§ Mr. SwayneTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what plans he has to merge the Defence Procurement Agency and the Defence Logistics Organisation; and if he will make a statement. [9394]
§ Mr. HoonI have no plans to merge the Defence Procurement Agency (DPA) and the Defence Logistics Organisation (DLO). Both organisations are recently formed and have clear and distinct responsibilities, as set out in the Strategic Defence Review. The role of the DPA is to procure new equipment capability for the armed forces and to deliver this in accordance with agreed 875W parameters for time, cost and performance. The DLO has been established to provide joint logistic support to the armed forces for training and operations, only one element of which is equipment support.
Although I am not considering a merger of the two organisations, the Ministry of Defence continues to explore improvements to the way the DPA and DLO work together on the equipment programme. We are also introducing simpler, common processes and systems to improve interoperability. This is being pursued through a joint steering group set up to manage work under a number of approaches, key among which are finance management, human resources management, through-life management, e-business, key supplier management and common tools for integrated project teams.