Thirty-Sixth Report - The Defence digital strategy

The NAO report identified that Defence Digital’s project delivery has suffered from a lack of skilled and experienced personnel, immature project controls, and a culture focused on the approvals process rather than outcomes.42 The Department accepted that its performance up … Read more The NAO report identified that Defence Digital’s project delivery has suffered from a lack of skilled and experienced personnel, immature project controls, and a culture focused on the approvals process rather than outcomes.42 The Department accepted that its performance up to now is worrying and that it needs to up-skill staff and think differently about processes and risk.43 In particular, the Department said that it wants a more diverse mix of experience in its digital project delivery teams. It hopes that by bringing in different skills and ways of thinking from industry, it can become more confident at working in agile ways that are more appropriate to developing software, as opposed to conventional defence items.44 BAE Systems, in its written evidence, argued that it is quicker and easier to iterate five versions of a digital product or service than it is 34 Qq 89–90; C&AG’s Report, paras 3.13–3.14 35 Qq 16, 86 36 Q 16 37 Qq 30–33; Letter from Laurence Lee CMG to PAC Chair Dame Meg Hillier, 18 November 2022 38 Q 16 39 Q 78 40 C&AG’s Report, para 17 41 Q 15; C&AG’s Report, para 18 42 C&AG’s Report, para 17 43 Qq 15, 70–71 44 Q 70 The Defence digital strategy 13 to be perfect first time.45 The Department also told us it is trying to think differently about management information and reporting, as well as wider peer challenge and review across its project delivery portfolio to make better use of the specialists it has.46 Show less

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Nonetheless, we challenged the Department on its need to get better at stopping and improving failing digital programmes.47 The Department stated it had recently paused its core networks programme to make changes to its design before going out to the … Read more Nonetheless, we challenged the Department on its need to get better at stopping and improving failing digital programmes.47 The Department stated it had recently paused its core networks programme to make changes to its design before going out to the market.48 They also paused specific software components of the Morpheus programme (itself a sub- component of the Land Environment Tactical Communications and Information Systems (LE TacCIS) programme) as they did not believe these were being delivered appropriately.49 However, they stated that while there have been problems with one component part of Morpheus, they would still deliver continuous capability upgrades through this programme, and the over-arching LE TacCIS programme, over time.50 Show less

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On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Ministry of Defence (the Department) about the Defence digital strategy. The rapid advance of technology is changing the character of warfare, introducing a shifting and accelerating landscape of threats. The rapid deployment and …

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