Corporate report

Support Advantage Charter

Updated 10 May 2022

This was published under the 2019 to 2022 Johnson Conservative government

1. Support Advantage Charter

1.1 Introduction

In September 2021, at DSEI, Lieutenant General Richard Wardlaw, Chief of Defence Logistics & Support (CDLS), invited Industry to propose a MOD/Industry Support Charter to reinforce joint commitment to the Defence Support Strategy (DSS) and its vision of Support Advantage.

Building on the cooperation and transparency commitments within the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS), this Charter includes a set of joint actions to deliver the DSS and Support Advantage.

Grouped under five ‘Support Advantage’ high level objectives, the Charter can be found at Part 3 and the joint actions at Annex A. The Charter is underpinned by the Support Design Principles and Behaviours at Annexes B and C.

It has been assumed that all activities will be undertaken from within existing resources (MOD, Team Defence Information (TD-Info), Tech UK, ADS) and will be governed through the Defence Suppliers Forum (DSF) and TD-Info structures.

1.2 Charter Objectives

Support Advantage is defined as: ‘The ability of UK Defence to deter and, if necessary, out-compete its near peer enemies by our key capabilities being more available, more of the time, where and when we need them, and possessing support chains which are more resilient than those who oppose us.’

To secure competitive Support Advantage we must focus on Support Performance: ‘… a paradigm shift in platform and equipment availability; the development of superior, assured, environmentally sustainable and cost-effective logistic services; the exploitation of data and technology; and a culture of interoperability that places NATO at the heart of Defence.’

Therefore the Charter for Support Advantage is based on five high level objectives drawn from our Performance ambition:

• Improved Support capability and resilience – by increasing Strategic Base agility.
• Improved availability and readiness – through superior, assured, and cost-effective support services.
• A more environmentally sustainable Defence Support Enterprise.
• Exploitation of data and technology – through a step change in Support Innovation Research and Experimentation (IRE) enabled by a skilled Support workforce.
• A culture of interoperability and integration – by enhancing visibility, transparency, and collaboration.

1.3 The Charter for Support Advantage

Under this Charter MOD and Industry agree to work together to improve:

Support Capability and resilience

This will be achieved by:

Helping shape Strategic Base agility through development and implementation of the Defence Supply Chain Strategy. The Agile Stance Campaign Plan is central to this as a generational opportunity to define and implement improvements.

Availability and readiness

This will be achieved by:

Championing through life Asset Management, by designing in supportability and maintainability at the outset to improve cost-effectiveness.

Embedding the Support Design Principles and adhering to the Support Solutions Envelope.

By developing commercial mechanisms to demonstrate pragmatism across the Defence Support Enterprise to ensure that globally deployed assets receive support from the nearest, most practical UK vendor or trusted non-UK source - irrespective of company or organisation.

Environmental sustainability

This will be achieved by:

Implementation of the Sustainable Support Strategy and subsequent plans, to drive sustainability into all activity across the Defence Support Enterprise, through proactive and collaborative initiatives to meet Net Zero decarbonisation and other environmental targets, along with the development of the associated governance framework and performance metrics.

Exploitation of Support data and technology

This will be achieved by:

Developing a Defence Support IRE strategic road map and where applicable joint funding of initiatives.

By collaborating across the Defence Support Enterprise to attract diverse and talented people.

Collaboration, interoperability, and integration

This will be achieved by:

Promoting a trusted, collaborative and commercially viable environment across the Defence Support Enterprise to enable greater transparency and visibility of data, plans, challenges, and targets.

Championing the Defence Support Strategy Behaviours for Support Advantage.

1.4 Sponsor Agreement

We the undersigned, confirm our commitment to honour the principles, objectives and behaviours set out in the Support Advantage Charter and to deliver competitive Support Advantage to UK Defence.

Signed on behalf of: MOD Support Function	Signed on behalf of: MOD Enabling Organisations	Signed on behalf of: Defence Suppliers Forum
Name: Lt Gen Richard Wardlaw	Name: Adrian Baguley	Name: Jon Hall
Position: Chief of Defence Logistics and Support - Strategic Command	Position: Deputy CEO and Director General Strategic Enablers - Defence Equipment and Support	Position: Chief Innovation and Technology Officer - Babcock International Group
Date: 28 April 2022	Date: 28 April 2022	Date: 28 April 2022

1.5 Annex A – Charter Action Plan

Improved Support capability and resilience – by increasing Strategic Base agility

• Help shape strategic base agility and resilience by jointly developing and implementing the Defence Supply Chain Strategy. Through the existing DSF structure work together to ensure this meets the performance ambitions and priorities over the short, medium, and long-term timescales.

• Provide support to the Agile Stance Campaign Plan to understand the combined ability of MOD and Industry to provide a resilient homeland and global Strategic Base operation.

