Over 180 delegates from across Defence and industry gathered in Canberra on September 19th for the 2nd annual ADM Defence Support Services Summit.
The summit provided a forum for the sharing of information between the industry and the Defence Support and Reform Group (DSRG) and an exchange of ideas and information, which will hopefully help the industry to do business with Defence.
The second summit built on the previous event held in Melbourne last August and welcomed by Deputy Secretary, Defence & Reform Steve Grzeskowiak in his opening keynote address.
“The first Defence Support Services Summit last year in Melbourne was a good event, both for networking and for the Defence Department to get our views across the environment and I hope to build on that,” he told delegates.
DSRG perspective
The major themes running through presentations given by several speakers from Defence were budgetary constraint, innovation, collaboration and value for money.
Although the Abbott government has pledged to increase the Defence budget to two per cent of GDP over time, there will be pressure on the DSRG budget for the foreseeable future and doing more with less was a catchphrase used on more than one occasion. In his address Grzeskowiak said that Defence spending had remained static over the last two or three years and the budget had therefore shrunk in real terms over the period.
“The reality is that funding is low and going to remain so for quite some time,” he said. “We’re not planning on rapid rises in revenue and so things are going to remain tight.”
This theme was also a part of a presentation from Mark Jenkin, Head of Defence Support Operations, titled ‘Effectively working with industry to achieve Value for Money in Defence Support.’
“We face the reality that we are fiscally constrained and yet the demand for our services does not diminish,” he said. “Clearly we have to adapt to the changed circumstances we face.”
Jenkin predicted further pressure on services and facilities with the drawdown of ADF personnel from Afghanistan and also an increased throughput in training establishments due to an anticipated higher turnover rate as people leave the service.
Acting Head of the Infrastructure Division, Brigadier Darren Naumann, challenged industry to come to with innovative solutions which would benefit both parties, including the adaptive re-use of existing facilities.
“We need to understand from you what’s possible. We need to confirm with you what it is we want and we need to decide together how we are going to get there,” he said.
Base Services Retender
One of the topics not discussed formally at the summit however, is the Base Services Retendering (BSR) contract, which is now in the tender evaluation stage, after the RFT closed on February 28th this year.
Jenkin acknowledged that his presentation was constrained by the BSR evaluation process, but said his organisation planned to begin contract negotiations with a preferred bidder early next calendar year, with a view to contracts being in place within the first half of the year.
“The BSR model will allow us to look at products and services nationally, standardising the level of service across the country,” he predicted. “It is a driver of change.”
Jenkin revealed that the existing services suppliers have been notified of a contract extension which will take them to the end of the current financial year, with a progressive transition to the eight new service packages covered by the new BSR contract.
Bim & Ipd
Two innovation construction strategies discussed in detail during the summit were the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) system; and the Building Information Modelling (BIM) concept which, together, promise enhanced efficiencies for both the contractor and Defence.
The two formed a major part of BRIG Naumann’s presentation, which looked at the major challenges faced by the Infrastructure Division, not least of which is an ageing Defence Estate. The Integrated Project Delivery Method enables the early integration and continued collaboration of project members such as designers, contractors and sub-contractors, manufacturers and Facilities Management contractors, enabling a project to be regarded in a whole-of-life context from the outset.
The BIM process uses computers to create a virtual functional and physical representation of a construction project including the three physical dimensions, but also time, cost and environmental considerations. BRIG Naumann referred to its’ use as building twice, once virtually.
“We don’t see these two in isolation, we see them as complimentary and there’s a marriage required between them if we are to get the maximum out of both. With regard to IPD, decisions made early have the biggest impact on the outcomes of a project, so why can’t we get the specialised skills such as those of a sub-contractor into the design phase?” he asked.
“With BIM, we think there’s a heck of a lot we as an industry can gain out of this and we are very keen to see it progress to a point where we’re achieving some significant benefits.”
DSRG is the Commonwealth lead for BIM, due to the sheer number of projects it has on its books.
“We are willing to get in there and lead this push as a client, to bring industry along with us to try and define what BIM can be for Australia,” he told delegates.
A view from Industry
Aurecon and Conrad Gargett Riddel were major sponsors of this years’ summit, in conjunction with Brookfield Johnson Controls, Clayton Utz, Sitzler and Thiess, and presentations from a number of industry representatives balanced those of DSRG and Defence.
Site remediation is a major activity and is set to increase in years to come as the Defence Estate Consolidation process kicks off and delegates were given an overview of some projects being undertaken on behalf of Defence was given by Thiess Services’ Ian Brookman.
Aurecon’s Peter Jones spoke about project financing in a public sector environment and John Flynn from Conrad Gargett Riddel spoke about understanding the importance of a coherent master plan in the successful delivery of financial and functional architectural outcomes.
The theme of collaboration was underscored by a panel discussion involving Mark Jenkin and BRIG Naumann, together with Marko Misko from Clayton Utz, Peter Hoskins of AECOM and Sitzler’s Michael Rinaudo. The panel canvassed topics such as ways of enhancing communication between DSRG and industry and a frank discussion on what works well and what doesn’t.
Representatives from both Defence and industry said they considered the 2nd Defence Support Services Summit a success.
“These are useful opportunities for us to get together and talk about a range of issues that affect us all,” concluded Mark Jenkin.
