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Ministry of Defence

Answer

Dr. Iddon: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence what mechanisms are in place in the Defence Procurement Agency for the passing of information and expertise between support groups and the integrated projects teams responsible for equipment procurement. [198930] Mr. Ingram: There are 20 Support Groups within the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) who are responsible for providing technical, financial and commercial policy advice to the Agency's Integrated Project Teams (IPTs). In addition to supporting the DPA IPTs, many Support Groups provide support to the wider Department and to industry. Support Groups promulgate their advice and policy through the Department's Acquisition Management System (AMS) in the first instance. The AMS is a web- based system that provides a framework for more detailed guidance, often in the form of Joint Service Publications or Defence Standards. The AMS is available via the internet and is used extensively by industry. The individual Support Groups employ a variety of means for providing information and support directly to IPTs; these include bulletin boards, helplines, seminars and guidebooks. Where appropriate, individual Support Group personnel may become `associate members' of IPTs. Support Group personnel are involved in the delivery of training to IPTs and participate in a number of courses. Support Groups and IPTs also contribute to a process called `Learning From Experience' where lessons learned are captured in a database for others to draw from. Finally, the best way of sharing expertise between Support Groups and IPTs is for staff to move between them during their career. This assists in the development of policy and guidance that is aligned to the needs of IPTs.

Secondary information

Type

Written question

Reference

198930; 426 c1816-7W;426 c1820-1W

Session

2003-04

Subjects

Defence Cooperation Defence equipment Procurement Defence Procurement Agency

Link

View this Written question on www.publications.parliament.uk