{"id":15830,"date":"2018-07-31T16:31:55","date_gmt":"2018-07-31T15:31:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/unitelive.org\/?p=15830"},"modified":"2020-11-12T12:58:34","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T12:58:34","slug":"mod-tank-repairs-babcock","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/?p=15830","title":{"rendered":"Bring tank repairs back in house call"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Ministry of Defence (MoD) should take the DSG (Defence Support Group) \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tanks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 repair\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contract with defence giant Babcock back \u00e2\u20ac\u0098in house\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite said today (July 31).<\/p>\n

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The union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call comes after the MoD pulled the plug on a proposal by Babcock to become a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098strategic support supplier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (SSS) for the maintenance and availability of a number of different vehicle types. The MoD cited \u00e2\u20ac\u0098value for money\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 considerations.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite argues that the MoD\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s decision was influenced by dissatisfaction with Babcock, which brought the Army vehicle repairer, DSG, for \u00c2\u0141140m in 2015 and has yet to make a profit from the purchase.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Unite said that the latest twist made it imperative that the DSG contract, which involves maintenance and repair services for the British Army\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s vehicles, weapons and communications systems, be brought back under MoD control.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bUnder Babcock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s stewardship, DSG has gone from a well-run and productive, publicly owned organisation to a private company that no longer provides value for money,” said Unite national officer for the MoD Jim Kennedy.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bOur members in DSG want to return to delivering a first rate service for the country and, therefore, we will be calling for an audit of Babcock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s activities and, ultimately, for the DSG to be returned to the MoD,” he added.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bBabcock was desperate to win a contract to become the strategic support supplier (SSS) for the maintenance of a\u00c2\u00a0number of different vehicle types.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bHowever, having failed miserably to meet key performance and equipment delivery targets set in its core MoD contract, it is not surprising that the MoD should have decided against putting its entire fleet of army vehicles into Babcock\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s basket.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bIn an attempt to recoup the vastly overinflated price it paid for the business, Babcock has\u00c2\u00a0made some ill-advised changes to DSG; such as removing a number of highly skilled and experienced employees, which now means that it will continue to struggle to meet its core MoD contract.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe loss of SSS is a massive blow for Babcock as it had hoped there would be sufficient \u00e2\u20ac\u0098fat\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 in the SSS contract to bail out DSG and cover its continued losses.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bMPs have already risen for the summer recess, so the chance for probing questions being raised in the House has been put back to the autumn. Without the SSS, and with the Warrior armoured vehicle turret upgrade looking less likely to go ahead, Babcock is lumbered with a contract that it has yet to make money on.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00e2\u20ac\u015bThe MoD is stuck with getting less value for its money. Ultimately, this is bad for the taxpayer, demoralising for the workforce \u00e2\u20ac\u201c and another poor advert for the Tories\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 flawed outsourcing agenda.\u00e2\u20ac\u0165<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) should take the DSG (Defence Support Group) \u00e2\u20ac\u0098tanks\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 repair\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 contract with defence giant Babcock back \u00e2\u20ac\u0098in house\u00e2\u20ac\u2122, Unite said today (July 31).   The union\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s call comes after the MoD pulled the plug on a proposal by Babcock to become a \u00e2\u20ac\u0098strategic support supplier\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 (SSS) for the maintenance and availability […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1733,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[144],"wps_subtitle":"Unite calls for tank repairs contract to be brought under MoD control","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15830"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26010,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15830\/revisions\/26010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1733"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/unitelive.test.igniteamt.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}