Our very own Dr. Jim Ballard will be presenting at the Delivering Availability and Capability Symposium on Wednesday, 25th July 2012.

In order to promote and develop our collective understanding of how to improve equipment capability and its subsequent in-service availability, Cranfield University is hosting a Symposium to explore the opportunities to meet this challenge with the theme of the Total Support Force. Contracts for availability and capability are designed to deliver affordable and value for money through life support solutions in an era of austerity. Ever increasing operational tempo demands that Commanders require more from even less and it is essential that they know what resources will be available, and from where, to support them both now and in the longer term. Through Life Support contracts are now commonplace as the MoD seeks to replace fixed costs with variable costs. Initiatives abound which build on partnering and the provision of a service to military commanders that will allow the most effective use of their resources. These contracts are often complex and difficult both to conceive and to deliver in practice. The idea of the Total Support Force is to integrate the component parts more effectively to allow activities hitherto done by the military to migrate to both the reserves and industry, creating an enterprise where regular forces, reserves and industry are fused together against readiness assumptions and force generation requirements. 

This Symposium will review the current experience of a wide range of different approaches to the challenge of delivering support and availability contracts; what lessons have so far been learned, what is best practice and how can the Total Support Force be delivered so it can all be done better.

http://www.cranfield.ac.uk/cds/symposia/dac.html