CDIC Review recommends major changes
The CDIC review ordered by the Minister for Defence Industry, Melissa Price, was published in early September. The review made nine recommendations, of which the Minister declined to support just one, relating to Ministerial representation on the CDIC Advisory Board. The remaining recommendations have been accepted in principle including two key recommendations:
- Relocation of the CDIC within a newly formed Australian Industry Capability (AIC) Division inside CASG, and re-branding CDIC to reflect this change
- Scrapping the employee limit to boost access to services by slightly larger companies that need this support
Overall, the Review recommended strengthening of the alignment between Defence, defence industry and the CDIC by relocating the CDIC to the Department of Defence. This builds on the Government’s commitment to strengthen Australia’s Defence Industry. Implementing the review’s recommendations will ensure that the CDIC continues connecting Defence and small business in a simpler, more cost-effective and outcomes-orientated way.
Among the recommendations are:
- Relocating the CDIC into a new AIC Division within CASG
- Expanding the scope of DIC to embrace all Defence Groups, not just CASG
- In cooperation with DST and Defence’s Strategic Policy and Intelligence (SP&I) Groups, consider outsourcing and whether organisations such as DMTC might be an appropriate mechanism for delivering parts of the Defence innovation program.
Over the next six months, both Defence and the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources will work through the review’s recommendations and implementation.