NAO Major Projects Report - 2009

[Squirrel 41]

From the NAO this morning - apparently a £6bn to £36bn hole over 10 years in procurement.

Ministry of Defence: Major Projects Report 2009

And some comments here:

Auditor criticises 'save now, pay later' MoD | Politics | guardian.co.uk

All very interesting - need to have a close read.

S41

[TheSmiter]

Interesting indeed Squirrel, coming as it does on the day Bumbling Bob has to swing the axe for the first time - provides lots of useful ammunition for any spin doctor justifying cuts, don't you think?

Now I concede that our skills in commercial negotiation and general procurement could do with a bit of tweaking, but you don't suppose the action of the MOD in slowing the 'drumbeat' (not heard that one before, but I love it!) of various projects has anything to do with the Treasury refusing to fund the Armed Forces properly.

No, that can't be it!

[GOLF_BRAVO_ZULU]

It is irritating that it’s never Treasury (and Government Accounting rules) inflexibility or sheer bloody mindedness held to blame for these inevitable “re-profiling” exercises. Some parts of the MoD could have told the NAO that amazing revelation over 15 years ago. I remember, about then, being ticked off by the chairman of a meeting for being flippant. I had merely pointed out that we had proposed yet another “save to spend” measure.

[tucumseh]

It is irritating that it’s never Treasury (and Government Accounting rules) inflexibility or sheer bloody mindedness held to blame for these inevitable “re-profiling” exercises. Some parts of the MoD could have told the NAO that amazing revelation over 15 years ago. I remember, about then, being ticked off by the chairman of a meeting for being flippant. I had merely pointed out that we had proposed yet another “save to spend” measure.

I agree. It is extremely frustrating for project managers to be accused, after the event, of delivering late, when in fact there has been a Treasury or MoD imposed freeze earlier in the project (which the butterflies with their 2 year postings don't recall or have never experienced). Not the only reason for delays, but is significant.

The last time I was told to freeze a project, we had just completed final field trials, the kit was delivered and the User two days from deployment to sandy places. I told boss to **** off. He then told me to cancel it altogether. (>> stronger language). Perhaps the same "chairman" GBZ!?

Note - the author of this report was previously the MoD's Commercial Director responsible for commercial / contracting policy, so it is entirely possible the situation is worse than painted!

[EODFelix]

I think you'll find that Amyas Morse is not actually the author of the report - rather it is issued in his name as C&AG. The Director who ran the study was actually Tim Banfield, whilst I'm confident that the principal auditor involved day to day was Nigel Vinson (ex Infantry).