Defence Estates is accused of ‘inertia’

Contractors and consultants have called on the Ministry of Defence (MoD) to tackle the "organisational inertia" that dogs the delivery of the department's infrastructure projects.

The call came at "Working Together" - the Defence Estates conference aimed at improving communications between the construction industry and MoD.

Opening the conference, Defence Estates (DE) chief executive Vice Admiral Peter Dunt invited delegates to use the conference to advise DE of how and where it can improve its relationships with its suppliers.

The conference's workshops allowed delegates to tell DE how it could become a better client. Industry feedback highlighted the failure to deliver contracts quickly and efficiently. One chief executive told CJ: "The MoD is saying all the right things but has difficulty delivering on it. It suffers from a sort of organisational inertia that undermines what it is trying to do."

One consultant commented: "It is not good at managing its relationships with key suppliers. Look at Prime. It is years behind. It allocated resources and then nothing was heard or said for ages, then a project would appear out of the blue. That isn't good enough. People need to be kept informed."

Another leading MoD supplier said the biggest threat to delivery was the MoD's lack of funds.

"The big issue is what it can afford. There is the cost of Iraq, plus ballooning costs on special missile and defence projects and at the back of the queue for funds is the failing infrastructure. It will be interesting to see, after the MoD's annual review of costs, what is left. There is a suspicion that the supplier's role will be reduced to the equivalent of the boy with his finger in the dyke."

DE acknowledged that it has to raise its game. In a statement following the conference, it said: "Although it was recognised that there were still some improvements for DE to make in managing relationships, particularly how it communicates, attendees welcomed the progress that was being made and encouraged DE to carry on with the good work."