2015年经济学人 军队改革 国防采购私有化惨遭失败

 

Military reform

军队改革

No go, GOCO

“政府拥有、承包商运营”计划被搁置

Why a bold plan to privatise military procurement¹ fell apart

国防采购私有化的壮举为何惨遭失败

Can we turn this thing around?

这事行得通吗？

AS U-TURNS go, it was not particularly painful; defence procurement is hardly a doorstep issue. Still, in terms of the scale of ambition thwarted² it was a big one. On December 10th Britain's defence secretary, Philip Hammond, announced that one of the most radical³ outsourcing plans hatched by any government would not be going ahead.

事情的发展有了180度的转弯。这并不是特别糟糕，毕竟国防采购的问题并非易事。突然中止这项计划的确需要很大的勇气。12月10日，英国国防大臣菲利普?哈蒙德宣布中止一项由政府制定的国防采办方案，该方案曾饱受争议。

Mr Hammond has been (successfully) trying to restore fiscal⁴ probity⁵ to the Ministry⁶ of Defence, long a pariah⁷ in Whitehall for its casual approach to the military equipment budget. He wants to root out the so-called “conspiracy of optimism”, in which officials, the armed forces and defence suppliers pretend that kit⁸ will be delivered much more cheaply than it in fact can be. After a cost-cutting defence review, Mr Hammond inherited a staggering 74 billion ($122 billion) of unfunded commitments from the last Labour government.

由于曾经随意插手军队装备预算，国防部在白厅（指英国政府）里的名声一直不好。如今哈蒙德已经成功扭转了这种局面，重塑了国防部的经济诚信。他想彻底击垮所谓的“乐观主义的密谋”—政府官员、军队和国防供应商谎称国防装备采办的成本将会降低。经过削减开支的国防审计之后，哈蒙德领导的国防部从上一届劳动党政府继承了一项740亿英镑（1，220亿美元）的资金缺口，这一数字令人震惊。

At present a 16,500-strong Bristol-based outfit⁹ called Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), staffed mostly by former soldiers and civil servants, handles procurement. Mr Hammond argued that a radically¹⁰ different approach was needed. Responsibility for buying and maintaining Britain's military equipment should be handed to a GOCO, the acronym¹¹ given to a new government-owned, contractor-operated organisation¹². In effect, Britain would have privatised defence procurement.

目前，国防装备与保障局（DE&S）负责英国的国防采购。该组织位于布里斯托尔，有16,500名员工，其中大部分是退役的士兵、公务员。哈蒙德坚称国防采购需要一种截然不同的方式。采购和维护英国国防装备的任务应该移交给一个“政府拥有，承包商运营”的组织（简称GOCO）。实际上，这是将英国的国防采购私有化。

In July three American-led consortia had been lined up to bid for the contract. But by last month two had dropped out, fearing it would be impossible to make a decent return. That left just one bidder¹³: a consortium that included Bechtel, PricewaterhouseCoopers and PA Consulting. Sources suggest that, despite having submitted a 1,200-page bid, this consortium too was thinking about pulling out.

七月份，由美国公司牵头的3个财团参与了英国国防部国防装备与保障局(DE&S)的私有化招标。但是到了上个月，已经有两家财团放弃投标，因为他们担心到时候无法获利，得不偿失。这样就只剩下了最后一个投标者——由贝克特尔公司、普华永道以及英国博安咨询集团和英国国防技术集团组成的财团。消息人士称：“虽然提交了一份1,200页的竞标书，该财团也在考虑放弃投标。”

Without a credible¹⁴ commercial competition, Mr Hammond will revert¹⁵ to allowing a beefed-up DE&S to offer the salaries needed to attract people from the private sector¹⁶ with the kind of commercial, engineering and financial skills needed to handle big projects and negotiate complex contracts. This is unlikely to deliver the kind of “cultural change” that Mr Hammond had insisted was essential.

由于没有一个可信的商业竞争组织，哈蒙德只能重新让机构臃肿的国防装备与保障局负责从私有部门中引进具有商业、工程以及财政知识的能够承接重大项目、沟通重大合同的人才，并为他们提供薪水。这好像不能实现哈蒙德之前一直坚持认为很重要的“文化革新”。

Yet Francis Tusa, the editor of Defence Analysis, a newsletter, and a supporter of GOCO, reckons that for all Mr Hammond's apparent enthusiasm for it, he may not be entirely¹⁷ dismayed by what has happened. Bidders¹⁸ fell by the wayside because of the limited length of contract being offered (as little as three years according to a source) combined with the requirement for substantial upfront investment and the need for every pound of profit to come from savings¹⁹ over the previous system. Surely Mr Hammond could have sweetened the deal if he had really wanted it?

