2 In designing our study, we drew on knowledge and insights gained from our previous reports, particularly Defence Capabilities - delivering what was promised,35 as well as our annual reports on the Department's Equipment Plan; Carrier Strike - preparing for deployment;36 and past National Audit Office (NAO) work on major programmes delivered elsewhere in government.
3 To draw on a wider range of literature, we commissioned RAND Europe, a not-for-profit research institute with considerable experience of working in the defence field, to prepare a paper for us on 'Persistent Challenges in UK Defence Equipment Acquisition'. This was designed to shed light on the underlying causes of equipment procurement problems and the reasons why they persist despite repeated efforts to learn from the past. This short paper draws on decades' worth of public and non-public RAND analyses of US, UK and European defence acquisition programmes and input from senior subject matter experts. This paper, which provided confirmation of many of the themes identified in our own work, is available at: www.rand.org/pubs/research_reports/RRA1174-1.html
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35 Comptroller and Auditor General, Defence Capabilities - delivering what was promised, Session 2019-2021, HC 106, National Audit Office, March 2020.
36 Comptroller and Auditor General, Carrier Strike - preparing for deployment, Session 2019-2021, HC 374, National Audit Office, June 2020.