Dear Mr Garside

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION UNDER THE FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT 2000

1. Further to our letter of 27 October regarding your request for information under the Freedom of Information Act. I am now writing to provide you with a substantive response to your request for comparative analysis and justification for rejecting the procurement of an Off the Shelf vehicle to meet the Warrior role.

2. Essentially the reason for rejecting an Off the Shelf vehicle, such as ASCOD or CV90, is down to value for money. The analysis conducted, indicated that the cost of the new Infantry Fighting Vehicle (IFV) is between 1.4 and 2 times the cost of upgrading the existing Warrior vehicle. Therefore the Off the Shelf option was ruled out as a potential approach to meet the Warrior role.

3. Extensive studies have been conducted on both WCSP and FRES SV to assess acquisition options and determine which option provides the best value for money. Both programmes have been subject to robust scrutiny and assurance, prior to receiving approval to initiate the competitions to deliver these capabilities. The option to procure a modified `off the shelf' vehicle was considered as a potential solution for the Warrior role. This option was, however, discounted following the results of study and market survey. This indicated an Off the Shelf solution would be significantly more expensive than the capability sustainment programme, which would provide the required capability more cost effectively.

4. I hope this is helpful but if you are not satisfied with this response or you wish to complain about any aspect of the handling of your request, then you should contact me in the first instance. If informal resolution is not possible and you are still dissatisfied then you may apply for an independent internal review by contacting the Head of Corporate Information, 6th Floor, MOD Main Building, Whitehall, SW1A 2HB (e-mail [email address]) Please note that any request for an internal review must be made within 40 working days of the date on which the attempt to reach informal resolution has come to an end.

If you remain dissatisfied following an internal review, you may take your complaint to the Information Commissioner under the provisions of Section 50 of the Freedom of Information Act. Please note that the Information Commissioner will not investigate your case until the MOD internal review process has been completed. Further details of the role and powers of the Information Commissioner can be found on the Commissioner's website, http://www.ico.gov.uk.

Yours sincerely,

C ANDREWS