通讯简报《防务分析》的主编弗朗西斯·图萨是GOCO的支持者。他认为既然哈蒙德对改革投入了那么显著的热情，他不会对目前发生的事情彻底失望的。投标者半路退出是因为合同的期限太短（一位消息人士称只有三年）、需要大量的预付资本，而且利润只能来自于对原体制开支的节俭。如果哈蒙德真的想实现这项改革，他让它变得诱人了吗？

The proposed new system was the brainchild of Bernard Gray, a former journalist, political adviser²⁰ and banker who was hired by the prime minister, David Cameron, to become head of defence materiel in late 2010, before Mr Hammond became defence secretary. Mr Hammond, said by some who have worked with him to be “a bit of a control freak”, concurs²¹ with much of the bullish Mr Gray's argument for the GOCO. But he was probably not thrilled by having to march in lock-step with him on such a contentious²² and politically risky²³ policy. Mr Gray has been made chief executive of the rebooted DE&S.

新提出的体制是伯纳德·格雷的点子。他曾经做过记者、政治顾问、银行家，2010年下半年被首相大卫·卡梅伦任命为国防装备与保障局局长，当时哈蒙德还不是国防大臣。跟哈蒙德一起工作的人说哈蒙德的控制欲比较强。他同意了格雷关于GOCO的顽固的争执。然而他可能不太愿意同格雷陷在这个有争议的政治冒险性的政策上。格雷被任命为重组后的DE&S首席执行官。

Others will be frankly²⁴ relieved at the GOCO's demise²⁵. Its detractors both in Parliament and industry questioned how far a privately-operated entity²⁶ could be trusted to serve national strategic goals. Even the Pentagon, no slouch when it comes to outsourcing, was worried that the Ministry of Defence might lose capabilities²⁷ critical for the support of future missions. In 2011 America's Office of Federal Procurement Policy issued a “Policy Letter” warning departments about surrendering to contractors²⁸ “inherently governmental functions”. The Pentagon was singled out for needing caution when it came to reliance on contractors.

其他人对GOCO的失败表现的很轻松。议会里和工业界的贬低者们质疑让一个私营组织为国家的战略目标提供服务，人们能对其信任多久。五角大楼在面对英国的国防采办问题时也不再坐视不管，它担心国防部会失去支撑未来使命的关键能力。2011年美国联邦采购政策办公室发表了一篇“政策书函”，警告国防部不要将关键的政府职能转交给承包商。五角大楼指出在依赖承包商的问题上要提高警惕。

Mr Hammond says that the GOCO plan is only on hold and could be brought back by a future Conservative government. By the time it is, the politically ambitious defence secretary will surely have moved to another billet.

哈蒙德说，GOCO模式只是被暂时搁置，可以在在下一届保守党政府中恢复这一模式。然而到到时候，这位雄心勃勃的国防大臣肯定已经担任别的职务去了。

1 procurement   

n.采购；获得

参考例句：

• He is in charge of the procurement of materials.他负责物资的采购。
• More and more,human food procurement came to have a dominant effect on their evolution.人类获取食物愈来愈显著地影响到人类的进化。

2 thwarted   

阻挠( thwart的过去式和过去分词 )； 使受挫折； 挫败； 横过

参考例句：

• The guards thwarted his attempt to escape from prison. 警卫阻扰了他越狱的企图。
• Our plans for a picnic were thwarted by the rain. 我们的野餐计划因雨受挫。

3 radical   

n.激进份子，原子团，根号；adj.根本的，激进的，彻底的

参考例句：

• The patient got a radical cure in the hospital.病人在医院得到了根治。
• She is radical in her demands.她的要求十分偏激。

4 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

5 probity   

n.刚直；廉洁，正直

参考例句：

• Probity and purity will command respect everywhere.为人正派到处受人尊敬。
• Her probity and integrity are beyond question.她的诚实和正直是无可争辩的。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 pariah   

n.被社会抛弃者

参考例句：

• Shortly Tom came upon the juvenile pariah of the village.不一会儿，汤姆碰上了村里的少年弃儿。
• His landlady had treated him like a dangerous criminal,a pariah.房东太太对待他就像对待危险的罪犯、对待社会弃儿一样。

