Boeing and the Ministry of Defence (MOD) have agreed a follow-on contract for the Future Logistics Information Services (FLIS) programme under a new arrangement that will run until 2027.
Jeremy Quin, Minister for Defence Procurement, said: “This contract helps ensure our armed forces can rapidly deploy personnel and equipment on operations at home and abroad whenever required, maintaining their reputation as one of the finest fighting forces in the world.”
The new contract between the MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support and Boeing Defence UK will ensure the sustained delivery of mission critical logistics information including spares, supplies and munitions, transport and movement, engineering and maintenance, and general finance and accounting. It will also see the expansion of a Boeing technology-enabled system to support base inventory services for the Royal Navy and Army, which are already in place for the Royal Air Force.
Leaning heavily on its experience as a major systems integrator, Boeing has partnered with the MOD for Logistics Information Services (Log IS) for more than a decade, and manages an ecosystem of 26 UK-based technology partners and SMEs, as well as the integration of more than 100 software applications.
Since taking responsibility for the service in 2011, Boeing has helped modernise and transform a legacy IT estate for the MOD. A reduction by more than half of the software applications that were inherited at contract inception has been completed, through either optimisation or retirement, which has resulted in a consolidation of the IT estate and seen six MOD data centre locations reduced to two Boeing-managed state-of-the-art data centres.
As custodians of the complex infrastructure, Boeing underpins the MOD support chain that forms the logistical backbone of the UK armed forces, delivering Log IS for more than 60,000 military personnel at home and overseas. More than 300 Boeing Defence UK colleagues are employed in support of the services, mostly based in Bristol and Milton Keynes, integrating with front line commands and industry suppliers to deliver support advantage.
“For the last decade, we have been on a journey of transformation with the Ministry of Defence (MOD) to modernise and optimise the UK armed forces logistics and support chain”, said Anna Keeling, managing director of Boeing Defence UK. “This new contract will see Boeing continue to ensure mission critical defence logistics systems are maintained and sustained so that our military personnel can operate effectively around the globe. The programme is supported by more than 300 highly-skilled Boeing Defence UK employees across the UK and a further 375 people through our UK-based suppliers. We look forward to our continued partnership with the MOD as it transitions to its future long-term Log IS requirements.”
Boeing has also drawn down nine service desks to one virtual desk, creating a single point of contact for Log IS issues, 24 hours per day, 365 days a year, and providing reach back for application support, particularly for those on operations or exercises. Boeing also supports a secure deployable infrastructure network that allows military logisticians located anywhere in the world to access the Log IS systems and services, giving them greater visibility on the availability and movement of materiel, supplies and spares.
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