Royal Navy awards £1bn training contract to outsourcing firm in government spending splurge
The Royal Navy has awarded a £1bn contract to British outsourcing firm Capita to spruce up its training services, as part of a government spending splurge to “modernise” the military.
Capita this morning announced it has won a bid to transform and modernise the Royal Navy’s shore-based training across 16 sites in the UK.
The company will lead a consortium alongside Raytheon UK, Elbit Systems UK, Fujitsu, and several smaller British suppliers to deliver the deal, which is worth an estimated £1bn over 12 years.
The modernisation programme will place technology and digital learning at the heart of training for more than 30,000 navy personnel “to equip them with the skills and expertise needed to deal better with the challenges of the future,” according to Capita.
Chief executive Jon Lewis said the award was “a measure of the confidence and trust the Royal Navy and the Ministry of Defence have in Capita’s expertise in the transformation and digitally enabled delivery of critical defence services”.
Jeff Lewis, chief executive of Raytheon UK said the defence company was “committed to helping to keep the country secure and our Armed Forces equipped with the best sovereign solutions, creating highly skilled jobs at the heart of our work”.
It comes after Boris Johnson last month unveiled the UK’s largest defence spending boost since the Cold War, as he pledged to end Britain’s “era of retreat”.
The Prime Minister announced a four-year funding deal for the Ministry of Defence (MoD) worth an extra £16.5bn, as part of plans to oversee a generational upgrade of the military.
The Royal Navy is set to prove a significant winner from the spending splurge, with Johnson adamant the service will take on a bigger role both in domestic waters and across the globe.
“This will spur a renaissance of British ship building across the UK,” Johnson said. “Our warships and combat vehicles will carry directed energy weapons, destroying targets with inexhaustible lasers and for them the phrase ‘out of ammunition’ will become redundant.”
The PM said he had upped MoD spending “in the teeth of the pandemic because the defence of the realm must come first”.
“The international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies. To achieve this we need to upgrade our capabilities across the board,” Johnson told the Commons last month.
It is expected the Royal Navy may also play a role in delivering Brexit, with patrol ships set to be deployed from 1 January to help the UK protect its fishing waters in the event of a no-deal.
Fisheries remain the key stumbling block in Brexit negotiations, with EU chief negotiator Michel Barnier this morning warning that the EU will not sign a trade deal unless it maintains substantial access to British fishing waters.