£1 billion contract to put Army recruitment in civilian hands 11.10.11
5Army recruitment is to be outsourced. A bidding process is underway with two firms shortlisted for the ten year contract, that would see the winner take responsibility for the entire recruitment process from marketing through to entry into basic training. The Daily Telegraph reports that the Recruitment Partnering Project will be worth a billion pounds over the course of a decade. Based on 7,500 officers and men every year the newspaper claims the contractor will make £14,000 per soldier headhunted. The project is part of the wider defence costcutting drive; if accurate the Telegraph's figures would mean a saving of something like £250 million over a decade, and free up senior NCOs and officers from backroom work. It comes as the Army presses ahead with axing 17,000 soldiers in the coming years. But recruitment will continue nonetheless, to stop thousands of servicemen and women being left unpromotable. Col Richard Kemp, a former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, said the most effective recruiters were young soldiers who had served on operations. "It would be a big mistake if that was ignored," he said. Full details of the contract are yet to be finalised, but we understand Army Careers Offices would be unaffected and that uniformed personnel would continue to be the public face of recruitment. An Army spokesman said: "The project is an initiative to both meet the numbers we need, reduce the fallout rate in training and improve retention. "The contract will modernise army recruiting and deliver savings in excess of £250 million over 10 years." A preferred bidder is likely to be selected by the end of the year, with the contract coming into effect in 2013.