Commercial negotiations for aerospace contracts
UKGI takes a lead role for government in the commercial negotiations with industry for aerospace Repayable Launch Investment (RLI) contracts, to support the design and development of new aircraft programmes, such as the A350XWB aircraft with Airbus and GKN. This involves working with a wide range of officials from the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) and HM Treasury, as well as independent financial, technical and legal advisors. These are complex contracts to negotiate and construct – each being bespoke – and involve large sums of public funding. Securing agreement with applicant companies on RLI contracts involves intensive negotiations over key contract terms, including aspects such as target returns, levy rates, product definitions, security and contract duration.