7.9.1. Support and TLCM framework

Around half of the money that DE&S spends on equipment relates to support. In addition to investigating the effectiveness with which the DE&S procures equipment, it is therefore also important to understand its effectiveness with regards the provision of support.

Business models for equipment support have seen significant evolution and development over the past decade. Historically, the externally contracted aspects of support were spares purchase and occasional "return to OEM" upgrades or updates with the balance of effort provided internally by the Department. Over time this has evolved to "whole life" procurement and support, which explicitly considers support costs, processes, and commercial assignments as part of the initial equipment procurement decision making. A further level of sophistication takes into account other factors which impact the costs of using the equipment to deliver a military capability - training, for example, or manpower. This approach, called Through Life Capability Management (TLCM), is an evolution of the principle of Whole Life Costing where every aspect of new and existing military capability is planned and managed coherently across all DLoDs from cradle to grave. This evolution of support models is illustrated in Figure 7-16.

Figure 7-16: Evolution of Capability Management

The Department is moving along a transformation pathway to TLCM at various rates across the capability structure. The following sections describe progress and issues identified in the Team's review of these areas.