The Defence Department’s new Independent Project Performance Office (IPPO) has begun operating to monitor all major Defence capital acquisition projects.

 

The establishment of an IPPO was a recommendation of the Mortimer Review into Defence Procurement and Sustainment.

 

The IPPO will operate within the Defence Materiel Organisation and will:

 

  • Conduct annual full diagnostic reviews (Gate Reviews) of all major Defence capital acquisition projects;
  • Implement the new Early Indicator and Warning system announced by Mr Smith and Mr Clare on 6 May;
  • Implement the reforms to the Project of Concern process and oversee the remediation of all Projects of Concern;
  • Implement a ‘lessons learned’ process as recommended by the Mortimer Review to improve the way projects are delivered by learning from past mistakes and successes; and
  • Assist project teams to develop more robust cost and schedule information to improve the accuracy of this information when it is provided to the Government.

 

An additional 14 independent experts with significant project management and commercial experience will be contracted by Defence to act as board members on Gate Reviews and ensure there are at least two external members on every significant Gate Review board.

 

Details of reforms to the Projects of Concern process, in line with the Mortimer recommendations, have also been released. Under the reforms, the performance of companies in addressing Projects of Concern will be considered when evaluating their tenders for other projects. If companies are not satisfactorily remediating the project this will result in a negative weighting against them and in extreme circumstances could result in exclusion from further tenders until the project is fixed.

Other reforms to the Project of Concern process, to be administered by the IPPO,  include:

  • The establishment of a more formal process for adding projects to the list;
  •  The establishment of a formal process for removing projects from the list;
  •  The development of agreed remediation plans, including formal milestones for the removal of a project from the list; and
  •  Increased Ministerial involvement and oversight of the process.

 

The Defence Materiel Organisation is Australia’s largest project management organisation, with a mission to acquire and sustain equipment for the Australian Defence Force.

 

More information is here.