PRESS RELEASE
29
th
September 2014
PUBLIC BODIES AND POLICIES
IN-SERVICE SUPPORT FOR MILITARY
EQUIPMENT
Continuing rationalisation
The
Cour des Comptes
- French Supreme Audit Institution - hereby issues a thematic public
report regarding in service support for military equipment.
In a previous report, in 2004, the
Cour des Comptes
noted that the crisis of availability of military
equipment observed at the beginning of the 2000s was explained by reduced allocation of in-
service support funds at the end of the 1990s, and by structural causes connected with the
organisation of the Ministry of Defence in particular. Although the allocation of funds has since
increased, and the Ministry of Defence has thoroughly reorganised in-service support,
difficulties nevertheless remain, characterised by inadequate availability and increasing cost.
In a context of intensive involvement of French armies in operations, an effective in-service
support, able to guarantee optimal availability of military equipment, is a legitimate demand.
Availability problems, increasing cost and structural constraints
The availability of military equipment has not noticeably improved in the course of the period under
review. Although operations and the preparation thereof in mainland France have the benefit of
guaranteed priority levels of availability, on the whole these levels remain inadequate. Yet, in-service
support budgetary expenditure has increased by 22% in constant
euros since 2000, reaching €6
bn. in
2012. The majority of this expenditure involves aeronautical equipment.
More than 45,000 people work on in-service support within the Ministry of Defence: this item of
expenditure has increased by 19% in constant euros since 2000, the axing of almost 6,500 jobs
between 2008 and 2012 not having led to any overall savings.
In-service support teams are obliged to manage the maintenance of heterogeneous stocks of
equipment, distributed throughout the territory as a whole, often greatly in demand for operations and of
which a proportion is ageing.
Rationalisation of the organisation of in-service support to be continued
The dispersal of sites, in addition to that of forces, acts as a brake upon the industrialisation of
processes and complicates logistical constraints.
In the aeronautics field, this scattering of sites echoes the high number of airbases.
However, the
dispersal of in-service support workshops and sites is most marked with regard to ground forces.
The
Cour des Comptes
suggests that the terms of the new workforce reduction within the Ministry of
Defence (-24,000 jobs) and the impact thereof upon the in-service support workforce should be
specified in order to enable real forward-management of jobs and investments. The current practice of
announcing restructuring on a year-by-year basis does not make this easy.
The building of a new partnership with manufacturers
Within the Ministry of Defence, the grouping together of “design and purchasing of new equipment” and
“supply of
in-service support parts and components
”
functions, does not appear to be desirable in the
form in which it is sometimes envisaged. On the other hand, the Ministry would be well-advised to
structure the maintenance of military equipment throughout its lifespan. Choices of design and
replacement of this equipment also need to take into account, as from their negotiation, the impact of
equipment selection with regard to in-service support.
The Ministry also needs to reinforce its capacity for negotiation with suppliers, with which the State has
a complex relationship. Being at the same time client, shareholder and strategist, it has to take care of
reconciling several different, and sometimes contradictory, objectives. By taking a more demanding
attitude in its procurement, and buying services at optimal cost, the Ministry of Defence would also
prompt its industrial partners to become more competitive, on export markets in particular.
Recommendations
The
Cour des Comptes
sets out nine recommendations, aimed at:
–
ensuring the reliability of information concerning full costs, workforce and budgetary expenditure
with regard to in-service support, while implementing appropriate cost accounting;
–
making workforce changes visible to in-service support professionals as quickly as possible, in
order to enable them to conduct the necessary restructuring in an effective way ;
–
resolutely implementing densification, specialisation and reduction of the number of in-service
support sites;
–
ensuring renewal of skills for civilian staff, on permanent sites, where need is demonstrated,
using qualified contract staff;
–
taking greater account of in-service support at the equipment design stage;
–
improving coordination between initial and in-service maintenance contracts;
–
standardising maintenance rules between the various armed forces;
–
improving the contracts established with suppliers, selected through greater competition,
grouping together purchases of services and spare parts and applying a more exacting
penalties policy;
–
improving the Central
State’s capacity for negotiation with
suppliers, in particular by reinforcing
cost
investigators’ prerogatives on monopolistic markets;
Read the report
PRESS CONTACTS:
Ted Marx
Head of Communication
T
+ 33 1 42 98 55 62
tmarx@ccomptes.fr
Denis Gettliffe
Head of Press Relations
T
+ 33 1 42 98 55 77
dgettliffe@ccomptes.fr
@Courdescomptes