Written question asked by Gerald Howarth (Conservative) on Monday, 17 July 2006, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 19 July 2006. It was answered by Adam Ingram (Labour) on Monday, 24 July 2006 on behalf of the Ministry of Defence.

Defence Procurement Agency

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what progress has been made in the piloting of the operating framework for the Defence Procurement Agency; and if he will make a statement.

Answer: As stated in the Ministry of Defence's response of 7 July 2006 to the House of Commons Defence Committee's report on the Defence Industrial Strategy, the DPA has completed development work regarding the project and programme management element of the operating framework, drawing on industry best practice. This work will form the basis of a wider Acquisition Operating Framework encompassing all of the Department's acquisition business.From September 2006 to February 2007 we will undertake a pilot with a number of project teams from the Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation to evaluate our proposed approach to embedding project and programme best practice and to measure the benefits achieved. This will de-risk the full roll-out of the Acquisition Operating Framework which is due to commence in 2007.

Secondary information