http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/24/dmo-to-be-cut-loose-from-defence-department/ now with extra source Sun, 12 Feb 2012 03:29:14 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/24/dmo-to-be-cut-loose-from-defence-department/#comment-15292 Mike Wright Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-15292 One of the beauties of being a silly old f*rt is that one can remember what happened decades ago; what the Bright Young Fanatics (BYFs) - every Department had to have a few, or hire some as consultants - suggested as changes in Defence acquisitions to save the universe, and everything. There was a thing called the Department of Supply that used to do roughly what DMO does now; but it had to go! It was not responsive enough to the Services' requirements; bound up in red tape; too slow, wasteful etc etc. So, it was incorporated into Defence. Now we are to have a new organisation separate from Defence that will be beaut and efficient and save time and money. Do I detect the familiar sound of recently re-invented square wheels clomping around in the corridors of power? One of the beauties of being a silly old f*rt is that one can remember what happened decades ago; what the Bright Young Fanatics (BYFs) - every Department had to have a few, or hire some as consultants - suggested as changes in Defence acquisitions to save the universe, and everything. There was a thing called the Department of Supply that used to do roughly what DMO does now; but it had to go! It was not responsive enough to the Services’ requirements; bound up in red tape; too slow, wasteful etc etc. So, it was incorporated into Defence. Now we are to have a new organisation separate from Defence that will be beaut and efficient and save time and money. Do I detect the familiar sound of recently re-invented square wheels clomping around in the corridors of power?

]]> http://www.crikey.com.au/2008/09/24/dmo-to-be-cut-loose-from-defence-department/#comment-15293 Andrew Thu, 01 Jan 1970 10:00:00 +0000 #comment-15293 Wasn't the problem under the Howard government political control? Not being within light-years of the defence area (real light years, not those small ones separating our banks from the subprime mess), I wonder how you can separate procurement from the advice of the department which has to use the kit. I would be more convinced if the defence department had blundered in its advice regarding the McDonalds-only procurement policy, but it seems to have come right from the top of Government. Remember that the point about the hollow men is not that they are bureaucrats (that was yes Minister), but that they are ministerial advisors. Wasn’t the problem under the Howard government political control? Not being within light-years of the defence area (real light years, not those small ones separating our banks from the subprime mess), I wonder how you can separate procurement from the advice of the department which has to use the kit. I would be more convinced if the defence department had blundered in its advice regarding the McDonalds-only procurement policy, but it seems to have come right from the top of Government. Remember that the point about the hollow men is not that they are bureaucrats (that was yes Minister), but that they are ministerial advisors.

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