Briefing: New Zealand's procurement reforms target value for money

New Zealand's defence procurement processes have been the subject of reform during the past few years as the country has attempted to address some procedural shortcomings and ensure that military acquisitions achieve value for money.

Leading the reform process within the Ministry of Defence (MoD) is Des Ashton, the Deputy Secretary of Defence (Acquisition).

He told IHS Jane's that these reforms have seen the MoD implement a range of methods to improve project management and capability definition and expanded the resources dedicated to acquisition projects.

These reforms were adopted mainly in response to New Zealand's 2010 defence White Paper, which said that while the existing procurement processes "can work well ... there are also examples of problems".

The White Paper went on to cite a report that was published in late 2008 as part of a review - known as the Coles Review - into the Royal New Zealand Navy's acquisition in the early 2000s of the multirole vessel HMNZS Canterbury . This review was critical about the MoD's choice of ship design, "shortcomings" in project management and governance, a lack of skills and resources to manage complex procurement and inadequate reporting of project performance.