8 kit   

n.用具包，成套工具；随身携带物

参考例句：

• The kit consisted of about twenty cosmetic items.整套工具包括大约20种化妆用品。
• The captain wants to inspect your kit.船长想检查你的行装。

9 outfit   

n.（为特殊用途的）全套装备，全套服装

参考例句：

• Jenney bought a new outfit for her daughter's wedding.珍妮为参加女儿的婚礼买了一套新装。
• His father bought a ski outfit for him on his birthday.他父亲在他生日那天给他买了一套滑雪用具。

10 radically   

ad.根本地，本质地

参考例句：

• I think we may have to rethink our policies fairly radically. 我认为我们可能要对我们的政策进行根本的反思。
• The health service must be radically reformed. 公共医疗卫生服务必须进行彻底改革。

11 acronym   

n.首字母简略词，简称

参考例句：

• That's a mouthful of an acronym for a very simple technology.对于一项非常简单的技术来说，这是一个很绕口的缩写词。
• TSDF is an acronym for Treatment, Storage and Disposal Facilities.TSDF是处理，储存和处置设施的一个缩写。

12 organisation   

n.组织，安排，团体，有机休

参考例句：

• The method of his organisation work is worth commending.他的组织工作的方法值得称道。
• His application for membership of the organisation was rejected.他想要加入该组织的申请遭到了拒绝。

13 bidder   

n.(拍卖时的)出价人，报价人，投标人

参考例句：

• TV franchises will be auctioned to the highest bidder.电视特许经营权将拍卖给出价最高的投标人。
• The bidder withdrew his bid after submission of his bid.投标者在投标之后撤销了投标书。

14 credible   

adj.可信任的，可靠的

参考例句：

• The news report is hardly credible.这则新闻报道令人难以置信。
• Is there a credible alternative to the nuclear deterrent?是否有可以取代核威慑力量的可靠办法？

15 revert   

v.恢复，复归，回到

参考例句：

• Let us revert to the earlier part of the chapter.让我们回到本章的前面部分。
• Shall we revert to the matter we talked about yesterday?我们接着昨天谈过的问题谈，好吗？

16 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

17 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

18 bidders   

n.出价者，投标人( bidder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Bidders should proceed only if they intend on using a PayPal account to complete payment. Bidders的唯一形式，应继续只当他们在使用贝宝帐户，以完成付款打算。 来自互联网
• The other bidders for the contract complained that it had not been a fair contest. 其他竞标人抱怨说该合同的竞标不公平。 来自《简明英汉词典》

19 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

20 adviser   

n.劝告者，顾问

参考例句：

• They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
• Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。

21 concurs   

同意（concur的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Gilardi concurs that the newly compiled data is a powerful tool. 吉拉迪认同新汇集的数据是一个强有力的工具。
• Curtin concurs that it's been a blessing and a reward. 柯廷也同意这是一种祝福和奖励。

22 contentious   

adj.好辩的，善争吵的

参考例句：

• She was really not of the contentious fighting sort.她委实不是好吵好闹的人。
• Since then they have tended to steer clear of contentious issues.从那时起，他们总想方设法避开有争议的问题。

23 risky   

adj.有风险的，冒险的

参考例句：

• It may be risky but we will chance it anyhow.这可能有危险，但我们无论如何要冒一冒险。
• He is well aware how risky this investment is.他心里对这项投资的风险十分清楚。

24 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

25 demise   

n.死亡；v.让渡，遗赠，转让

参考例句：

• He praised the union's aims but predicted its early demise.他赞扬协会的目标，但预期这一协会很快会消亡。
• The war brought about the industry's sudden demise.战争道致这个行业就这么突然垮了。

26 entity   

n.实体，独立存在体，实际存在物

参考例句：

• The country is no longer one political entity.这个国家不再是一个统一的政治实体了。
• As a separate legal entity,the corporation must pay taxes.作为一个独立的法律实体，公司必须纳税。

27 capabilities   

n.能力( capability的名词复数 )；可能；容量；[复数]潜在能力

参考例句：

• He was somewhat pompous and had a high opinion of his own capabilities. 他有点自大，自视甚高。 来自辞典例句
• Some programmers use tabs to break complex product capabilities into smaller chunks. 一些程序员认为，标签可以将复杂的功能分为每个窗格一组简单的功能。 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

28 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》