Switzerland outsources quality control for military projects

Army projects to be monitored by external consultants Keystone-SDA

All 17 top projects of the Swiss armed forces are to be monitored by external consultants from the start of 2026, including the procurement of F-35 fighter jets.

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The Federal Department of Defence, Civil Protection and Sport (DDPS) has not set a cost ceiling so as not to influence the tendering process.

On the Simap platform for public tenders and procurements, the DDPS advertised 2,400 working hours per year as workload for external consulting.

The corresponding framework contracts are scheduled to run for 12 years – from the beginning of 2026 to the end of 2037.

To date, these functions have been filled both internally and externally as part of quality and risk management (QRM) at the DDPS. However, “to strengthen the project work”, defence minister Martin Pfister has now decided to only work with external consultants in the top projects.

“The role of the QRM requires as much independence as possible in order to contribute to improving project management and control,” said the DDPS.

External QRMs can assess project management, compliance with specifications, risks and the quality of project results independently of the departments involved and recommend measures from an external perspective.

This is “particularly important for large, complex and security-relevant procurement and development projects in the areas of armaments, real estate and IT”.

Externalisation also offers financial advantages. The new solution will ensure that these services are available more flexibly, more quickly and in a more needs-orientated manner, wrote the DDPS. Blick first reported on the outsourcing.

It had already become known that Pfister was having the 17 top projects analysed and monitored by the General Secretariat of the DDPS. In addition to the procurement of the F-35 fighter jet, these include the longer-range ground-based air defence system (Bodluv) project and the reconnaissance drone system.

Translated from German by DeepL/mga

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