Chris Evans (WA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Defence has provided the following answer to the honourable senator’s question:

(1) A list of ‘designated key projects’ has yet to be finalised.

(2) The first report was provided as planned. A copy is not provided as it is a classified document.

(3) Designated key projects are high priority projects on which Defence provides regular and rigorous quarterly reporting to the Minister for Defence, the Minister for Defence Materiel, the Secretary for the Department of Defence and the Chief of the Defence Force. There is no requirement for projects to be under stress to be designated for quarterly review, only that they are a priority capability for Defence. In this way, they are different to Projects of Concern.

(a) Projects of Concern are those projects identified as having very significant technical, cost and/or schedule difficulties.

(b) The DMO Major Projects Report (DMO MPR) is an annual report presented by the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) to Parliament and the Australian public about the status of selected DMO major acquisition projects.

(c) Projects that trigger the Early Indicators and Warning system are running late, over budget or not delivering the capability required.

(4) The Quarterly Accountability Report provides more rigorous reporting on select high priority projects and is individually signed off by the senior executives responsible for the project.