Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether it is his policy for the prime contractor to calculate the ROM costs for a defence programme.

When the Ministry of Defence is estimating the potential cost of a programme, officials may engage with industry, before the selection of a prime contractor, to establish an initial view of cost in the form of a ROM (Rough Order of Magnitude) cost. However, this will only be a guide and at all times it remains the Department's assessment, not that of industry. As programmes mature, requirements, opportunities and risks become progressively better understood and refined, as do likely costs.