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that the British Group should proceed to deliver their response.
Mr. Haddon-Cave wondered whether, before doing so, the British Group might not wish to read through the two documents he had
handed over, in case they might wish to modify their response
in the light of the fuller documentation now available on the Government's requirements. Mr. Wiltshire said he would prefer the response to be delivered as it had been prepared, but agreed
that a brief recess to allow the British Group to peruse the
documents might be helpful,
The British Group's Response
4.
Following a 15-minute recess, the British Group delivered their response to Mr. Haddon-Cave's letter of 1st August.
5.
The full text of the E & M sub-group's response, as written
and delivered by Mr. Scott, is at Annex A. The following comments
were made in the course of delivery:
•
(a) With reference to paragraph 2 of the response, Mr Haddon-
Cave said the MTSG could see very little scope in prac-
tical terms for the quality or quantity of E & M supplies
to be traded off against the price.
(b) As regards paragraph 3, Mr. Haddon-Cave said a lumpsum
contract, which was the most extreme form the ceiling price concept could take, would be acceptable to the
MTSG.
(c) On paragraph 4, Mr. Haddon-Cave accepted that cases of force majeure could not be limited quantitively in advance, and pointed out that the Government did not require such a limit. It was a requirement, however,
that cases of force majeure should be limited qualita-
tively, so to speak, by carefully defining the scope of
the force majeure clause.
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