Improved availability and readiness – through superior, assured, and cost-effective support services

• Create an action plan to refresh the implementation of a Through Life approach to equipment, their support solutions, and infrastructure. Draw on the principles of Integrated Product Support, adopting internationally recognised standards in the context of a digitally driven, multi-domain operation that embraces condition-based maintenance.

• Using existing joint MOD/Industry organisations, create a clear and authoritative support policy that dictates implementation of support engineering in accordance with Defence Standard 00-600 on all complex Equipment Programmes.

• All acquisition phase complex equipment projects to perform support engineering in accordance with Defence Standard 00-600, the ASD S-Series Integrated Product Support specifications, the Support Solutions Envelope and use the Supportability Case.

• Supportability (reliability, maintainability, testability, etc.) requirements must be established by the MOD (at the appropriate time in the acquisition lifecycle) and be equal to or higher priority than other equipment requirements.

• Industry supportability engineers must have the authority in the equipment design environment to enable them to inform and influence trade-offs within the design decision process.

• Jointly determine and implement an Equipment Support Analysis and Modelling Strategy. This will address all equipment support analysis and modelling which underpins support design, implementation, operation, and disposal.

• Building on best practice examples, develop a commercial mechanism to demonstrate pragmatism across the Defence Support Enterprise to ensure that globally deployed assets receive support from the nearest, most practical UK vendor or trusted non-UK source - irrespective of company or organisation.

• Ensure alignment across MOD on the prioritisation of support requirements when dealing with industry engagement and competition scoring mechanisms.

• Develop commercial arrangements that maximise the availability and readiness of our platforms and equipment, that not only achieve value for money for the taxpayer, but also recognise the wider needs of the UK’s value framework for our industrial partners.

A more environmentally sustainable Defence Support Enterprise

• Through the existing DSF Climate Change and Sustainability (CC&S) Steering Group and the SupportNET Sustainable Support Sub-Working Group, drive the change agenda for CC&S for Support. Work to develop and implement the Sustainable Support Strategy, champion initiatives and, best practice and develop commonly used KPIs such that we are able to measure performance across the Defence Support Enterprise.

• Following publication of the Sustainable Support Strategy instigate a joint action plan and use the outputs as inputs to new and existing projects.

Exploitation of data and technology – through a step change in Support Innovation Research and Experimentation, enabled by a skilled support workforce

• Develop a joint strategic road map (Drivers, Goals and Enablers) for Support IRE. This will form a basis for joint prioritisation of innovation across the Defence Support Enterprise and, as appropriate, be supported through jointly funded initiatives. MOD and Industry commit to the regular review and refresh of this Road Map with collaboration and agreement formalised primarily through the Defence Support Force Development Board, DSF, and sub-ordinate working groups.

• Use the outcomes from the IRE Plan as inputs to new and existing projects.

• Through the DSF People & Skills Steering Group establish a joint strategic workforce plan assessing the future competency needs across the Defence Support Enterprise over the short, medium, and long-term timescales.

• Identify critical Support skills (by segment); generate role profiles and required proficiency levels through expansion of the Pan Defence Skills framework to Industry; articulate development pathways to acquire the relevant proficiency levels; align accredited training to development pathways.

A culture of interoperability and integration – by enhancing visibility, transparency, and collaboration

• Utilising the appropriate DSF forum and Team Defence Information resources establish a joint MOD/Industry team to baseline existing digital, data and commercial improvement activity to address information and data sharing. This will include representatives from the SME community.

• Instigate a plan to determine necessary work on topics such as Support digital data and Support commercial contracting mechanisms that enable information visibility, data sharing, information/data procurement and partnership working.

1.6 Annex B – Support Advantage Design Principles: Guiding expectations for all projects across the life cycle.^{[footnote 1]}

1. Self-Reliance and Environmental Sustainability. Our capabilities are designed to increase Force self-reliance and incorporate environmental sustainability to maintain Support Advantage now and into the future.

2. Machine over Human. We simplify, standardise then automate Support processes wherever human judgement is not needed, safety risks can be avoided, reliability can be increased, or monotony reduced.

3. Interoperability and Agility. Our requirements maximise the ability to utilise the Support of allies and partners: reducing our deployed footprint and increasing agility.

4. Availability and Reliability. We optimise platform reliability and availability to deliver mission success by designing for supportability at the outset thus reducing demands placed on the Defence Support Network.

5. Data centricity and quality. Our System Requirements ensure the data we need for Support is always available, in good condition and secure, which means data is standardised, curated, and endures as an asset.

6. Commonality and Modularity. We maximise capability/system availability and productivity by utilising common in-service parts, pre-existing NSNs and components that are already manufactured by wider non-Defence industry to incorporate modularity to the maximum extent.

