£240 Million Defence Data to Palantir, No Bids Asked

The Ministry of Defence handed Palantir a £240 million contract in December for military data analytics. Officials skipped competitive bidding, citing unique capabilities. This triples spending from the 2022 deal’s £75 million over three years.

Palantir, co-founded by Peter Thiel, operates from London but funnels profits stateside. Its US government contracts surged under Trump’s second term, including ICE support. UK ministers touted a “Tech Prosperity Deal” during Trump’s state visit, yet pressed ahead after Washington paused the broader partnership.

Sovereignty pledges clash with reality. Labour promised to boost UK AI capabilities and SME procurement. Critics, including ex-Tory Defence Secretary Ben Wallace and Liberal Democrat MP Victoria Collins, call direct awards a sovereignty loss, as intellectual property and revenue flow abroad.

British firms face a scale conundrum. Startups like Faculty and Mind Foundry argue procurement favors giants with London offices. Palantir claims its platform aids UK SMEs, yet MoD justification admits switching vendors would demand full rebuilds, reaccreditation, and retraining.

Lock-in deepens dependence. The contract covers strategic, tactical, and live operations across classifications. MoD insists data stays UK-owned and controlled, but three-fold cost inflation signals entrenched reliance amid NATO interoperability needs.

This echoes NHS patterns. Palantir holds multi-million NHS deals, drawing data security concerns. Government ambitions for “digital sovereignty” produce definitions without enforcement, as foreign vendors dominate sensitive sectors.

Procurement repeats failures across governments. Tories under Wallace inked prior Palantir pacts; Labour expands them sans competition. Public IT history—delayed, over-budget native projects—drives outsourcing, but yields vendor monopolies.

Jobs promise rings hollow. Palantir pledges 350 UK roles and £1.5 billion investment against up to £750 million in opportunities. Yet core R&D billions came from its own funds, not taxpayer build-up of domestic tech.

Defence modernization trades autonomy for speed. Acute threats demand proven tools, Palantir argues. But strategic vulnerability grows: US political shifts or trade frictions could disrupt access.

UK citizens fund foreign dominance. Taxpayers cover £240 million now, with more deals imminent. British challengers starve, as rhetoric cedes to expediency.

Sovereignty erodes one contract at a time. Defence exemplifies institutional capture by incumbents, cross-party. Britain’s decline accelerates: promises of self-reliance dissolve into outsourced essentials, leaving hollow capabilities amid rising risks.