Business Weekly - Cambridge, UK

Giles Beattie of PA Consulting

The decision by the MoD to award a major contract to Cambridge-based PA Consulting to research, define, develop and de-risk advanced logistics concepts was made just weeks before an Oxford coroner’s court criticised the Army for logistics failings, which could otherwise have prevented the unlawful killing of a British soldier in an Iraqi roadside bomb attack.

The court said that the death of Fusilier Gordon Gentle could have been avoided if a communications breakdown hadn’t prevented specialist equipment that had been sitting in a storeroom just one kilometre from his barracks for almost two weeks from being attached to the vehicle.

PA Consulting said the award from the MoD’s Research Acquisition Organisation (RAO) will have important implications for the transportation and management of materiel throughout the future defence supply chain.

It added that lessons learnt in Iraq and other theatres demonstrate the need to be able to transport materiel efficiently through the supply chain, while at the same time identifying and tracking material being shipped to and within theatre.

“The idea is to look forward to the next set of logistics that the MoD will buy,” said Giles Beattie, the senior manager responsible for the project at PA. “Positive potential outcomes include better visibility of costs, an ability to track material in the supply chain, a better understanding of condition of equipment and improved handling of material.”

Working as prime contractor, PA is leading a joint industry and academic team to assess and develop the inter-modal and asset/consignment tracking concepts and technologies that are required to meet current and future logistics requirements.

The team will also ensure that the integration of these concepts and technologies is de-risked effectively in support of future logistic related acquisitions, drawing on leading defence and civil logistics expertise, including recent developments in commercial logistics – such as RFID and GPS – and working practices.

Comprising Bedfordshire’s Cranfield University, Norfolk-based Lotus Engineering, East Anglia’s Marshall Group’s Aerospace and Specialist Vehicle Divisions, BMT Defence Services and Consilium of the Wincanton Group, Beattie believes PA has compiled a highly capable team.

“We put together a team we think will be able to help cope with all eventualities,” said Beattie. “Cranfield University has great expertise in modelling systems, Lotus has composites knowledge and are exceptional engineers, while Marshall are highly qualified in land and air domains.”

The complete programme of work is scheduled to be completed by May 2009 and its output will be used to inform decisions to progress with full development, procurement and fielding of an integrated inter-modal transport and tracking system.

The value of the contract remains undisclosed though Beattie did say it was worth a “substantial amount of money,” adding: “We hope for follow-on contract, but we do not know whether that will happen, we need to do this work before we will know for sure.”