VVHA
Alcohol or not, you are spot on. The process is simple.
DEC state the requirement. In doing so, they are meant to consult with nominated DPA IPT/PM and, very importantly, create a risk register so they can demonstrate they have mitigated the highest risks as far as possible. Invariably they do neither, except perhaps on the very biggest, politically visible, projects where they are actually allocated staff and funding.
DEC have a representative in the IPT called the Requirement Manager. His job (in simple terms) is to tease out and articulate detail, boundaries and constraints. Since these posts have been militarised, and are filled at two or three grades higher than when civvies did the job, the incumbents don’t want to know about detail. In a way they are right. In career terms they are way past that. Trouble is, they have no staff to do the detail, and few colleagues who understand it. But, the devil is in the detail. For many reasons, his task is impossible if he is not an engineer. Invariably he is not. (Same applies to the ILSM post).
To cost a requirement accurately, one must first quantify the requirement. While this may seem obvious, in recent years MoD haven't thought it matters (thereby creating one of the high risks I mentioned). Hence, DEC will state the “requirement”, acknowledge the unit price is £1M, give you £5M, and say “We’ll tell you how many we want in due course”. A year later they will say “We want 20, next month, and the funding has been cut to £2.5M”. This is a REAL example which happened to me in 2003/4. It was scrutinised by the “IPT Management Board” (actually a collection of mainly junior, grossly inexperienced staff) and ok’d. 10 years ago the PM would have declared planning blight without fear of censure. Today he’d be disciplined. (I did, I was). 20 years ago DEC’s (OR) own staff would not have dared insult PE with such dross.
So far, I’ve not pointed the finger at DPA. You will be pleased to know that CDP has ruled on a number of occasions that ANY project manager MUST have the competencies to carry out the role of the Requirement Manager, ILSM and every other post in the project team if the incumbent is unable or unwilling to do it himself. And complete the task without other resources. Thus mitigating all of the above at a single stroke. I’m sure every PM you’ve ever met can do this. But wait, the rule only applies to non-graduate PMs. That means, at a given grade, certain staffs are singled out and treated differently by having higher expectations placed on them before they can advance. See where I’m going? In time (sooner rather than later) the upper echelons of DPA will consist almost entirely of staffs who have no practical experience, have never started or finished a project as the PM, and done very little in between. Their c.v. will consist of pages of half-day seminars. It’s a vicious circle and the loser is – you.