{"id":79608,"date":"2017-03-10T10:51:51","date_gmt":"2017-03-10T10:51:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=ed964a4c90559943ea8e3a2ef88a2bae"},"modified":"2017-03-10T10:51:51","modified_gmt":"2017-03-10T10:51:51","slug":"news-story-cma-consults-on-provisional-advice-to-release-baes-undertakings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=79608","title":{"rendered":"News story: CMA consults on provisional advice to release BAES undertakings"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>The undertakings require BAE Systems plc (<abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr>), where possible, to provide access to its resources to actual or potential prime contractors bidding for or performing contracts for the purposes of a Ministry of Defence (<abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MoD<\/abbr>) programme.<\/p>\n<p>The group of Competition and Markets Authority (<abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>) independent panel members reviewing the undertakings intends to advise the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (<abbr title=\"Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy\">BEIS<\/abbr>) that changes of circumstances mean the undertakings are no longer appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>The review has looked at 4 defence sectors (warships, submarines, combat aircraft and munitions) and found that there have been relevant changes of circumstances. For example:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p>the <abbr title=\"Ministry of Defence\">MoD<\/abbr> has moved away from a competitive procurement process, instead making greater use of long-term exclusive agreements and alliances;<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p><abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> has sold or closed its businesses in a number of sectors; and<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<li>\n<p>the capabilities of other defence contractors have developed such that any potential reliance on <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> has diminished.<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This has meant a reduced role for the prime contractor model where competing suppliers might need to use the undertakings to facilitate access to <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> resources. The group\u2019s view is that there is also little prospect of this situation changing in the foreseeable future.<\/p>\n<p>The group therefore provisionally intends to advise that, in view of the changes of circumstances, the undertakings are no longer appropriate and that <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> should be released from them. It will now consult before sending its final advice to <abbr title=\"Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy\">BEIS<\/abbr> in the spring. The ultimate decision rests with the Secretary of State.<\/p>\n<p><abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> reviews of undertakings examine whether there has been a change of circumstances and if so, whether the undertakings remain appropriate or whether they should be varied or superseded or a company should be released from them.<\/p>\n<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/news\/cma-to-review-bae-systems-undertakings\"><abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> began reviewing these undertakings in July 2016<\/a> after a request by <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr>. The undertakings were originally given by British Aerospace plc (now <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr>), to the then Secretary of State for Trade and Industry, following its merger with the Marconi Electronic Systems business of General Electric Company plc in 1999. Following Office of Fair Trading (<abbr title=\"Office of Fair Trading\">OFT<\/abbr>) reviews, the Secretary of State released <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> from most of the undertakings by 2007.<\/p>\n<p>The remaining undertakings were intended to help other actual or potential prime contractors to compete for contracts where they might need to sub-contract <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr>\u2019 resources. <abbr title=\"BAE Systems plc\">BAES<\/abbr> is also obliged to appoint a compliance officer to ensure this requirement is met.<\/p>\n<p>The <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr> group reviewing the undertakings is: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/cma-panel-member-biographies-and-disclosures-of-interest\/inquiry-chairs-biographies#john-wotton\">John Wotton<\/a> (Inquiry Chair), <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/cma-panel-member-biographies-and-disclosures-of-interest\/panel-members-biographies#rosalind-hedley-miller\">Rosalind Hedley-Miller<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/publications\/cma-panel-member-biographies-and-disclosures-of-interest\/panel-members-biographies#jayne-scott\">Jayne Scott<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Further details, including the <abbr title=\"Competition and Markets Authority\">CMA<\/abbr>\u2019s full provisional advice can be found on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/cma-cases\/bae-systems-undertakings-review\">case page<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Anyone wishing to comment on the provisional advice should do so by 27 March by emailing <a href=\"mailto:baesreview@cma.gsi.gov.uk\">baesreview@cma.gsi.gov.uk<\/a> or writing to:<\/p>\n<div class=\"address\">\n<div class=\"adr org fn\">\n<p>BAE Systems undertakings review<br \/>\n<br \/>Competition and Markets Authority<br \/>\n<br \/>Victoria House<br \/>\n<br \/>Southampton Row<br \/>\n<br \/>London<br \/>\n<br \/>WC1B 4AD<br \/>\n\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The CMA provisionally considers that BAES should be released from long-standing competition requirements as they are no longer appropriate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79608"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79608"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79608\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79608"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79608"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79608"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}