Guidance

Ministry of Defence Commercial

Provides strategic leadership across the full range of Ministry of Defence (MOD) acquisition, procurement and commercial activities.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) Commercial function is led by the Director Commercial who provides strategic leadership across the full range of MOD acquisition, procurement and commercial activities, and is responsible to Chief of Defence Materiel (CDM) for all aspects of the department’s commercial performance.

Director Commercial

Director Commercial (DC) is the MOD’s Commercial Process Owner and is responsible for the future direction and development of industrial strategy and the department’s commercial relationships with industry; providing the commercial policy and process framework, functional standards and tools for achieving commercial value for money across defence and providing professional leadership of commercial staff across MOD.

Director Commercial also leads the operational commercial service for Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) projects, providing advice, experience and support to senior commercial managers and Programme Teams residing in the DE&S Operating Centres.

Director Exports & Commercial Strategy (DECS)

Responsible for the external industry-facing activities requiring deep, long term understanding of the industrial base, managing strategic relationships between industry and MOD and coordinates Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) renegotiations and is the lead for the Whitehall Liaison Group; Exports; The Review into Single Source Pricing (Yellow Book); and the White Paper and broader Industrial Policy issues.

The Commercial Assurance and Governance team (CAG), line managed by Defence Communication Centre (DCC), provides scrutiny advice to both Director Commercial and Director Corporate Commercial, and to other senior stakeholders, on individual investment decisions and ensures an effective commercial process and system is maintained and applied effectively across MOD.

Chief of Staff (CoS)

Ensures the commercial practitioners across Defence have the guidance, tools and advice that they need to carry out their work effectively, efficiently and in accordance with best practice. Also, ensure the development of professional skills across the commercial community and their application across defence.

Commercial Services includes the following teams:

  • Commercial Systems - provides comprehensive commercial policy advice and guidance that translates strategy/policy into tools to do business
  • Commercial Capability - develops a professional skills framework for commercial practitioners and undertakes strategic manpower planning for the community
  • Commercial Process and Governance (CPaG) - driving consistency, efficiency, economy and continuous improvement in commercial processes
  • Cost Assurance and Analysis Service (CAAS) - exists as the MOD’s centre of excellence for pricing and costing support to the Acquisition Community, enabling continuous improvement of the acquisition process, risk reduction, and ensuring ‘Best Value for Money’ for Defence
  • Commercial Project Enablement Team (CPET) - provides a comprehensive commercial ‘tool kit’ supplying advice; planning; tools; processes and best practice to teams
  • Supplier Relations Team (SRT) - exists to develop robust strategic relationships with the MOD’s key suppliers to improve coherency, performance and decision-making

History

July 2006 - Defence Commercial Director established April 2007 - Defence Commercial Directorate formed April 2011 - MOD Commercial formed

Defence Industrial Strategy: Defence White Paper (CM 6697)

Private Finance Unit

Directorate of Supplier Relations

Updates to this page

Published 12 December 2012

Sign up for emails or print this page