"Defence Equipment & Support" is new one-stop-shop to support UK Forces

"Defence Equipment & Support" is new one-stop-shop to support UK Forces

An Equipment and Logistics news article
30 Mar 07
The DPA and DLO have merged to form a new organisation, called Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), to equip and support our armed forces for operations now and in the future.

This is the latest in a series of reforms driven by the Defence Acquisition Change Programme (DACP) and supporting the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) which aim to improve the way UK Forces are equipped, sustained and supported.

This reform will see one single organisation responsible for equipment throughout its life, from design, through delivery to disposal. By bringing these areas of responsibility together in one organisation, the Armed Forces' equipment will be better managed and with more effective maintenance, technology upgrades and costs control.

DE and S will manage a budget of £16bn, comprising some 43% of the defence budget and employ around 29,000 people across the UK and abroad.

The new organisation will be headed up by General Sir Kevin O'Donoghue, Chief of Defence Materiel. Its headquarters will be at MOD Abbeywood outside Bristol.

Minister for Defence Equipment and Support, Lord Drayson, said:

"My primary concern is that we continue to provide our Forces with the equipment they need to do the job asked of them. The creation of this new organisation, combining the best of military and public service cultures with a hard commercial edge, shows our determination to continually improve the support we deliver to the front line.

"Both MoD and Industry are making real progress in improving acquisition performance but much remains to be done."

In a letter to General Sir Kevin O’Donoghue, Head of Defence Equipment and Support, the Permanent Under Secretary Bill Jeffrey and Chief of the Defence Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Jock Stirrup wrote:

"On the occasion of the establishment of the Defence Equipment and Support organisation and your own appointment as Chief of Defence Materiel, we wanted to congratulate you and your staff, and to affirm our personal commitment to deliver, and to support you in delivering, the vitally important changes that the Defence Acquisition Change Programme represents.

"We have been most impressed by how staff throughout the Department, and especially in DE&S, the Front Line Commands and the Head Office, have worked over recent months to develop and implement the revised processes required by the DACP and to establish DE&S. These changes do not stop with the launch of DE&S.

"Changing the way we go about acquisition throughout the Department will require sustained effort if we are to deliver the necessary results. The Defence Management Board will remain actively engaged on this and, as you know, the Board has asked to be presented with updates on a number of the key pathfinder projects later in the year so that it can be satisfied that the way we conduct business really has changed.

"Doing so is critical to the reputation of the Ministry of Defence, to the provision of the defence capabilities we need and, most importantly, to members of the Armed Forces serving in the front line."