Latest News from ADA-Vic

Hi there,

We are almost at the end of October 2021 and what a month it has been!

Melbourne came out of its 6th lockdown of 77 days. Hopefully the last in a total of 262 days since the Covid19 pandemic started. These extended lockdowns have had a huge impact on many businesses. At ADA-Vic we are looking forward to returning to our business as usual. Whilst we have continued to support our members during the lockdown we are looking forward to catching up with our members face to face.

Our Annual Networking and Golf Day will go ahead on Friday 10th December 2021 and it seems that it is also predicted that indoor density limits will be scrapped by then, so we can make the most of the event. This will be a great opportunity for Victorian SMEs to mingle and network.

Keep an eye out for further announcements in the coming days and weeks for detail about the day.

ADA-Vic Networking and Golf Day

10th December 2021

The ADA-Vic Networking and Golf Day is scheduled for the Friday, 10th of December 2021, at Medway Golf Club, Maidstone, VIC.

This event will consist of a morning session of networking and industry briefings, set amongst an amazing backdrop with morning tea and lunch. For the golfers there will be a golf competition in the afternoon and then a dinner and further networking session in the evening.

This will be an enjoyable and informative day with the opportunity to meet others in Defence

Innovation Ecosystem Review

ADA-Vic Invited to Participate in Workshop

The Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price MP, recently announced a comprehensive review of Defence innovation, science and technology to help ensure the Australian Defence Force has access to the most cutting-edge capability in the world. This review will examine the Defence organisation in its entirety to establish how it can more effectively deliver home-grown, innovative capabilities for the men and women of the Australian Defence Force.

It will also seek to:

Strengthen and improve the links between academia and industry to solve Defence’s unique capability challenges;
Simplify contracts to support more rapid acquisitions and transitions from concept to capability; and
Establish how Defence-funded research and innovation can be more effectively commercialised to give Defence a unique capability edge.

Minister Price has appointed Mr. David Peever to lead the independent review, the full media release is available here. McKinsey and Company have also been engaged to support David in this role.

ADA-Vic has been invited to participate in a workshop involving a small number of key representatives from a range of industry groups that have involvement with Defence. If you have any feedback in relation to this that you would like ADA-Vic to raise, please email us at info@australiandefencealliance.org.au by the COB 8th November 2021.

Critical Role for Industry in $5.1 billion Support of Hobart Class Destroyers

On the 25th October 2021, Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price encouraged Australian industry to become part of an innovative new model sustaining Navy’s ships.

Australia’s defence industry will act as a ‘steward’ for the Royal Australian Navy’s Hobart class destroyers under a new approach to sustainment that will optimise the destroyers’ capability and create hundreds of jobs in South Australia.

Tenders opened for a Capability Life Cycle Manager, which will see industry support and sustain the destroyers through their lifespan.

An Industry Briefing will be held about the Hobart class destroyer Capability Life Cycle Manager on 4 November 2021.

Tenders will need to be received on or before 21 January 2022. Further information is available on AusTender.

Assistance for SMEs Affected by the Cancellation of the Attack Class Submarine Contract

The Impacted SME Support Cell has been established within CDIC to support SMEs identify competitive opportunities, that leverages the time and effort they have made to increase their future competitiveness for the Attack Class program, but were yet to secure a contract with Naval Group or Lockheed Martin Australian.

CDIC's resources will be harnessed to assist SMEs to compete for future work either in the shipbuilding domain or more broadly with the increasing Defence programs that Government is investing in.

The support cell can be contacted on SME.support@defence.gov.au.

From Defence:

Defence has awarded contracts to three Victorian businesses:

QinetiQ, partnered with the University of Melbourne, has received a $5.4 million contract to develop a deployable micro-grid to address increased demand for power on the battlefield. See more here.
DMTC Limited has received a $3 million contract to explore the application of new textile technology within the ADF. See more here.
Leidos has secured a $1.6 million Defence Innovation Hub contract to develop underwater surveillance technologies. See more here.

Defence Industry Secondment Program – Defence has modified its secondment program an is seeking interest from in participating in the program. Information Sheet.

Other News:

Leonardo Australia and Deakin University partner with the SmartCRC and e-GEOS to develop new space-enabled surveillance capability. See more here.
Frontier SI and RMIT University feature in the first grants under the UK-Australia Space Bridge partnership. See more here.
Nominations are now open for the 2022 Australian Space Awards. See more here.
The Commonwealth Government has introduced into parliament the first of two bills to strengthen the security of critical infrastructure. The defence industry sector and the space technology sector are both included as critical infrastructure sectors. See more here.

COVID Support

Support and guidance for businesses dealing with COVID can be found here.

Victorian Common User Facility

If industry requires access to secure communications facilities to engage with Defence, this can be provided through the Victorian Common User Facility.

Links to Grant and other Programs:

BAE Systems Hunter Class Opportunities

BAE Systems Maritime Australia’s Innovation team is seeking Expressions of Interest from industry to support the Hunter Class Frigate Program (HCFP) to:

Investigate manufacturing technologies, materials, coatings, and processes with the potential to improve the sail away performance of the nine Hunter class frigates;
Investigate infrastructure, the workforce, and shipyard capabilities to ensure the Osborne Naval Shipyard maintains high levels of productivity, quality and safety; and,
Investigate ongoing maintenance or future capability upgrades that may immediately influence the design and delivery of the nine Hunter Frigates to be built at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia.

The team will evaluate submissions quarterly - with feedback - until June 2022.

Each EOI reviewed by the Hunter Innovation Team may be considered for future steps including a Request for Information (RFI) and/or Request for Proposal (RFP). This may lead to a an agreement for a scope of work which could be in the form of a Research Task, Case Study; Feasibility Studies; Proof of Concept; Prototyping; or other agreed scope of work.

SEA 1905 - Portable Operation Centre

Thales UWS is seeking to gain a detailed understanding of Australian industry for organisations with the design and technical capability to manufacture, integrate and supply the ‘Portable Operations Centre’ system outlined in this Expression of Interest (EOI). Note Thales is looking for an organisation to partner with who can provide a turn-key solution.

This opportunity offers the successful organisation the potential to partner with Thales in Australia for the SEA1905 Programme and global defence programmes through the Thales Global Supply Chain.

After carefully assessing the COVID-19 situation and in accordance with the current border restrictions in place, the in-person Defence Connect AIC Summit, which was scheduled to be held on 22 October, will be rescheduled to a new date. This has resulted in the live stream event to be rescheduled alongside the in-person event.

We're confident to inform you that the Defence Connect AIC Summit will be held on the new date of 12:15pm on Wednesday, 2 February 2022.

We will continue to follow government advice and closely monitor the situation, and will provide an update should circumstances change.

For additional event information, please visit the website here.

If you are no longer available to attend the live stream event on the new event date, you may transfer your registration to a colleague or friend.

If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact events via email or call 0448 021 996.