Our operating performance | Defence and Security Customer Friend Market context The relatively stable spending in the defence and broader government markets seen during the COVID-19 pandemic continued in 2021/2022. However, the invasion of Ukraine and increasing international tensions focused minds and, despite a slowdown in public spending, national investment in defence and security continued apace. New security alliances, such as the AUKUS trilateral security pact – between Australia, the US and the UK to help Australia acquire nuclear-powered submarines and cooperate on advanced technologies – will inform defence and security decisions for years to come, and we are well placed to support them. The boundary between defence and non-defence activity has become blurred as states are supporting foreign policy goals and promoting interests in a variety of ways, particularly when exploiting the cyber and space domains. The lead time for consultancy support to defence, central government and security customers can often be short and the current routes to market and governance controls often makes fulfilment of the requirements challenging. An increasing number of customers are now setting up their own frameworks to mitigate the difficulties they face We provide independent engineering, design, management and programme consultancy services in the defence and security markets of Australia, Canada, Singapore, the US and the UK. Our technical expertise, collaborative approach and impartiality help our customers to meet their most complex engineering and programme challenges.” in sourcing support partners at pace. Consortia have now become the norm for contract framework activity as customers expect resilient, sustainable and diverse partnering, with BMT well placed to play a key role. Performance Our multi-year frameworks continue to provide a solid core of business. The Engineering Delivery Partner framework in the UK passed its four-year review and will act as the backbone contract for us to provide services to the UK MoD. This illustrates the trend towards broader, multi-year tasking to deliver greater efficiencies. A key win during the reporting period was a contract supporting the development of a new environmental and sustainability programme for Canada’s Department of National Defence. The contract involves ensuring environmental compliance as well as achieving sustainability targets and metrics. This project combines our expertise of defence systems with the climate and environment knowledge to help an existing customer achieve important outcomes. Our reputation with customers remains strong and we have seen continued steady growth in projects placed through both of these frameworks. Management consultancy, predominantly based in London, also goes from strength to strength. As well as repeat work leading and delivering complex portfolio, programme and project management and controls for the Metropolitan Police, our customer base has expanded to other government departments such as the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Border Force. Strategy and organisation We continue to carefully align our investments to customer needs. Globally, customers are seeking to exploit data, digital and autonomy, so we are ensuring our people are skilled to support the exploitation of available technology. The global engineering skills shortage is particularly impacting the defence industry, creating a highly competitive market and one that risks potentially restricting our growth. Partnering and the use of supply chain resource has become an essential part of our strategy to meet customers’ needs, both in fulfilling our long-term contracts and in generating the capacity to compete for new work. BMT Group | A platform for growth 16
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