LONDON — An industry consortium led by Capita is taking over Royal Navy personnel training in a deal awarded earlier this month by the Ministry of Defence.
The British company announced via Linked-In that a consortium it is leading alongside Raytheon UK, Elbit Systems UK and Fujitsu has secured a wide-ranging navy training deal in a 12 year agreement worth up to £2 billion, or $2.7 billion.
Capita said its share of the deal would be worth in excess of £1 billion (U.S. $1.3 billion) over the course of the program, known as Project Selborne.
The announcement attracted some criticism as Capita has come under fire in recent years due to its poor performance running the British Army’s recruitment service.
Recruitment figures have significantly improved recently, though, and Capita recently announced it has been awarded a two-year contract extension with the MoD.
The Capita-led consortium, called Fisher Taining, was one of three contenders selected by the Ministry of Defence for the final stages of the Selborne competition.
Babcock, which already conducts some Royal Navy training, and Lockheed Martin UK were the rival bidders.
A Lockheed Martin UK spokesman said, though, that the company withdrew from the bidding in March citing “commercial parameters and the level of information available at the time,” as the reason for exiting the bidding.
The deal, which is expected to be signed in the next couple of weeks, is aimed at modernizing and rationalizing shore-based training currently conducted across 16 different sites in the UK.
The contract includes training Royal Marine personnel as well as the Royal Navy.
The new scheme will bring together contractor-provided legacy contracts and in-house service provision into a single arrangement delivering all levels of naval personnel training.
In a statement Capita said the modernization effort would be transformational, combining sophisticated technologies, processes and training management systems to fulfill the contract.
The company said its work would include a review and modernization of all training courses and the running of live, on-the-ground training and deployment of new methods, including digital learning and training simulation technology.
Project Selborne wasn’t the only UK training contract announced late last week.
Qinetiq also reported it had struck a deal with the U.S. Air Force in Europe to use MoD facilities the company manages for F-15E and F-35 training.
The five-year contract is worth up to $27 million to the British company.
The contract will be utilized by the 48th Fighter Wing from RAF Lakenheath, 31st Fighter Wing from Aviano Air Base in Italy and the 52nd Fighter Wing from Spangdahlem Air Base in Germany.
In a statement Qinetiq said the program will “open the door for new weapons to be released in the UK for the first time. It will include air-to-ground weapon launches and air–to-air engagements following various training doctrines against a variety of challenging and realistic surface and airborne targets.”
Andrew Chuter is the United Kingdom correspondent for Defense News.
