Military equipment purchasing should be recognised as a professional career path for officers, a Labour party review has said.

The review, conducted by the Shadow Defence Team, recommends the creation of a Weapons Engineering Service to manage the training, pay and career development of military purchasing staff, and has suggested that this should be a part-civilian, part-military organisation.

The Labour party says that increasing the profile of military procurement as a recognised career path would help to maximise the expertise of those involved in defence purchasing by offering the chance to enter procurement as a permanent career, helping to reduce military procurement costs and timescales.

The review also recommends measures to increase competition for MoD contracts and to improve military project management, including the adoption of ‘fixed-price contacts’ – where the contract price remains the same regardless of resource costs or the time taken – as the norm to incentivise suppliers to manage projects effectively.

The full review is available here: Ideas for Future UK Defence Procurement