Close-up of the UK Ministry of Defence building in Whitehall, London. Credit: Shutterstock/The-Walker.

Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), the UK’s defence procurement arm, is closer to implementing the full force of its new ‘Integrated Procurement Model’ (IPM).

The agency revealed that most of its processes are now up and running in a statement made on 12 August 2024. This includes the Gateway, Corporate and Core Delivery.

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Meanwhile, the System Integration area is anticipated to reach operational capability by October this year, bringing the IPM over the line to minimum viable product.

This meets the timeline laid out by DE&S CEO, Andy Start, to bring the IPM to full operating capability by 2025.

What is the IPM?

The new IPM model was unveiled by the former Defence Procurement Minister, James Cartlidge, in February 2024, when he laid out plans to overhaul the government’s existing acquisition methods, which have been denounced for enduring delays and cost overuns.

Notoriously, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have grappled with unforeseen and enduring technical problems with the Ajax armoured vehicle programme – a platform originally due to enter service in 2017, but is now scheduled to reach initial operating capability in 2025.

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Now, DE&S claim that the new procedures will wrestle with critical questions from the very start of new programmes while including views from across the UK Defence establishment – the armed forces, the science-focused agency Dstl, among others.

The processes so far

While the Gateway provides a single entry-point into DE&S for all new capability needs, Corporate provides guidance and support across every part of the organisation, from communications to infrastructure and maintaining a culture of continuous improvement.

Meanwhile, Core Delivery and System Integration areas focus on delivering the MoD Equipment Plan, which currently has a £17.5bn shortfall according to a National Audit Office outlook from November 2023.

Newly implemented, Core Delivery will serve as a new engine for UK defence procurement. The segment will be led by Dr Simon Dakin, previously the director of the DE&S Integrated Battlespace Operating Centre.

The move has seen people from the ships domain become the first Core Delivery group. With this, 100 of around 700 total order book items held in DE&S now sit in Core Delivery, and that number will grow in the weeks and months to come. This includes the in-service maintenance of the UK’s flagship aircraft carriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth and HMS Prince of Wales.