The Defence strategy for acquisition reform

Book excerpt: The UK spends approximately £20bn annually on military goods and services, around two-thirds of the total Defence Budge The challenges are constantly evolving, and there has been a succession of reforms to the acquisition process, each building on the last, and between them delivering significant improvement: more recent equipment projects show less tendency towards cost growth and time slippage; there is a more holistic, 'throughlife' approach to providing capability (Chapter 5); and a stronger and more mutually beneficial relationship with industry (Chapter 6). Around 98 per cent of major projects deliver the operational performance needed at the front line. But they also tend to increase in cost - by an average of 2.8 per cent each year - and to suffer delay averaging 5.9 months. More projects must be delivered to cost and time. An independent report into defence acquisition by Bernard Gray (available at: http://www.mod.uk/NR/rdonlyres/78821960-14A0-429E-A90A-FA2A8C292C84/0/ReviewAcquisitionGrayreport.pdf) concluded that overall plans for new equipment were too ambitious, and needed to be scaled down to match the funding likely to be available; and management of equipment portfolios must be improved. This strategy is built around those conclusions. The framework is designed so that the Ministry of Defence will make better decisions about what equipment (and wider services) to buy, how to ensure they are delivered on time, to cost and provide the desired performance; and in doing so, recognise and properly manage all the other strands (training, personnel, information, doctrine, organisation, infrastructure and logistics) needed to deliver and sustain effect on the ground.