With a decree to accelerate procurement, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) is setting the course for the practical implementation of the Zeitenwende. Carsten Stawitzki, Head of the Equipment Department at the Federal Ministry of Defense, explains what this means in detail and how the processes will be shaped over the next six months.
“Time is the driving force,” is how Stawitzki summarized the core requirement of the decree at Behörden Spiegel’s “Defense Procurement Day 2023” in Bonn on May 25. This represents a departure from the previously widespread search for the gold edge solution. Instead, procurement is now being carried out with the priority of covering urgent requirements in a short time with off-the-shelf solutions. The Bundeswehr’s internal rules and regulations take a back seat when they go beyond the legal obligations. Such regulations are consequently suspended for the next six months.
Stawitzki uses an example to illustrate the challenges of procurement processes and so-called costumer product management. After all, costumer product management (CPM) is familiar, or at least understandable, to civilians from their everyday lives. Anyone looking for a new home would first get an idea of the requirements and needs that the new home would have to meet. The location, the layout, but also the number of rooms and the size would all play a role in such a project.
That is the so-called Bedarfsvorgabe. Subsequently, the challenge is to explore the market. In the process, one often discovers that one apartment has the desired location, while another has the desired size and room selection. According to the established mode of the gold edge solution, one would have to stop the search at this point and develop one’s own solution that had all the desired characteristics. However, the new approach, which emphasizes urgency, precludes such an approach. Compromises are therefore indicated. Because not all wishes can be covered by an off-the-shelf solution, it is necessary to move away from product-neutral targets.
Even this brief example gives an impression of the difficulties and challenges that procurement entails. In addition, the BAAINBw is confronted with personnel and social problems. The staffing level is around 80 percent. This means that it is working with deficient capacities. In addition, the organization is fighting against social misconceptions. Since the 1990s, people have been under the misconception that they have all the time in the world. “For a certain period of time, we were able to indulge in the luxury of putting other values above time,” Stawitzki explains. In view of the current security situation, however, this is outdated.
One aspect of the new approach is the so-called leader-follower concept. In this form of organization, a state takes the lead role in a procurement project. This is because national procurement processes are faster than international efforts, Stawitzki explains. As followers, other states join this process. They recognize the leading state’s concept of demand and consequently also join in acquiring the product. This mode always requires a willingness to compromise, but it speeds up the process immensely. Germany has already used this type of procedure for the procurement of over-snow vehicles. Sweden, as the leader, took over the requirement specification and the procurement measure, and Germany joined this process as a follower.
In the case of the Leopard 2A8 tank, on the other hand, Germany did not join any procurement project. Here, Germany procures at the national level. This is based on the Rolls-Royce principle. From all available variants of the Leopard A7, a model is configured that meets the country’s own requirements. At the same time, the company is trying to open up the contract to multinational partners. In the long term, therefore, it will also be possible to apply the leader-follower principle in this process. In Stawitzki’s view, this is the right way to scale procurement processes across Europe. However, he refrains from the idea of an EU-owned procurement capacity. The competencies in this area are limited and, moreover, already sufficiently bundled in national organizations. Additional EU efforts would therefore lead to cannibalization. “We have to be honest, it’s not complementary.” People are taking each other’s people. In contrast, OCCAR, which is located outside the strict EU corset, is ideally suited for bringing together multinational programs, he said.
Jonas Brandstetter, editorial staff
