The SRO oversees all aspects of programme delivery to ensure that it is successfully implemented, that risks are managed, that the potential of the change or capability is fully exploited and that the benefits are delivered. The SRO is responsible for overall cost/benefit trade-offs and must ensure that the business case for continuing with the programme remains robust at all stages from inception to delivery. The SRO establishes and chairs the Programme Board and should seek appropriate assurance, from Defence Internal Audit and through OGC Gateway reviews, that risk management, control and governance issues are being managed in an appropriate and effective manner. The MOD guidance for SROs which details their roles and responsibilities is attached.
Although the SRO is responsible for coordinating the delivery of an Equipment Capability, ultimately decisions on investment in Capability rest with the Defence Board. The Strategic Force Development process translates policy and Defence Strategic Direction into a head mark force structure within a financial envelope. This then informs Defence Planning Assumptions which, supplemented by long-term capability and requirements, are used by Heads of Capability to put together their Capability Management Strategies and Plans, in conjunction with the MOD Unified Customer to ensure stakeholder views are taken into account. These plans are used to inform bids for future equipment capability programmes through Genesis Options. A Genesis Option is an initial proposition to the Joint Capabilities Board (JCB) for a programme of work (a Candidate Project) to meet an identified capability shortfall or opportunity. Genesis Options are considered by the JCB which determines whether a candidate programme is accepted into the future Equipment Plan.
Once a programme forms part of the Equipment Plan, the Head of Capability (HOC) is then responsible for setting detailed requirements and for establishing the programme and any associated projects for delivery. Under current arrangements, the HOC usually then also, but not always, becomes the Senior Responsible Owner for the programme and is responsible in this guise for assuring delivery of the programme and its associated projects including seeking any approvals to commit expenditure on projects within the programme during each stage of the procurement cycle. Approvals are governed and determined by the Investment Approvals Committee.
During the annual Planning Round, options are raised for changes to the existing Equipment Plan and the Force Structure. These options are then considered as part of a process to adjust the overall shape of the Defence Programme with final decisions resting with the Defence Board. Once decisions have been taken, adjustments are reflected in changes to the Equipment Plan and Force Structure. This is then reflected in the Defence Plan which feeds through into Management/Command Plans, Capability Management Strategies and Plans and adjustments to Programme Mandates.
The other way in which Capability decisions are made is through the SDSR and CSR processes where changes in policy, strategy or resource levels are again reflected in options taken by the Defence Board to adjust both the existing and future force structure to reflect these changes.
In order to address overall short-term affordability challenges, the Department also introduced a Comprehensive Commitment Control Regime to consider individual projects approaching major commitment points to determine, against a set of criteria related to the Department's strategic objectives and priorities, whether activity should be stopped, deferred or allowed to proceed and any conditions that should be set. Decisions are communicated back to Resource Directors, Heads of Capability and Project Team leaders and are then reflected back through the Planning Round process by options to make necessary changes to project schedules and to change the associated resource profile.
In July 2011 the MOD Programme & Project Management Centre of Excellence (PPM COE) conducted a review of the SRO role in Defence at the instigation of MOD's 2nd Permanent Under Secretary (2nd PUS). The review made five headline recommendations intended to improve the effectiveness of the SRO role in the MOD:
(1) Establish effective Strategic Portfolio Management including identifying those Departmental changes that are to be run as Programmes.
(2) Ensure all Programmes have effective Sponsoring Groups.
(3) Appoint SROs on the basis of the scale and span of the Programme, ensuring appropriate training, experience, seniority and a compelling personal stake in the success of the programme.
(4) Provide suitable and sufficient professional support to the SRO in the Programme Team.
(5) Ensure that project governance recognises the SRO as the key decision-maker.
The SRO review findings were fully endorsed by 2nd PUS and Director General Finance (DG Fin), and are being taken forward as part of Defence Reform. Defence Reform is currently considering what changes should be made to existing structures and processes to implement the Levene Report and to better align responsibility and accountability.
(2) The name of the 2* individual responsible for Weapons Stockpile Capability. In addition it would be of benefit to the Committee if we could provide a fuller answer that explains how we do this in planning. (Question 135)