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The Defence Amendment Bill [PMB 8-2013] aims to provide enhanced scrutiny and oversight by Parliament on armaments acquisition projects to ensure the operational capability of the SANDF is not compromised.
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DEFENCE AMENDMENT BILL [PMB 8-2013] Portfolio Committee on Defence and Military Veterans 27 August 2014 David Maynier MP
Background • Minister of Defence and Military Veterans, Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula, recently complained that armaments acquisition compromised the operational capability of the SANDF. • There is therefore a need to ensure that armaments acquisition is subject to enhanced scrutiny and oversight by Parliament.
Proposed changes • To add a specific definition for ‘armaments acquisition’; • To ensure that quarterly reports on all armaments acquisition projects are tabled before Parliament. • To provide for an additional special report within 30 days of any armaments procurement project incurring expenditure over 15% of the initial budgeted expenditureor a delay in schedule of more than 6 months.
Amendment of section 80 of Act 42 of 2002 • Section 80 of the Defence Act 2002, Act 42 of 2002 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), is hereby amended By the insertion before section (1) of the following definition: “In this section – ‘Armaments acquisition’ means military equipment and associated parts, not commercially available, required exclusively for military use/purposes.”;
Amendment of section 80 of Act 42 of 2002 - continued • (b) By the insertion after subsection (2) of the following subsections: “(2A) Quarterly reports of all armament acquisition projects must be tabled before Parliament; these reports must include the following information: (a) The project name; (b) Description of the armaments being acquired; (c) Project schedule; and (d) The budgeted expenditure for the project.
Amendment of section 80 of Act 42 of 2002 - continued • A further report must be tabled before Parliament within 30 days when any armaments acquisition project - (a) incurs expenditure which exceeds 15 percent of the initial budgeted expenditure of the relevant project; or (b) schedule is delayed by more than 6 months. (2C) All reports which are subject to section 80(2B) of this Act must include the following information: (a) The project name; (b) A description of the project; (c) The reasons for the excessive expenditure or delay in schedule; and (d) A plan of mitigation to prevent further excessive expenditure or delays. (2C) All armaments acquisition agreements signed after the date of commencement of this Act are subject to these provisions.”
Conclusion • The Defence Amendment Bill [PMB 8 - 2013] provides “early warning” of cost overruns and schedule slips in armaments acquisition projects being implemented by the Department of Defence. • With this information the Joint Standing Committee on Defence will be “empowered” to intervene and ensure that the SANDF’s operational capability is not compromised.