Latest News from ADA-Vic

Hi there,

As a direct result of advocacy by ADA-Vic and some other industry bodies, an initiative has been established to support SMEs affected by the cancellation of the Attack Class Submarine Program.

Support Cell Established

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.

Defence Industry Secondment Program

Defence recognises the importance of its relationship with Australian businesses and the value they add to the economy. Australian enterprises are essential to ensuring durable supply chains and sovereign industrial capability which supports the Australian Defence Force (ADF) and contributes to national security.

In April 2021, the Defence Industry Secondment Program was launched with nine Australian Public Servants and Australian Defence Force secondees from across Defence undertaking a secondment. The program was developed in consultation with key stakeholders across Defence People Group, wider Defence and industry partners.

Since the pilot program was launched, Defence have been collecting and analysing feedback from participants to review and improve the overall program experience. Overall, very positive feedback was received from Defence and industry participants. Industry hosts found the program provided fantastic value to their business operations and overall knowledge regarding Defence policy and procedures, exposed them to Defence-related insights and provided a great networking opportunity.

Feedback received from participants and industry hosts indicated that, in some instances, the duration of the secondment was not long enough to deliver meaningful outcomes for Defence and small business. In response to this feedback, Defence will move to offer two streams of secondments; a Specialist stream and a Generalist stream which will allow flexibility to secondees interested in longer term secondments.

To promote the new and improved program, the Defence Industry Secondment Program Information Sheet (attached) has been designed to provide additional information regarding the program and promote participation from Australian businesses.

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

From Defence:

Defence has released the 2019-20 Defence Industry and Capability Innovation Programs Annual Report. This covers the Next Generation Technology Fund (NGTF), the Defence Innovation Hub (DIH) and the Centre for Defence Industry Capability. Victorian entities received 25 percent of NGTF funding and 28 percent of DIH funding since the inception of these programs. See more here.
Funding boost for national security research. Read more.

Other News:

October 2021 is Cyber Security Month - The Australian Cyber Security Centre (ACSC) provides trusted and relevant information on how Australia’s small and medium businesses can protect themselves from the most common cyber security threats - visit site
Victorian State Goverment to Boost Victoria’s Defence Industry And Digital Future by funding the Smart Enough Factory program, to be delivered by DMTC, that will support small to medium-sized businesses in Victoria’s defence industry to modernise design and manufacturing processes - read more
The Victorian and Commonwealth Governments have co-funded a new support package for businesses impacted by COVID. See more here.
The Australian Defence Magazine’s Women in Defence Awards will be presented in Canberra, 3rd November 2021. View finalists 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:

Secure Facility for Defence Industry
(Common User Facility)

The Victorian Common User Facility is an initiative to facilitate enhanced engagement by Victorian businesses and the innovation community with Defence and National Security programs. This unique facility is the first of its type in Australia.

Located in the Melbourne CBD, the facility allows appropriately cleared personnel to access Defence secure networks and provides secure offices and work areas for undertaking limited-duration activities such as meetings, bid preparation, and small-scale experiments. The facility also contains a secure Video Teleconference (VTC) room.

The facility has reached Initial Operating Capability, and is now available for use by Victorian businesses.

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.