The UK government has moved to break down its defence equipment procurement programme as it seeks to privatise the procurement process.

Previous attempts to sell off the multi-billion pound programme which covers land, air, sea and combined arms, alongside HR and finance services, had been met by obstacles.

The breakdown of the procurement operation is designed to facilitate the uptake of services by the private sector and will help to meet specialist procurement requirements according to a MoD spokesman speaking to Reuters.

The government had originally planned to have one private contractor for all defence procurement services however the plan was scrapped when only one bidder was left in the running after a number of companies pulled out of the bidding process.

The government is expected to send out notices to interested parties over the coming weeks.

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