Announcement delayed

[vim_fuego]

Read about it here.

The release of an updated plan on the size and strength UK’s armed forces has been delayed at a time of mounting cost pressures

Could just be the ineptness of Whitehall staffers, or the fact we are feeding someone else’s war with ammunition and kit that was never budgeted for…

What’s top of your list to go then?

 

[Oldstacker]

I don't have any issues with the support we have provided to Ukraine, but any further degradation of our own capabilities to retrospectively pay for it would, IMHO, be madness; especially given the heightened threat to the UK

 

[UlsterExile]

They will cut support and try and get a contractor to take it on. Which we all know is a false economy, as it will cost twice as much than employing service person. I'm not sure how much longer the Military as a whole can cope with the reductions. The public need to understand that we are not formation that is here to cut costs or be economically viable. We are here to defend the Nation and that is not cheap, granted PT's cannot run contracts to save their life, but we pay peanuts you get monkeys.

 

[Deltaitem]

They will cut support and try and get a contractor to take it on. Which we all know is a false economy, as it will cost twice as much than employing service person. I'm not sure how much longer the Military as a whole can cope with the reductions. The public need to understand that we are not formation that is here to cut costs or be economically viable. We are here to defend the Nation and that is not cheap, granted PT's cannot run contracts to save their life, but we pay peanuts you get monkeys.

As with all public funded services, there's a reason you don't privatise.

 

[Oldstacker]

In principle, there's nothing wrong with contractorising. The problem is that the moment you include in the contract requirements the flexibility of service delivery (times, dates, locations, emergency responses etc) that could normally have been covered by in-house teams with a bit of flexibility around overtime and/or TOIL etc the contract price rises exponentially beyond the budget. Consequently the flexibility gets traded out to cut costs because it was/is perceived to be a infrequent event that won't be missed... until a war breaks out on a Bank Holiday or a natural disaster happens on a Friday.

 

[busby1971]

If you contract out a service and you expect the same service for less cost, then reality will kick in eventually.

The only way to pay less for the same service is for the provider to remove inefficiencies, in all other circumstances it is the service that will suffer, which a little like reduced maintenance can take some time to become apparent. Even where efficiencies are possible the provider will expect to share the gain, which is entirely reasonable.

 

[Rigga]

In principle, there's nothing wrong with contractorising. The problem is that the moment you include in the contract requirements the flexibility of service delivery (times, dates, locations, emergency responses etc) that could normally have been covered by in-house teams with a bit of flexibility around overtime and/or TOIL etc the contract price rises exponentially beyond the budget. Consequently the flexibility gets traded out to cut costs because it was/is perceived to be a infrequent event that won't be missed... until a war breaks out on a Bank Holiday or a natural disaster happens on a Friday.

LOL!
That brings back memories of pre-terrorist values and Training Command (Where we were never issued any ‘war’ gear) and that one time when some brave idiot pressed the Siren at Shawbury at a very early o’clock in the morning…
A trail of we tired (and some drunken) ORs crossed the road onto the Station, by the married quarters, and we all were huddled into the old GDOC (or whatever it was) where we decided to get the ‘stuff’ off the shelves so we could have a kip waiting for the Civvy Drivers to arrive at work some four hours later. And thats when the ‘exercise’ was called off.