Persistence may well pay off for the American big guns

Westminster Outlook Here’s a bit of Government contract gossip. This month – probably next week – new Defence Secretary Michael Fallon will push ahead with one of the big departmental reforms launched by his predecessor, Philip Hammond. The department will announce which companies have won the first four packages of work to introduce greater private-sector discipline to Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), the £14bn budget agency that buys military kit.

There is strong speculation that Bechtel, the US engineering giant, is likely to land two of these deals. As a reminder, Bechtel was the only company left in the running to semi-privatise the entirety of DE&S when the plan was embarrassingly dropped last year due to a lack of interest.

It looks like Bechtel’s perserverence will prove worthwhile.

twitter.com/@mleftly