7. Value over Cost. We consider cost through life to achieve readiness and value and include materials and products that can have an extended life or purpose through recycling, repair, or reuse - over the lifecycle of a capability, ease/cost of build must not trump ease/cost of maintenance.

8. Common Storage, Transportation and Training. We reduce aggregate risk and cost (and take a more holistic approach to the management of the Strategic Base and Whole Force) by, in the first instance, seeking to meet new requirements for storage, transport, training and support facilities utilising existing Defence arrangements and assets.

9. Integrated Systems. We promote and assure multi-domain integration of the Support Chain and therein enhance platform integration and availability by designing and procuring instrumentation and digital technology that integrates with MoD’s backbone Engr and Log IS.

10. Evolving Support Capability Design. Our future capabilities deliver more responsive support solutions through use of Evergreen open architectures with frequent and incremental changes and, as opportunities arise and need mandates, we continually improve existing Support services, capabilities, and infrastructure - responding to new threats, building on experience and advances in technology.

1.7 Annex C – Behaviours for Support Advantage

Achieving an enduring Support Advantage requires a cultural and behavioural change across Defence. Neither the Defence Support organisation - nor the Support Function - can fully realise this ambition alone - it will require the action of UK Defence as a whole, from the wider MOD to the defence supply chain. ‘Behaviours for Support Advantage’ must be demonstrated by all. The section below sets out some example behaviours and provides a useful reference for all personnel involved in Support activity and decision-making:

Senior Defence Leadership will:

• Ensure Support implications are integral to Defence decision-making.
• Generate a X-Government focus on the national security of our supply chains.
• Seek to reverse the under investment in Support Research and Development.
• Collaborate X-Government and with Industry to tackle Support skills shortages.
• Advance a diverse, inclusive cadre of Support professionals.
• Foster a culture of environmental sustainability as a force multiplier.
• Think end-to-end, don’t sacrifice long-term value (through-life performance and reduced cost of ownership) for short-term gain (the capital cost of procurement).

Programme SROs will:

• Ensure Support is inherent to programme design and delivery – so Supportability is at the core of new acquisition requirements and the target support strategy set early in the CADMID cycle.
• Design and develop for good maintainability and high reliability, incremental progression, and modularity.
• Build support arrangements which incentivise output focussed availability and transfer reasonable risk for reliability and maintainability performance from MoD to the contractor. * Accelerate innovation - incorporating leading technologies and approaches which improve Support effectiveness, agility, and environmental sustainability. *Demonstrate a real Through Life Capability Management approach that underpins sustained platform performance and operational availability.

Capability Leads will:

• Build an organisation that values availability and considers cost effectiveness at a platform, not component, level.
• Ensure Support considerations are core to capability design and deliver, with enduring funding identified and ring-fenced through-life.
• Strive for commercial contract simplification and pan-Domain commonality where arrangements leverage the international marketplace and allow flexibility.
• Adopt advanced digital tools and skills so data is integral to Support decision-making and underpins cutting edge capability management.
• Practise proactive obsolescence management to enhance equipment, system and platform reliability and maintainability through-life.
• Dramatically reduce the time that platforms spend in upkeep through a sea-change in maintenance planning.
• Adhere to Defence Support standards and policy and utilise standards interoperable with our international Allies and Industry partners.

Functional Leadership (Support Champions) will:

• Be the Defence Support conscience, ensuring Support is an integral part of strategic, capability and operational decision-making and has enduring funding.
• Embody accountability; hold teams to account for capability availability, whilst looking to continually drive value for money and a reduced environmental impact of Support.
• Take a pan-Domain view of the risks to effective Support.
• Ensure a Defence-wide focus is maintained on developing and implementing a consistent set of Support business processes, information systems and skills.
• Change Support rules, policy, and doctrine to reflect evolving operating needs.
• Raise the bar; ensure the Support Community applies lean principles and learns from experience to continuously improve.

Consumers of Support Services (i.e. Support Operators) will:

• Demonstrate a smart customer culture: focus on how our actions impact on platform availability and strike the optimum balance between the lead time for maintenance/ repairs/spares or consumables and cost.
• Embrace transformed Support business process.
• Focus on ways to reduce the environmental impact and increase the sustainability of Support - encouraging innovative approaches.
• Be morally courageous; challenge and address behaviours inconsistent with the aims of the Defence Support Strategy.

Industry Partners will:

• Challenge our requirement to ensure that Support fully embraces innovation.
• Demonstrate a commitment to developing an agile supply chain and a sustainable supply base that delivers choice and value for money.
• Work vigorously to earn and keep a trusted partnership both with Defence as a customer and with competitors, as potential collaborators, and allies, to deliver world-beating solutions.

1. The Support design principles build on the Defence Capability Framework, Guiding Capability Principle 5 – Readiness, Availability and Value for Money. ↩