§ Earl Attleeasked Her Majesty's Government:
What is the role of the Ministry of Defence's IMPACT data cell. [HL1199]
§ Baroness Symons of Vernham DeanIMPACT was the Industry and MoD Programme to Accelerate CALS (Continuous Acquisition and Life-Cycle Support) implementation Today. The purpose was to manage the introduction of electronic information exchange and sharing to support the acquisition process for defence equipment programmes. The IMPACT team comprised part-time members from both MoD and industry who were managed jointly by MoD and the UK CALS Industry Council (UKCIC).
148WAThe programme originated in January 1996 from a MoD and UKCIC combined top-level seminar to discuss the way forward for defence procurement in the information age. The seminar led to agreement between MoD and UKCIC on six issues which needed to be taken forward. These were the procurement process and value for money; CA LS in legacy projects; utilising information technology; standards; data protection; and data management.
A joint working group of three industry and three MoD personnel was established to progress the work. Each of the six issues above was examined in detail and the working group identified a number of common themes which ran through them. From these common themes a work plan was developed based upon seven individual projects.
With the introduction of Smart procurement, the IMPACT work took on a much broader perspective. Consequently, a full-time joint MoD and industry team, now called the Joint Enterprise Integration Task Force, has been established to manage the introduction of a secure shared data environment for the defence sector.
The programme of work is directed by a Joint CALS Steering Group comprising the Chief of Defence Procurement, Chief of Defence Logistics, Deputy Chief of the Defence Staff (Equipment Capability) and three senior managers from the UK defence industry.