The Defence Reform Act 2014 (c. 20) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom concerned with defence procurement and the UK Reserve Forces, particularly the Territorial Army. It has 51 sections and seven schedules.
Part 1 of the act relates to defence procurement in general. Part 2 created a statutory framework for single-source contracts, operating in accordance with the Single Source Contract Regulations. The Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) was established under the Act. The act allowed for the streamlining of the Defence Equipment and Support Agency (DE&S).
Part 3 is concerned with reserve forces: the Army Reserve was renamed the Regular Reserve and the Territorial Army was renamed the Army Reserve. The act increased the size of the reserved forces.
The act increased provided for 3,000 additional regular soldiers.
The act had its first reading in the House of Commons on 3 July 2013. Its backers were the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, Treasury Chief Secretary Danny Alexander, Business Secretary Vince Cable, Justice Secretary Chris Grayling, Cabinet Office Minister Francis Maude, Dominic Grieve and the Bill Minister, Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Philip Dunne.
The second reading in the House of Commons took place on 16 July 2013.
Subsequent parliamentary stages were as follows:
The bill returned to the House of Commons on 29 April 2014, where a programme motion was passed, and Commons Consideration of Lords' Amendments took place.
The bill was given royal assent (and thus became an act) on 14 May 2014.