ANAO has released a report examining the effectiveness of Defence’s arrangements for delivering selected non-platform sustainment such as combat rations and pharmaceutical products.
The report comes two weeks after a scathing ANAO report into the risks of the government's nation shipbuilding program.
This report will come as better news to Defence, which was found to have effective arrangements for non-platform sustainment delivery.
The report found that "Defence has implemented effective governance arrangements for the selected Systems Program Office" and has "has appropriate procurement and contract management arrangements for the selected non-platform sustainment products."
It did, however, contain some criticisms.
First, it found that Defence failed to "meet the risk policy of the Department, comply with the Commonwealth Procurement Rules in relation to records management, or implement arrangements for risk and probity management consistent with the intent of the Commonwealth Procurement Rules."
Second, "Defence’s decision to supply freeze-dried meal components as Government Furnished Material rather than through the combat rations contract may have limited the market and impacted the achievement of value for money for the Commonwealth."
The report also criticised Defence's IT infrastructure, stating that the "effective implementation of these policies is hindered by Defence’s monitoring of multiple IT systems that are not linked, leading to complex workarounds and instances of duplication, redundancies or out of date data."
ADM Comment: The news that non-platform sustainment delivery is on track will be a relief to Defence following the widespread reporting on the outcomes of ANAO's previous report, which found 'extreme risks' in the national shipbuilding program. As a side note, this report's finding that policy implementation is 'hindered by multiple IT systems' requiring 'complex workarounds' will come as no surprise to readers familiar with Defence computer systems.