- Defence Materiel Organisation
- Materiel projects
Defence Materiel Process (DMP)
The process surrounding the procurement of materiel is managed using the Defence Materiel Process, or DMP. The DMP contains rules for meeting requirements for military materiel, information systems and infrastructure for projects costing EUR 5 million and above.
It marks political decision-making at important points in the process and ensures that the political leadership are kept adequately informed, as well as the House of Representative in the case of larger projects, during the entire course of the projects, so that they can intervene if necessary. In principle, projects proceed through four phases in the DMP:
- the requirement (phase A);
- the preliminary study (phase B);
- the study (phase C);
- the procurement preparation (phase D).
The realisation of the project begins after phase D. Only in the event of a project exceeding EUR 250 million does a formal DMP project evaluation take place after the materiel has been taken into service (phase E).
The House of Representatives is kept informed regarding projects costing EUR 25 million and above. After the requirement has been approved, projects with a financial scope up to EUR 100 million are, in principle, mandated by the State Secretary to the administrative organisation.
If the financial scope of a project is EUR 100 million or above, or the project is designated as politically sensitive, it is generally not mandated. The House of Representatives is informed during each DMP phase regarding the projects that are not mandated (by means of so-called A, B, C, D and, if applicable, E letters). During the requirement phase, the Defence organisation can make a substantiated proposal to the House to send a combined B/C letter followed by a D letter, or even a combined B/C/D letter.
The provision of information to the House by means of separate letters has to do with strategic materiel projects. The letters also deal with the relationship with Defence policy and with other projects.
Strategic materiel comprises all materiel to which Article 296 of the EU Treaty applies (Parliamentary Document 27 830 no. 39). Non-strategic materiel includes tents, generators and basic commercial vehicles, as well as management projects relating to, for instance, real estate and IT. The House is informed regarding non-strategic materiel projects by means of the budget.
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