Senior MoD staff resistant to recommended acquisition reforms, says Gray

Senior staff in the UK's Ministry of Defence (MoD) were resistant to a recent defence procurement review that recommended sweeping reforms, according to its author.

Giving evidence at a UK House of Commons Defence Select Committee hearing on 12 January, former civil servant Bernard Gray, said that while middle and junior staff at the MoD showed "a recognition of a need to change", senior MoD staff - as well as "some of the civil service chiefs" - were keen to maintain the status quo.

"If you propose things that might take power away from people, they don't like it," said Gray.

"At the more senior levels, people get a bit more concerned about the implications of all this."

He added there was not "a wholly singular view in the MoD" regarding his report, noting that defence secretary Bob Ainsworth and Lord Drayson, minister for strategic defence acquisition reform, had broadly accepted his report and "want to do something about it".

Gray's report, released in October 2009, concluded that a "toxic set of incentives" has led the MoD to underestimate project costs and to prolong procurement schedules rather than cancel individual projects. Gray found that such behaviour has led to typical delays of five years and a "frictional cost" to the MoD of around GBP35 billion (USD56 billion).