The head of department wrote in a letter that he accepts that sometimes wrong decisions are made when it comes to procurement.
(Photo: dpa)
Dusseldorf, Berlin Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants to further speed up procurement for the Bundeswehr. “In the future, priority will have to be given to all procurements,” said the SPD politician on Wednesday in Berlin. It is about “bringing about quick, pragmatic, noticeable changes in procurement”. In the past you had no money and a lot of time, now it’s the other way around.
One of the plans is to streamline the approval process. All Bundeswehr-specific regulations that go beyond the legal situation should no longer be applied. “Where we have unnecessarily tied ourselves up, we will now throw them off,” Pistorius wrote in his order of the day, with which he had already announced the planned reforms to the ministry and the Bundeswehr on Tuesday.
There will still be new developments in equipment and devices in the future, but only if there is no other option. “Market availability has priority,” Pistorius continued. The ministry therefore wants to focus more on products that are already ready for the market, such as when ordering the heavy transport helicopter CH-47 Chinook from US production.
Disasters like the attempted in-house development of a backpack for the troops should no longer happen in the future. Research and development went on for eight years without success, until Pistorius’ predecessor Christine Lambrecht (SPD) finally had the project stopped and bought backpacks “off the shelf”.
In the future, German manufacturers should also be given the opportunity to order market-ready products, said the minister. It could even be that the industry could sell the products better to other customers if the Bundeswehr dispensed with costly and time-consuming special requests. In the future, the minister wants to better involve the inspectors of the Bundeswehr in the procurement process so that changes are not constantly being requested in the process.
Pistorius wants shorter decision-making paths when purchasing armaments
The proposals were drawn up by State Secretary Benedikt Zimmer and the new Inspector General Carsten Breuer. But Pistorius is also striving for a cultural change and shorter decision-making processes in the ministry itself. He had repeatedly mocked the fact that he received templates that already had dozens of signatures and only then were they ready for a decision.
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The new planning and management staff headed by Brigadier General Christian Freuding should therefore start work in the ministry by the end of May. The aim is to better prepare all templates for the minister and to ensure that decisions by the heads of department, the state secretaries or the inspector general are implemented quickly in the ministry. The staff should also better coordinate the various management levels.
Pistorius also wants employees to no longer avoid or delay decisions for fear of making mistakes. “We want more clarity of responsibility at all levels again,” he said on Wednesday.
“This includes accepting that mistakes can be made,” he wrote in another letter that he sent to the servicewomen and men on April 20. It is therefore planned to reduce the number of staff in the ministry. The Organization and Auditing staff will be transferred to the Legal department, and the Strategic Armament Control staff to the Equipment department.
>> Read here: Pistorius dares to rebuild the military department
Pistorius’ predecessor Lambrecht had already raised the limit up to which commanders could order material “privately”, i.e. without an invitation to tender, from 1,000 to 5,000 euros. She also initiated the Procurement Acceleration Act. Among other things, it provides for faster review and complaints procedures in the procurement process.
More: Boris Pistorius – A high-flyer with a risk of falling