Collapsing the length of the procurement cycle will bring huge benefits. Achieving this will not be easy, but the recent Pathfinders show it is possible.rnDedicating a realistic budget within a properly funded defence programme, selecting the key industrial players on a capability basis, and forming a joint MoD-industry project team charged with producing the best system for the money, in a challenging timescale, against a cardinal points specification, and with governance reduced to a minimum based on a process re-engineering approach derived beforehand, would produce some dramatic results. It does of course need real will, a much more trusting approach and above all some courage, but industrial members of the team will be quite capable of adopting the aims of the customer in such an endeavour.rnBut to open the road towards this modern way of doing things, two road blocks must be removed. Technology must be brought to maturity before the MoD finalises its requirements and before industry is forced to make fixed price bids. Bids based on uncertain technology can never be honest and will always contain the seeds of time slip and price escalation, fuelling mistrust, preventing openness and breeding confrontation. Building a sound technology base before price is fixed will mirror best practice outside defence. But it will require extra investment before Main Gate and in Technology Demonstrators before projects start. To pull money to the front end of projects like this can only be achieved within the kind of radical programme and policy review we advocated in our last article.
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