Partner Article

Firms plan assault on defence contracts

More than 40 County Durham companies are planning to storm a Navy assault ship in search of defence contracts.

HMS Bulwark, Durham’s adopted ship, is playing host to an event next week designed to help the companies crack the Ministry of Defence (MoD) procurement market.

The MoD spends £16bn annually on products ranging from catering supplies and clothing to high-end electronics and security technologies, and in 2006 placed 93,000 contracts to support its worldwide operations.

The event is not restricted to the UK alone and the companies will also learn of potential opportunities abroad. The Royal Netherlands Navy alone spends more than £500m annually with UK businesses.

HMS Bulwark will dock at Northumbria Quay, North Shields on Thursday 4 December. The event, organised by the County Durham Development Company (CDDC), will see defence and homeland security specialists from UK Trade and Investment and Northern Defence Industries working with attendees to help them learn more about the many and varied highly attractive trading opportunities with the defence sector.

Stewart Watkins, CDDC managing director, said: “The defence industry is enormous, both in the amount of money invested in contracts and the variety of opportunities that are available to businesses. Our event on HMS Bulwark is a tremendous opportunity for companies to discover how best to approach winning business from the defence sector. This will be practical help and advice to help companies in our region to grow.”

County Durham companies wanting to reserve a place at this event should contact John Egan at CDDC on john.egan@durham.gov.uk.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .