Defence has a scalable and resilient Capability Management System (CMS) capable of delivering a portfolio of complex programmes and projects.
The Ministry of Defence and the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) have a shared accountability for the Defence Capability Management System. Capability in this setting is defined as “the personnel, equipment, platforms, and/or other materiel that affect the capacity of New Zealand to undertake military operations”.
The System operates across all phases of the capability project life cycle from policy, to identifying what is required to deliver it, and then purchasing, introducing, operating, and eventually disposing of or replacing it.
While the Secretary of Defence (the Secretary) and the Chief of Defence Force have separate formal accountabilities, they are jointly responsible and accountable for the effective functioning of the CMS as an end-to-end system.
The Secretary leads and is accountable for the strategic policy, capability development, and procurement phases of the capability lifecycle, and the Chief of Defence Force leads and is accountable for the introduction into service, in-service and disposal phases.
A Capability Governance Board, which the Secretary and the Chief of Defence Force co-chair, exercises these responsibilities collaboratively. The Capability Governance Board provides strategic governance across the military capability life cycle, focused on portfolio-level risk management and decision-making.
The CMS was established in 2017 to address structural, operations and information deficiencies within the previous system. Subsequent reviews by Sir Brian Roche in 2018, 2019 and 2021 concluded that the CMS has addressed and rectified these issues. The final review concluded that the CMS is an increasingly mature and resilient system, which has to date achieved its purpose, and it is the leading example of long-term capital planning within the public sector.