Britain has agreed to a £4.4bn acquisition of armoured vehicles for the army without a formal competition between suppliers, MPs have been told.

The Defence Select Committee heard that a German-led consortium has almost certainly won the contract to build about 500 “mechanised infantry vehicles” (MIVs).

These eight-wheeled "Boxer" vehicles are built by the Artec consortium, which is headed by Krauss-Maffei Wegmann and Rheinmetall, and will equip highly mobile “strike brigades” which will be the centrepiece of the British land warfare in the future.

Giving evidence to the committee, defence procurement minister Guto Bebb said the programme was “fully funded” in the defence budget with MPs told that the £4.4bn price tag accounted for the cost of buying the vehicles and their first 10 years of service.

He faced difficult questions from committee about the decision to announce the deal – which rival defence contractors have complained was not open to competition – over the Easter holiday.

Mr Bebb defended his actions, saying that he was committed to making the announcement before the end of the financial year and that Boxer was the best option for the army.

However, he denied that the agreement was final.