The Department told us it recognised the issues raised in the NAO’s report around the lack of join up between its commercial and counter- fraud teams.52 It told us that it believes it undertakes robust negotiations and has strong commercial controls, but that its commercial teams may encounter difficulty in separating “sharp commercial practice” from activity which may involve the intent to commit fraud.53 It acknowledged there is more it can do to build its understanding of when supplier behaviours cross that boundary.54 The Department told us it would like to “codify” more of the relationship between its counter-fraud and commercial teams.55 It acknowledged that it needs a better “understanding and illumination” of the Defence supply chain.56 The Department added that it has opportunities it to improve its return on counter-fraud investment by making greater use of analytics to flag and prevent more irregular contract payments before they happen.57 As a recent example of more joined up working, the Department highlighted an exercise in which it used analytics to identify “commercial leakage”, which the NAO reports identified £17.5 million of potential overcharging in digital procurement contracts.58 48 Qq 6 and 9 49 Q 5 50 Q 9 51 Letter from Ministry of Defence, 20 March 2026 52 Q 46, C&AG’s Report, para 2.14 53 Qq 21 and 45 54 Q 45 55 Qq 45-46 56 Q 50 57 Qq 8-9 58 Q 46; C&AG’s report, para 2.8 14