Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what steps his Department is taking to help ensure future armoured vehicle programmes secure intellectual property rights to avoid sole-source support contracts.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) has an established Intellectual Property (IP) acquisition policy which applies to all procurement contracts including those for equipment and armoured fighting vehicles.

Unless special circumstances apply, the MOD’s policy is to leave the ownership of IP resulting from a contract with the contractor, while securing rights to use IP for internal use by the MOD, its technical advisers when necessary, and for competitive contracting for goods and services (including equipment support) needed by the MOD. This approach enables the MOD to operate, maintain and refresh capabilities without being dependent on others (“freedom of action”); and provides value-for-money. ​