Britain's Ministry of Defense is to award a 13-year contract to Leidos, a U.S. company, to manage logistic services for the country's military.

Under the award, part of the ministry's effort to modernize its Logistics Commodities and Services program, Leidos will run and improve efficiencies in warehousing procurement and stock control of food, clothing, general and medical supplies as well as storage and distribution.

"I am pleased we are able to confirm this transaction with Leidos which will bring the military's logistics, commodities and support services up to the standard of industry best practice, deliver more efficient and effective processes across the supply chain and enhance the quality of support provided to our armed forces," said Minister for Defense Equipment, Support and Technology Philip Dunne.

"This will generate significant savings of around �Pounds 0.5 billion [about $744.5 million] over the life of the contract, representing good value for money for the taxpayer and, in due course, will deliver state of the art fulfillment to our inventory management processes and systems."

The Defense Ministry said the program to modernize its logistics system represents a "significant" financial investment in new facilities -- a new defense fulfilment facility will be built next to the ministry's LCS site -- and new IT systems will be acquired for logistics.

"By working with Leidos, we will introduce (and) modernize our commodity procurement, warehousing, and distribution and secure a supply chain that will be responsive to the needs of the military, while at the same time saving money," said Lt. Gen. Sir Chris Deverell, the ministry's chief of land materiel.

The official contract is expected to be signed in April.

Leidos' team for the work includes sub-contractors Kuehne+Nagel and TVS Supply Chain Solutions.