EDP Annual Review 2020/21

The latest Annual Review published by the Aurora Engineering Partnership and the MoD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) team has highlighted the ongoing efficiency savings and significant operational benefits being delivered by the Engineering Delivery Partner (EDP) programme.

The report for EDP’s third year of operation showcases a number of notable successes and demonstrates how closer engagement with stakeholders and service providers has helped to drive major new initiatives to provide the highest standard of engineering support and services for the UK military front line.

“We are very proud of our achievements over the past three years and, in 2021, we achieved Full Operating Capability,” says Simon Galt, Managing Director of the Aurora Engineering Partnership which is responsible for delivering the EDP service. “There is no room for complacency, however, as such a critical programme must always evolve and adapt to provide the performance standards and operational agility that are required to meet increasingly complex engineering and service support requirements. Our third Annual Review shows how a collaborative mind set has enabled us to take new challenges in our stride and to respond positively and decisively in any instance of a perceived service shortfall.”

Simon Gould, Managing Director, DAS UK for BMT and Aurora Engineering Partnership Senior Responsible Owner, BMT adds:

“The Annual Review demonstrates the value we are delivering to our customers with our Aurora partners. I am proud of what we have achieved so far and excited about improvements we have planned to enhance our service offer and initiatives that drive innovation in technology and engineering – critical to us continuing to offer value for money in a fast-changing world.” 

The 2021 Annual Review outlines the ongoing refinement and increasing service provision of the EDP programme, including the continued development of a dedicated Provider Network and the recent introduction of Futures Lab, powered by EDP. This new service is dedicated to exploiting the knowledge and experience of industry and academia to maximise military capabilities through innovation, exploitation of technology and impartial insight.

Paul Belcher, Head of Engineering Group, DE&S says that EDP’s focus over the past year has looked at ways to introduce innovative approaches to meet the long-term delivery needs at both programme and enterprise level.

“We are involving the Aurora Engineering Partnership earlier in the planning phases of programmes to help accelerate and de-risk our customer outcomes. Our intent is to embrace innovation in high quality outputs and outcomes by exploiting the best that Aurora, the Provider Network and DE&S can offer and to deliver ever greater integration of services. The feedback on the quality of work is pleasing, although there are some justifiable challenges around the process, pace and value for money where we have agreed a range of enhancements to our commercial model.”

The new report features a number of EDP case studies from different domains, a breakdown of financial savings and service performance levels as well as a review of the contribution of the Provider Network. Now comprising 193 small and medium-sized enterprises, the success of the Provider Network has led to 8 of the largest sub contracts let under EDP being awarded to SMEs, with revenues received by SMEs already exceeding the MOD’s ambitious target of 25% of procurement spend by 2022.