Decision Analysis Services

A management and technical consultancy operating principally in the defence sector for government and industry. The company provides high value support to clients engaged in the procurement of defence equipment, facilities and services, together with working for a number of major blue-chip commercial companies.

Due Diligence

Due Diligence is a term used in the business world to indicate an examination of the target of a merger or acquisition, with t he target assessed from the business, technical financial, legal and taxation points of view. DAS staff utilise their engineering and business management skills to conduct independent audits, or due diligence, of projects or business propositions in order to evaluate the programme deliverables, the associated risks, the expected revenue, any gainshare opportunities and to compile an assessment of the penalties and liabilities.

The exact scope of work for any Due Diligence study will be defined by the specific requirements of the sponsor. The exact timing of the work, and any necessity for future reviews and updates, will also be driven by the need to progressively reduce risk through the acquisition or project life cycle. Due Diligence outputs can be considered to include:

• Ensuring that all technical and programme risks have been addressed.
  
  
• Confirmation that the proposed technical solution is feasible.
  
  
• Determination that any development and production programmes (schedules) are achievable.
  
  
• Confirmation that the business or project cost projections are realistic.
  
  
• Are there any off-the-shelf solutions that would be available to meet the project requirements?
  
  
• The identification of any performance or safety improvements.
  
  
• Confirming that any investors fully understand the technology issues and are in a position to take an informed view on the scale of the challenges prior to investment.
  
  

Track Record of Success

DAS personnel have successfully completed a variety of due diligence based tasks for major clients. These have included:

• Take-overs & Acquisitions – Technical and commercial reviews for a major global private equity firm in support of due diligence prior to investment decisions, and in support of take-over negotiations.
  
  
• Independent Verification & Validation – For overseas government departments. These tasks indicated the technical feasibility of the requirements, the availability of ‘off the shelf’ solutions, the identification of performance and safety improvements together with the opportunity for cost savings.
  
  
• Technical Due Diligence – For a number of major PFI/PPP projects and involving independent validation of technical, programme and financial proposals.
  
  
• Project Audits – Detailed project contract audit, on behalf of a large defence organisation, for a project that was experiencing difficulties. This involved utilisation of project management and technical expertise in order to identify opportunities for cost and schedule recovery.