Full Report - National Audit Office

RECOMMENDATIONS11 Overall, our study found that the Department hasmade considerable progress towards delivering a betterestate to support the delivery of defence capability withthe introduction of new management and contractingpractices. Managing a very large estate, with such a rangeof operational requirements, is a complex task and theDepartment needs to maintain a continued focus on estaterationalisation if it is to achieve an estate of the right size.In realising its strategy of delivering an estate of the rightquality and size, the Department faces two major risks– funding and embedding the cultural change necessaryto make the new processes work. There is, therefore,more to do to ensure that the full benefits of the changesare realised. Our main recommendations are that theDepartment should:build upon the Defence Non-equipment InvestmentPlan to draw together a longer-term coherent fundedprogramme for the rationalisation and developmentof the estate and an indicative timetable to enablethis to happen;continue to press forward with measures to deliverculture change across all areas engaged in estatebusiness, ensuring that management at all levels andpractitioners, including the “customers” of the estateand industry, are working in accordance with thenew arrangements for estate management;develop a department-wide plan for the realisationof benefits (both financial and operational) from thenew contracting and management arrangements,and from estate rationalisation;4MINISTRY OF DEFENCE: MANAGING THE DEFENCE ESTATE