The long-awaited UK MoD ‘Supply of Combat Footwear’ contract appears to have stalled yet again following the collapse of the trials process, reports Bob Morrison.
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The procurement contracts for the bulk of the current issue UK MoD combat boots, covering a five year period with an possible two year extension, were notified in the summer of 2017 and after a slight delay caused by COVID-19 disruption a Prior Information Notice for the next contract was issued in June 2021.
Perhaps understandably, the two-year extension option was taken up but the process appeared to stall again and we understand a second two-year extension was then applied to ensure sufficient combat footwear could be sourced through to the summer of 2026; by when the new contract process should have borne fruit. In early February 2024 a new Contract Notice was eventually issued, with a cut-off date for requests to participate just six weeks after this, and an estimated date of dispatch of Invitations to Tender was given as 04 April 2024.
From shortly after this point a curtain of secrecy descended, with successful submitters of tenders being unwilling to say anything to us about the process in case they incurred the wrath of the purchaser. However we do know that some suppliers of very good combat boots either 1] did not make the cut as far as being down-selected to provide test samples or 2] decided to pull out on the grounds that the tendering process was too onerous or the cost of providing samples and supporting documentation was too high when there was no guarantee of recouping the considerable expense involved in participation.
The latest news we started hearing on the grapevine is that the first phase of testing (known as the Gross Error Trial or GET) of initial boot samples scheduled for 2024-Q1 has been officially cancelled due a shortage of available personnel* in what even the UK Government is now admitting are Britain’s “hollowed-out armed forces”. There are said to be hopes of rescheduling the GET to restart in 2026-Q1, but in the meantime those boot samples submitted by the down-selected tenderers for testing earlier this year will be returned.
This afternoon to try to obtain formal verification we telephoned the UK MoD in Whitehall (using the official number given for Journalists’ Enquiries) to ask who is Point of Contact for queries about this Combat Footwear Re-Let, but rather than being passed across to a knowledgeable spokesperson we were requested to submit an email. If we hear anything of substance from MoD on this contract, which has a published estimated value of between £64 and £97 million so it’s not exactly chickenfeed, we’ll update this page at the first opportunity. However we now have heard from sufficient different sources, all requesting anonymity, for us to be pretty sure we have our facts correct.
If it takes this long to organise the comparatively simple procurement of new combat boots which have not only been designed and developed but in many cases already sold to other NATO nation governments, a cynic might wonder just how many decades it could take to actually develop and bring into frontline service those novel technologies being promised by the UK Government.
*It is our belief that around a platoon’s worth of boot samples is required for the Gross Error Trial and a company’s worth of samples would be required for the subsequent User Trial to decide which boots in each of the categories (Lots) are finally procured.
Further reading:-
- 2024-02-13 UK Supply of Combat Footwear Contract Notice
- 2022-08-07 Future Supply of UK MoD Combat Boots
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