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December 2009
All Conditions
DAS Consultants continue working under all conditions...
November 2009
ADS Council
DAS is pleased to announce that its Managing Director, Peter Cook, will join the interim ADS council with immediate effect. Peter, who was previously a member of the DMA council, welcomes the opportunity to become involved with the newly formed ADS has the UK major trade association represent the aerospace, defence and security sector.
Peter, as a member of the DMA, was involved in developments over the past two years that led to the formation of ADS. He is already involved in the ADS Small Companies Committee and plans to maintain an active interest in the development of ADS and in ensuring that ADS promotes and fosters the interests of SME members.
October 2009
 DAS is particularly pleased to announce that our Principal Consultant Carly Hickmott will be taking leave from early 2010 as her and husband Ross are expecting the birth of their first child.
August 2009
DAS continues to develop its force structures model in preparation for a defence review next year. This model enables forecasts to be derived of future defence budget requirements, based on defined force structures provisioned with up to date equipment.
Further progress has also been made on through life support cost modelling, with a prototype model now in existence and being trialled.
June 2009
DAS Managing Consultant, Arthur Griffiths was invited to chair the UK’s Annual Through Life Support and Costing conference in London.
The keynote address was given by Vice Admiral (Ret’d) Sir Jeremy Blackham KCB, Royal Navy, and included notable speakers from UK industry, European Defence procurement organisations and the US Department of Defense.
Arthur also led the interactive panel session on assessing Through Life Capability Management: Cost versus Capability.
May 2009
DAS exhibited and presented professional papers at a highly successful Cost Analysis provider day that had been organised by the Society for Cost Analysis and Forecasting.
The event attracted several hundred delegates during the day and generated much interest in our strategic costing capability.
April 2009
MoD Enabling Contract
DAS has been selected by the MoD to be a participating contractor in the Multi-Participant Framework Agreement for Technical Support (FATS/3).
FATS is run by Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) and the framework helps customers within the MoD to obtain value for money by providing a route that enables them to buy the technical services they need quickly and efficiently.
March 2009
National Audit Office
DAS continues to support the National Audit Office with the publication of the report Providing Anti-Air Warfare Capability: The Type 45 Destroyer.
The NAO commissioned DAS to provide analysis of the original and revised estimates for the cost for the Type 45 destroyers to assess their realism. DAS undertook two separate exercises for this purpose; a historical cost trend analysis and an independent cost forecast.
January 2009
ISO 9001:2008
 DAS has successfully completed the annual UKAS accredited external audit of its Quality Management System, demonstrating continued application of the latest ISO 9001 quality standard and the continued growth of the company in delivering consistent, value-add services to our many clients.
November 2008
Risk Maturity Assessment Tool
To support our risk analysis and management capability and enhance our client deliverables, DAS has developed its own Risk Maturity Assessment Tool. DAS has already deployed a tailored version of this tool in support of the NAO’s recent value for money report on the preparations for the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Risk maturity assessments are a valuable tool in enabling organisations to benchmark their current risk management capability and maturity, and in understanding how and where improvement may be achieved. They can also be utilised for providing structured assurance and oversight of third-party risk management programmes, plus providing a benchmark against which future risk management improvements can be measured. A sample output from the maturity tool is shown:
Business Expansion
DAS continues to expand its business portfolio, generating new contracts with existing clients and being successful with winning new business. Work for DAS is increasing in the areas of risk management, business continuity, brand management, cost analysis and modelling, strategic advice and strategic research. As a result, DAS continues to seek applications from experienced Consultants who can contribute to our future growth. For further information contact Chris Maughan at chrismaughan@das-ltd.co.uk.
Financial Modelling
DAS continues to develop its financial modelling capability. Through its links with a leading UK business school, DAS has funded development of a macro-economic defence expenditure forecasting model. Work continues to extend the models capability and to explore future economic scenarios providing valuable understanding of potential future monetary landscape in which the defence industry may have to operate. For further information contact Carly Hickmott at carlyhickmott@das-ltd.co.uk.
October 2008
 Australia & New Zealand
DAS continues to extend its client base at the other end of the world!
An existing client in New Zealand has announced that significant new contracts are to be placed with DAS, with work to start early in 2009.
In addition, DAS has been successful in winning a contract with one of Australia’s foremost companies, Leighton Contractors Pty Limited, part of Australia’s largest project development and contract group. The work involved providing specialist peer review of the risk management material to be used as part of the Leighton management information system.
www.leightoncontractors.com.au
It is hoped that the initial risk management support work recently completed will extend into a fruitful long term relationship.
NATO
DAS has been selected, through the experience of our Consultant Arthur Griffiths, to continue to contribute to a major NATO work-stream, involving research and development of logistic support and life cycle cost strategies in multi-national programmes and across NATO nations.
August 2008
DMA Membership
 Mr Peter Cook, the DAS Managing Director was presented with our DMA membership certificate by Rear Admiral Rees Ward, Director General of the Defence Manufacturers association on the 7th August.
June 2008
Arthur Griffiths
 DAS is pleased to announce that Arthur Griffiths is to join the company as a Managing Consultant.
Arthur has over 30 years experience in defence procurement and cost analysis. He specialises in conceptual costing studies, hardware and software procurement cost estimation, life cycle cost assessment, Investment Appraisals, Public Sector Comparators and Public Finance Initiatives.
An active contributor in the field of cost forecasting innovation and practice demonstrated by his appointment to the NATO Systems Analysis and Studies Research Study Team on Life Cycle Costing, his Chairmanship of the UK Society for Cost Analysis and Forecasting and his long standing membership and association with the International Society of Parametric Analysts and the US Society of Cost Estimating and Analysis.
May 2008
DAS Wins Important New Clients
DAS has been successful this month in winning contracts with two new clients. We are now providing strategic advice and technical due diligence to a large UK hedge fund and also providing business continuity management services to a major medical charity.
April 2008
Defence Manufacturers Association
DAS joins the Defence Manufacturers Association (DMA). Peter Cook the company Managing Director stated that he welcomes being a member of the leading UK trade association and looks to a long association with the DMA.
February 2008
Systems Dynamics Presentation
DAS helps celebrate anniversary of System Dynamics, a key tool for strategic modelling of complex business and policy issues.
Dave Exelby, Managing Consultant at DAS, was selected as one of three speakers celebrating 50 years of the wide application of System Dynamics to develop strategy for public policy and business. This recognised his 12 years of close involvement in the field both as a practitioner and his active role within the international community promoting the use of Systems Dynamics as a tool to understand complex strategy issues.
The conference was arranged by OR Society and hosted at the London School of Economics.
Dave’s presentation illustrated how System Dynamics has been applied across a wide range of defence issues from defence equipment acquisition, combat modelling of red and blue forces, geo-political policy making and manpower planning.
ISO 9001:2000 Accreditation
DAS is successful in being accredited by UKAS with successful achievement of the ISO 9001:2000 quality standard. Chris Maughan, a Managing Consultant with DAS with responsibility for quality management, stated that he was pleased that the companies’ application for accreditation was successful and that this demonstrates the approach the company was adopting for business planning.
December 2007
Company Investment
DAS commissions a leading UK economist to develop a budget forecasting model to argument it strategic forecasting capability. Carly Hickmott, a Principal Consultant at DAS, stated that the Manchester Economic Forecasting group will provide the company with a capability to explore the defence budgets for the leading international economies
September 2007
New Offices for DAS
DAS moves into new offices at the Chineham Business Park, Basingstoke. David Scullion, Finance Director, stated that the new offices provide a flexible working environment with easy transport links to our key clients. |
