Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, which freedoms and flexibilities the bidders for Managed Service Providers in the Ministry of Defence DE and S have been granted.

When Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) became a bespoke trading entity on 1 April 2014 it was given a broad range of freedoms, agreed by HM Treasury and the Cabinet Office, to allow it to manage its business, outputs and workforce within an operating cost envelope set to drive significant efficiencies. The bidders for the Managed Service Provider work packages are not granted freedoms and flexibilities; they are being procured via standard commercial practices to provide tailored external skills to support DE&S as it uses its freedoms to transform and to deliver the equipment programme.