GovWire

The SSRO has released its latest quarterly publication on key statistics relating to qualifying defence contracts (QDCs) and qualifying sub-contracts (QSCs)

The annual statistics bulletin is part of a regular published series of statistical reports, containing analysis of key QDC/QSC information.

This annual publication includes analysis of all contracts that became a QDC/QSC between 1 April 2023 and 31 March 2024, and data for Quarter 4 2023/24 within the quarterly series of bulletins.

Data is presented from April 2015, when the first QDC was entered into. The SSRO was notified of 660 contracts that became QDCs/QSCs by 31 March 2024. Contractors have one month after the date the contract becomes a QDC/QSC to submit reports and this analysis is based on 615 contracts for which the SSRO had received contract reports by 30 April 2024. These 615 contracts are comprised of 525 QDCs and 90 QSCs. The bulletin includes statistics on the outturn costs and profits of 154 contracts which have now completed.

For contracts that became QDCs/QSCs in 2023/24, the estimated total contract price of QDCs/QSCs was 4.6 billion, and 102.0 billion for all QDCs/QSCs across all years. The average estimated contract profit rate of QDCs/QSCs was 9.97 per cent for QDCs/QSCs in 2023/24.

The analysis reflects the most recently reported contract data. All data is taken from reports submitted by the contractor for each QDC/QSC as indicated in the bulletin. The data may not reflect values at contract completion.

The publication schedule for the next four quarterly bulletins is as follows: