MOD names PA Consulting to IED defence consortium

PA Consulting has won a multi-year contract from the UK Ministry of Defence. The five-year engagement will see the consultancy work as systems integrator for the government department’s electronic countermeasures efforts.

Threats to state security are constantly evolving, be it in the shape of military, cyber or terror threats. As such, defence and security organisations must evolve to meet them. PA Consulting has long worked to help government organisations and police forces reshape and reorganise to counter challenges to national security: including ensuring the armed forces have enough people with the right skills; addressing how the technology, people, organisational and cultural aspects of change impact the sector; and promoting innovation to maintain operational advantage.

This means PA has a long-lasting relationship with Britain’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) already. For example, the firm has been working with the MOD, BAE Systems, Babcock Marine & Technology, and Rolls-Royce to help the Ministry cut costs and improve the performance of its 11 submarines. Two years in, that programme has delivered savings of approximately £350 million and is on target to save £1 billion over 10 years – helping ensure the long-term sustainability of the UK’s nuclear submarine capability.

Building on this successful relationship, PA has now been handed another contract with the MOD. This time, it has brought PA onto a £45 million contract, via an industry consortium also including Leonardo, Leidos Innovations UK and Marshall Land Systems. Called Team Protect, the consortium will now work to provide digital protection against improvised explosive devices (IED), using the electromagnetic environment as a command mechanism.

The contract comes under Project Crenic. The £400 million programme aims to deliver next-generation FP ECM protection in the land and littoral domains for the British Army, and ground elements of the Royal Navy and Royal Air Force. Over the contract – made up of five one-year options, PA will work as systems integrator in conjunction with UK Strategic Command, Army Headquarters, and the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

PA will be responsible for establishing and managing an ‘ecosystem' of suppliers from which to identify innovative solutions and select best-in-class technology for project service taskings. These will include spiral delivery of capability for future platform mounted, dismounted, and static FP ECM solutions.