PP Online - Should Defence uniforms be purchased from China

Procurement Professional is the official publication of CIPS Australasia

#111 - Should Defence uniforms be purchased from China?

10 Feb 2010

Reports that the chosen supplier of Aussie diggers’ uniforms might have been set to source the material from China triggered alarmists and reactionaries into howls of protest.

But the minister for defence procurement, Greg Combet, now insists all the Australian Defence Force[ADF] uniforms are sourced locally from Bendigo and Wangaratta.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/02/10/2815392.htm?section=business

So that’s okay then.

Of course the idea that Aussie diggers fighting overseas [or defending their homeland for that matter] wearing uniforms ‘made in China’ feels instantly wrong.

But why? They are only uniforms after all. And much high quality, designer apparel is sourced from China and South East Asia nowadays.

You are probably wearing something made in China whilst reading this.

If the best supplier (based upon commercial total costs and quality considerations) was based in China, why not source from them?

Because we may be fighting the Chinese or their allies one day? Because Aussie diggers deserve Aussie apparel? Because the ADF should be saving local jobs? Because the Chinese may get advance intell on Aussie troop sizes? Because they might sell them to bad guys who could then sneak up on us in disguise?

All non-commercial considerations, and perhaps quite dubious reasons for not sourcing with the best commercial option.

But all fair questions nonetheless. After all, the whole point of the military is to cater for the question, “what if?”

At the end of the day, uniforms are not really strategic and could be quickly sourced elsewhere if the worst ever happened - as they are hardly unique to individual suppliers. They fit in the bottom right box on our two-by-two matrix of spend mapped against strategic importance as HIGH SPEND/LOW RISK:

But some other items of military hardware fit straight into the HIGH SPEND/HIGH RISK box top right;

Fighter planes, tanks, rifles, ammunition and aircraft carriers might fall into this category.

And they can become difficult to buy off enemies, should things get ugly.

So, defence procurement should think very carefully before sourcing items that fit into the top right box.

In fact commercial considerations can become secondary to strategic possibilities and to ensuring security of supply or military advantage.

ADF often face this dilemma. Where to buy strategic military equipment from? Buy for the best quality [Germany perhaps?], the lowest price [South Africa?], defence compatibility [the USA?], quickest delivery [Russia?], to create jobs [Adelaide?], to use only as a deterrent [Sweden?], to get the biggest bang [North Korea?] or based upon tradition [the UK?] .....

In military sourcing, the strategic questions come first, the commercial ones second.