MoD invests in tagging system

The Ministry of Defence plans to spend £200m on sophisticated software systems to manage its 63,500 land vehicles around the world.

The Defence Communication Services Agency (DCSA) is looking for IT suppliers to support the Whole Fleet Management (WFM) initiative.

The army currently keeps track of vehicles - including cars, lorries, trucks and tanks - with a mix of paper and software packages that tend to be unique to individual barracks.

The WFM strategy will create a single global system to increase efficiency and lower cost.

The project will have two phases. The initial contract will be for a system to cater for around 13,000 users in the MoD's 1,800 permanent barracks. The deal is likely to be worth at least £18m.

The second phase will be to increase the scope of the system to include garrisons deployed in places such as Kosovo and Iraq, and may include additional engineering and asset management services. This is likely to push the price up to £200m, says the DCSA.

The scheme will use bar code-type technology to identify vehicles, including individual tank engines because they are often swapped between different machines. Army personnel will be able to scan the tags to identify the vehicles and track their whereabouts.

'The aim of the project is to drive coherence into management information systems to make life simpler in the units,' Lt Col Richard Wakefield, head of engineering and asset management at HQ Land Command, told Computing.

The WFM initiative is likely to require significant process changes and suppliers will be asked to provide programme management and business change services as well and hardware, software, technical support and integration.

Tenders are due in July and the DCSA expects the contract to be signed within 18 months.

The scope of the project's second phase is still under discussion. It will rely on the £5bn Defence Information Infrastructure contract that the MoD is already discussing with potential suppliers (Computing, 17 April).