Statement of Intent 1 July 2004 - 30 June 2005
Part 1: Strategic framework (continued)
Capability within the Ministry
The Ministry of Defence aims to have top-quality people, relationships, and processes that will enable us to achieve our intermediate and high-level outcomes.
In our first Statement of Intent we stated that we have areas of strong capability, and areas where capability is improving. We also have areas that need further improvement, and will continue to test us. This remains true.
People
The Ministry of Defence aims to attract and retain:
- high-quality policy analysts
- experts who can manage military equipment procurement
- evaluation analysts who can assess and audit defence activities and functions.
In a Ministry of only 55 staff, we must ensure we have the right people in the right job at the right time.
We want to play our part in upholding and reinforcing the ethical standards that will ensure the New Zealand public service deserves and holds the respect of its citizens.
Policy analysts
We continue to attract highly qualified graduates with a real interest in defence.
Our turnover rate is low, (10%) but we are not complacent about our ability to retain staff. We ensure that we have the right human resources policies to recruit, develop, train, and retain high-quality policy analysts. We want to develop further the depth of knowledge of defence issues held by our analysts and expand their breadth of knowledge about Government processes and practices. This will take time. To help achieve this, we maintain a comprehensive training programme as well as an active secondment policy. Mutual secondments of policy analysts with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade are extremely beneficial in enabling our staff to gain a broader understanding of how New Zealand's security and prosperity interests are advanced and protected abroad. We also have secondees from the New Zealand Defence Force and the Australian Department of Defence, who add to our skill base.
Acquisition experts
We require people with expertise in the acquisition of military capability. This is a highly specialised area, and needs people who operate to public service standards in a highly competitive commercial environment, sometimes in another culture. Project managers may be required to live overseas for extended periods to supervise an acquisition project. The Ministry is too small and specialised to train and retain people in the full range of skills required, so we must recruit people who have already developed the necessary skills and experience. A project manager may lead a team of up to 10 people (usually seconded from the New Zealand Defence Force) and manage a number of external providers of services, for example: consultants who provide independent verification and validation of specifications; lawyers for the project; risk management consultants and specialist auditors. We need project managers who can protect the Crown's interests through complex and multi faceted projects. The increased number of acquisition projects being undertaken means we need to examine whether to increase our staffing level.
Evaluation analysts
In our Evaluation team we seek to maintain a broad range of skills, disciplines and backgrounds. We will review the level of resourcing of the team in view of the growing demand for evaluation of defence activities. We undertake training with our Australian counterparts, and in various audit and evaluation contexts, to ensure continuing professional development. We recruit for diversity of skills.
Relationships
The Ministry of Defence intends to develop its reputation as the prime source of credible and impartial defence advice. As well as having the right people to provide that advice, we must make sure that our advice is accessible to others.
We must ensure that we promote good understanding of defence policy issues with other relevant public sector agencies, for example, the Treasury, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Office of the Auditor-General.
Our advice will be most effective when it is built on a foundation of cooperation, trust and respect. Last year we stated that we will continue to improve our consultative processes and working relationship with the New Zealand Defence Force. The Government identified that the sharing of information between the Ministry and the New Zealand Defence Force, so that both are well informed on all defence matters that need the attention of the Minister, is a priority. The Ministry is committed to achieving this. Work being undertaken to implement the Government's decisions on the Review of Accountabilities and Structural Arrangements (discussed in more detail on page 25) will enhance the Ministry's relationship with the New Zealand Defence Force.
Processes
The Ministry of Defence maintains, and continually seeks to improve, rigorous processes for:
- acquiring military capability for the New Zealand Defence Force
- undertaking audits and assessments
- analysing and managing risks.
Acquiring military capability
As the complexity of the Ministry's acquisitions of military capability increases, we need to ensure our processes keep pace. We are currently undertaking twelve acquisition projects, which is a greater number than at any time in the past. Their combined value is over $2.8 billion. Very sophisticated acquisition processes must apply to manage all the risks involved.
In collaboration with the New Zealand Defence Force, we will implement improved procurement processes, from identification, through acquisition, to introduction into service. These processes will ensure that both organisations use appropriate levels of governance, accountability, risk management and transparency. This will be achieved through a formal, documented planning system called the capability management framework.
Undertaking audit and assessment
The Evaluation Division will undertake audits and assessments to provide assurance to the Minister that the Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force are delivering what they should deliver.
We expect that our audits and assessments will result in better performance and accountability in both organisations. The programme of audit and assessment will be relevant, will focus on the significant, and will examine functions, duties, and projects as they develop. The Defence Evaluation Board endorses the strategic risk assessment and audit programme and monitors the results of the Division's work, to ensure that it is making a difference.
Analysing and managing risks and opportunities
We review our operating environment, the risks we must manage and the opportunities available to us. In doing so, we have identified the strategic risks and opportunities that we face, within individual divisions and as an organisation. We monitor these regularly.
Our corporate areas of risk are well managed. In the Acquisition Division, individual acquisition projects undergo comprehensive risk analysis, mitigation, and management. We are developing a risk management regime for the capability management framework. This will ensure comprehensive risk management from commencement to completion.
Capability improvement
Our capability to persuade and influence, to ensure that we are credible and respected, must continue to improve. We will assess whether our capability development is delivering the outcome we need. This will be measured by periodic internal review, drawing on the stakeholder feedback we receive on our effectiveness.
Evaluating Defence: improving how Defence works
From relocatable field surgeries and planning systems, to the management of Cabinet papers and Defence technology, the range of subjects assessed and audited by the Ministry's Evaluation Division is wide and varied.
The Division is all about improving how defence works. Recent work includes:
- In September 2003 Evaluation reported on how the Ministry and the Defence Force managed the development of papers for Cabinet, and the quality control applied to these papers. The audit identified a need for improved coordination between the two organisations to ensure that Cabinet papers were complete, accurate, and met Cabinet Office requirements. It recommended that common systems and standards be implemented, and that a single agency be made responsible for peer review and quality control of Cabinet papers from both the Ministry and the New Zealand Defence Force. These recommendations are being implemented.
- During field work in late 2002 for an evaluation report into planning for the introduction into service of the Army's new light armoured vehicles, Evaluation identified some gaps in the Army's planning for the introduction of the new vehicles. In particular, no risk management plan had been prepared. During the course of the audit the Army completed and issued a comprehensive risk register.
- Questions about the ability of the New Zealand Defence Force to deploy its relocatable field surgery led to an Evaluation report issued in July 2003. The audit identified there was no policy guidance on the level of deployable surgical capability the New Zealand Defence Force should hold. As a result a policy review has been undertaken.
- The role and function of the Defence Technology Agency were examined and reported on in an Evaluation report issued in January 2004. This audit identified a number of policy weaknesses, including the need to better align the work of the Agency with wide New Zealand Defence Force priorities, to improve project management practices, and to improve communication between Headquarters New Zealand Defence Force, the Services and the Agency. The New Zealand Defence Force has completed a revised science and technology policy that incorporates many of the matters identified by the audit.
