New Logistic Support Contract to save Army millions

Defence Digital has signed a five-year Logistics Support Contract (LSC) worth £150 million with Babcock International Group. This looks set to save the British Army about £50 million over their previous contract, as well as getting essential replacement parts to soldiers who need them in a fraction of the time.

The Army’s Battlefield and Tactical Communication Information Systems (BATCIS) team handles the development, deployment and maintenance of tactical communication and information systems. The new contract will provide the Delivery Team with intelligent, resilient and cost-effective logistic support across the whole range of equipment used in the Land Environment Tactical Communications and Information Systems (LE TacCIS) Programme.

The contract will offer four key services: technical services, inventory modelling, inventory management and information management.

This contract cuts both core costs and pass-through costs to make processes more efficient and effective throughout the vital TacCIS network. By using tried-and-tested Defence systems, solutions and protocols, it achieves efficiencies in line with current Logistic strategies and gives the whole Armed Forces extra resilience for key operations.

This is all thanks to the expertise of Babcock, whose design for the service was inspired by their work with the Royal Navy.

The contract award is an important step in the Armed Forces’ transition from the old Bowman communications system to the new MORPHEUS, which will give deployed personnel better connections to their commanders, make operational IT systems more accessible and create a simpler experience for users. The functionality it provides will also prevent vendor lock-in and give the platform open competition.