A key recommendation of the Mortimer Report on Defence’s procurement systems, ‘Going to the Next Level’, states that the Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) should be given more independence as an executive agency.
A charter between Defence and the DMO would clearly spell out the responsibilities of each agency.
Defence Minister Fitzgibbon said the concept should be further canvassed and considered.
“I said both in opposition and since the election that I want the DMO to run more like a business and less like a bureaucracy.”
The option for the DMO to become more independent as an executive agency was first raised by the Kinnaird review in 2003 but the Howard Government was not keen on the idea at the time.
The report also calls for a number of new DMO offices to be created to handle financial oversight of larger complex projects, a sustainment efficiency office for benchmarking and the creation of a General Manager position under the CEO to look out for the bigger strategic picture of the DMO.
For a copy of the report head to: http://www.defence.gov.au/header/publications.htm#M