Reviews of the DMOs New Industry Capability ePortal

11 Apr 08

The Department of Defence, Defence Materiel Organisation (DMO) recently held workshops around the country to gather industry input on the development of their new ePortal and Industry Information System.

DMO are aiming to develop a new online portal which will be a publicly searchable database of industry capabilities, skills and services to support the Australian Defence Force. As well as providing the Australian Defence Force with comprehensive einformation on current Australian industry capability, the ePortal is intended to assist in create opportunities for local industry to compete across the full range of goods and services DMO procures. This new system is to be called the Industry Capability Information System (ICIS) and will link together with other existing systems such as Austender.

ManufactureLink Managing Director, George Pofandt attended the Brisbane session of the industry workshops and has filed this report.

The workshop was well attended by organizations supplying both major equipment and smaller services to the Department of Defence. The presentation of what DMO are trying to achieve with this system sounded excellent and would be a fantastic resource for industry if it is deployed as intended.

The audience had the opportunity to tell the DMO just what they would like to see a comprehensive online ePortal do, and most of the audience had some good suggestions.

ManufactureLink observed that most of the suggestions made by the industry representatives were more about gaining more efficient access to Defence Department information as part of the website than comments regarding the capability directory. Many of the comments offered expressed frustration at the current process of locating correct contact information for the Special Project Office (SPO) they are dealing with. Others spoke about the large amounts of time it takes to locate and download correct operating procedures, disposal procedures and other documentation issued by the Department of Defence. Thus the general theme of comments made by industry is they would like to see the portal developed to provide industry with better information regarding supply contracts and delivered in a way that can be accesses efficiently.

But in terms of what the DMO is focusing on in creating the ePortal, as with all online capability directories there will be a strong onus on the suppliers to keep their information up-to-date. Any such system will rely on accuracy of the data being held. DMO are intending to put automated systems in place to request updates of information from the registered suppliers. ManufactureLink sees this as an essential function.

One function ManufactureLink also sees as important for encouraging involvement of local industry in the Defence supply chain, will be the ability to register cluster groups. That is, small manufacturers will be able to cluster together and register the full cluster capability in the system. This will assist the small manufacturers to project larger company size and turnover figures and thus will be more attractive as a supplier to the DMO than they would be if operating on their own.

ManufactureLink also sees the function of the system in identifying gaps in industry capability as another important step to developing local industry. ManufactureLink believes Australian SMEs have the ability to innovate and develop their own capability if they know where the opportunities lie. The system will also presents the opportunity for networks such as ManufactureLink and industry associations to gather information for their members on opportunities with Defence and to potentially assist in forming supplier collaboration to fill the capability gaps.

The industry representatives at the workshop also expressed their frustration at not knowing where to go to find additional capability they need that is external to the current Defence capability database. ManufactureLink had the opportunity to discuss this issue with the attendees and the DMO representatives and explain that this is the role ManufactureLink fills along with the various industry associations. ManufactureLink suggested to DMO that there was great opportunity to fill this need using the new portal if other networks are able to ‘plug in’ to offer additional capability from their members when required. The DMO and participants agreed that this would be a good opportunity for the system to operate as a comprehensive national network.

So in summary, ManufactureLink believes there is a lot of potential in the system being developed for local manufacturers. In particular for manufacturers not currently a part of the Defence supply chain, but would like to be. But a lot depends on the system being developed to be user friendly and accessed efficiently by all parties. It will also remain to be seen if the system delivers all that it is promising.

ManufactureLink has put our hand up to be one of the system testers, so hopefully we can provide constructive feedback to the developers and have a say in ensuring the system meets the objectives.

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