Originally Posted by
Martin the Martian
Paragraph 9 of the summary:
'There were also delays to new helicopter training because the Department thought it owned existing training aircraft when it did not.'
WTF?????
REALLY? Anyone with even a passing interest in DHFS would have known the aircraft were owned by the contractor? That was the whole point!
2.34
The requirement for the Department to fund training aircraft using capital funding
meant that it faced particular challenges with funding for the new helicopter training
package. In 2012, it identified a £496 million capital funding shortfall. Further work by
the Department to reduce costs then decreased this shortfall to £388 million. It then
explored options to address the remaining shortfall, including delaying the start of the
new helicopter training until 2025. However, it could not do this when it found it did not
own the training aircraft it uses. The existing provider also did not wish to sell the aircraft.
The Department has instead had to extend the existing helicopter training contract by
six years to 2018. No further extensions of the contract are possible without breaking
EU procurement law. A solution to address the funding shortfall was agreed between
the Department and the three services in early 2015. Helicopter training is now expected
to start in April 2018.
Interesting it reveals that the new training helicopters will be bought through conventional procurement.