERA scientists can now no longer aford to use DERA facilities, and are forced to spend scarce tax payers money in the private sector as they can no longer afford to get the testing done in house. Meanwhile, the large facilities still need paying for by the tax payer, so the cost to the few remaining users who can not go elsewhere goes up.
Good value for the tax payer? I think not!!!!