Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what criteria his Department used in awarding the contract for the next generation of tanks.

The Scout Specialist Vehicle contract was awarded to General Dynamics UK Limited in 2010 following an open competition to determine the most economically advantageous tender. The criteria applied were: the demonstration phase programme, the manufacture phase delivery schedule, compliance with system requirements, the initial in-service support package and commercial considerations, including terms and conditions of contract and price. The award of the manufacture phase contract announced in September 2014 was not subject to further evaluation, since this had already been completed as part of the original tender assessment in 2010