The Federal Government has announced that future Australian Industry Capability Plans (AICPs) will for all major Defence acquisition projects will be made public.

 

AICPs set out the plan by Defence companies to maximise opportunities for the involvement of Australian industry in major Defence capability projects. 

 

The AICP reform forms part of a suite of acquisition changes made by the Federal Government, including:

 

  • The reduction of the threshold for mandatory AICPs from $50 million to $20 million for all eligible Defence acquisition contracts;
  • The removal of the ability of a company to arbitrarily reduce the level and type of work included in an AICP;
  • The inclusion of a new clause in the Conditions of Tender allowing a company to be excluded from a tender if they have previously failed to    meet their AICP obligations; 
  •  The addition of AICP performance in the Company Scorecard used by Defence to assess a company’s performance; and
  • Putting AICP performance in the DMO Project Manager’s Charter to make project teams accountable. 

 

AICPs are also required for major sustainment contracts. The details of AICPs for major sustainment contracts signed after 1 January, 2012 will also be publicly released. 

 

The detail published on each acquisition or sustainment AICP will depend on a range of factors including security classifications and commercials restrictions.