The Minister for Defence Science and Personnel, the Hon. Warren Snowdon MP and Parliamentary Secretary for Defence Procurement, the Hon. Greg Combet MP, recently announced a new initiative aimed at improving the management of complex defence projects.

“Systems integration issues are a known cause of significant delays in major defence acquisitions and platform upgrades,” Minister Snowdon said.

“This new venture has been established to enhance the way that integration risks are identified, understood and managed.”

The new organisation will be known as the Defence Systems Integration Technical Advisory (DSI - TA) and is a joint venture between the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) and the Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO).

Mr Combet said that the new unit would monitor and assess integration risks, and provide advice to project teams and decision-makers.

The unit’s work is also expected to include examination of complex systems integration issues, performing systems engineering analysis and evaluating alternative capability solutions.

“It is expected to contribute significantly to these organisations’ ability to deliver first-rate capabilities to the Australian Defence Force, on time and on budget,” Mr Combet said.

“In line with recommendations of both the Kinnaird and Mortimer reviews, it is also expected to further enhance the interaction between DMO and DSTO and contribute to Defence’s risk reduction efforts in the early stages of major projects leading up to final Government approval.”