According to a new study, all measures intended to improve procurement in the Bundeswehr have “largely failed”. The special fund hinders reforms instead of accelerating them.
35 to 45 billion euros of the special fund were wasted in the Bundeswehr’s inefficient procurement system – with this analysis, the renowned conflict researcher Michael Brzoska from the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy (IFSH) made headlines a year ago.
His new study, which… ARD capital studio exclusively available, comes to the conclusion: All reforms that are intended to improve procurement since the “turning point” proclaimed by the Chancellor have “largely failed”. In addition, the “turning point” and the enormous money that was available to the apparatus had led to the arms industry, the Bundeswehr bureaucracy, the Bundestag and the federal government becoming even more intertwined, to the detriment of taxpayers.
Failure at Prestige objects
At the end of September, the Bundeswehr once again made itself a laughingstock. It became known that some of the new digital radios from the German manufacturer Rohde & Schwarz, which were purchased for around 1.3 billion euros, do not fit into the Bundeswehr’s vehicle types. In addition, for some the battery power is not enough for the radio, for others you need additional cooling.
The fact that the Vehicles Department did not speak to the Communications Equipment Department about a prestige object of the force cannot be explained to any outsider. But that’s exactly what apparently happened. Now it will probably take two years longer until the Bundeswehr can use the devices in the field – and of course it will be more expensive. Defense Minister Boris Pistorius reacted irritably; he had actually successfully created the impression that procurement would work better and faster under his leadership.
criticism of Acceleration law
If you follow conflict researcher Brzoska, there will continue to be procurement disasters like those with digital radios in the future. He assesses the reform efforts of the current Defense Minister and his predecessor with great skepticism.
In his study “Arsenals, Orders, Amigos”, commissioned by the Greenpeace organization, Brzoska is particularly critical of the so-called Bundeswehr Procurement Acceleration Act. His assessment can be summarized that the requirements are all well and good, but as long as around 1,000 positions in the procurement office are not filled and civil servants have to worry about not meeting the still legally complicated requirements, it is better not to do so than to be wrong in case of doubt act.
Pistorius changed leadership shortly after taking office. According to the study, more attention should have been paid to poaching qualified personnel from the private sector. The decree from State Secretary Benedikt Zimmer, who instructed that wherever possible we should rely on systems available on the market and not on new developments, was only partially helpful.
Interrelationship of interests has rather increased
And the amount of money that is in the system, not least through the special fund, is making the reforms more difficult rather than accelerating them. According to the study’s analysis, the complex of politics and industry has grown together and become less transparent rather than more willing to reform. “The turning point has led to an even greater intertwining of interests between the German defense industry and the procurement bureaucracy, the Bundestag and the federal government,” writes Brzoska.
Despite all reform efforts, the tendency remained to award armaments projects primarily nationally, i.e. to German companies. Here too, only appearances changed after the special fund was set up. People buy more abroad, but still think irresponsibly about the local industry.
Although the Bundeswehr is now ordering F-35 fighter jets from the USA for over eight billion euros, it has ensured that German industry is involved: a central fuselage part for the aircraft is being manufactured in a new Rheinmetall factory in Weeze. For the heavy transport helicopters, which are also purchased in the USA, there has been pressure for maintenance and modernization by German companies, etc. All of this is cost-increasing and inefficient and can only be partially justified by German security interests.
More expensive and pointless decisions in committees
Brzoska sees a structural problem as a major reason for this unprofitable preference for German companies, namely the members of the German Bundestag, who have a say in procurement in the Defense and Budget Committee. Politicians who have German defense industry companies in their constituencies are also inclined to speak out in favor of objectively nonsensical procurement projects.
No reform has yet been attempted here. So Brzoska suggests excluding MPs with particular interests from the Budget Committee. In addition to this very far-reaching proposal, the author of the study suggests creating a specialist service for armaments matters in the Bundestag in order to provide MPs with independent specialist expertise for the expensive decisions.
The money that is saved in this way is urgently needed elsewhere. Brzoska sees major financing bottlenecks after the end of the special fund. He particularly points out that with the expensive new purchases, the ongoing operating costs also have to be covered. In individual cases, these could be more than double the acquisition costs over an entire life cycle.
Procurement problems as social problem
He considers it alarming that not only have the current minister’s reform plans not had sufficient effect, but that, on the contrary, there are “signs of a relapse into the pattern of many procurement projects from the time before the turn of the century.”
The fact that the study appears at a time when the federal government is also arguing about increasingly scarce resources makes it particularly explosive. If the editor is right, then there is a lack of money for social issues, education, nature and climate protection simply because the Bundeswehr is wasting money on a large scale. In this sense, the unresolved procurement problems of the Bundeswehr that Brzoska describes would be a major social problem.
You can see more on the topic in the report from Berlin today – at 6 p.m. on Erste.