3.2 In the past the Department has found it more difficult to secure value for money from procurement where there is no competition. Between 2012 and 2021, the Department's policy was to use competition, and to also look for proven existing products to meet its requirements 'off-the-shelf' where possible.21 However, in 2017 we reported that around half of equipment contracts were still let non-competitively.22 Of the 20 programmes we examined in this study, the Department is procuring 11 non-competitively, and three partly non-competitively. Although UK sovereignty requirements are often cited as a reason why non-competitive contracts are so common in defence procurement, only four of the 14 non-competitive programmes we examined were subject to this constraint. In several programmes we examined, the Department is seeking to introduce competition into areas which were previously 'single source'.
However, the government has recently announced that it is moving away from a "competition by default" approach. In the case of the Challenger 3 tank and Boxer armoured vehicle programmes, and the Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft, the Department chose not to compete the requirements, either because of a lack of alternative suppliers for particularly complex requirements or as a result of its own internal analysis of the most cost-effective solutions. For example, the Poseidon P-8A maritime patrol aircraft team identified that the chosen option was the lowest risk on grounds of technical maturity and was twice as effective as alternative aircraft at carrying out its core task.
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21 Ministry of Defence, National Security Through Technology: Technology, Equipment, and Support for UK Defence and Security, Cm 8278, February 2012.
22 Comptroller and Auditor General, Improving value for money in non-competitive procurement of defence equipment, Session 2017-2019, HC 412, National Audit Office, October 2017.