UK MoD Issues Report on Through-Life Equipment Management

UK MoD Over the last couple of years, DID has noted the UK’s innovative “Future Contracting for Availability” life-cycle approach to equipment maintenance, and highlighted its use in a number of articles. That approach became a formal procurement policy in the draft Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) unveiled in December 2005 by the UK Ministry of Defence. The MoD has also focused since the mid-1990s on what it calls “Smart Acquisition” policies. “Through Life Capability Management” focuses of the costs and capabilities of equipment throughout its life, not just purchase price, and is currently being trailed on major projects that include Britain’s new CVF/Queen Elizabeth Class future aircraft carriers. Success would remove many common problems from traditional military procurement, but this will prove to be challenging for both government and industry. Issues of public-private partnerships, contract management, and capability-building arise for both sides. A recent MoD report looks at what it would take to succeed in this area, assesses the present gaps, and makes some recommendations. Its core assessment of the defense procurement dynamic is especially noteworthy, however, as it describes a situation that will be universally familiar to military procurement officers and observers around the world: “The report finds that […]