Through Life Capability Management (TLCM)

The 2nd April 2007 signalled a new age in the way UK military capability is procured and supported in-service with the formation of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S). Its creation was one of the first major milestones outlined by the 2005 UK Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS).

The DIS and the subsequent ‘Enabling Acquisition Change’ (EAC) report called upon the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) to review how current structures, organisation, processes, cultures and behaviours support, encourage, hinder or obstruct its ability to deliver improved assessment of future capability plans, and reduce the number of 'surprises' encountered by capability programmes.

Implementing these publications’ recommendations has subsequently become the responsibility of the Defence Acquisition Change Programme (DACP), and the formation of the DE&S (through merging the Defence Procurement Agency and Defence Logistics Organisation) marks its first achievement.

The main driver of the DACP however, and the reason that DE&S was created, is the need to install the processes, infrastructure and culture to deliver Through Life Capability Management (TLCM).

The EAC report defines TLCM as: “…an approach to the acquisition and in-service management of military capability in which every aspect of new and existing military capability is planned and managed coherently across all Defence Lines of Development (DLoDs) from cradle to grave.”

At VEGA, we believe that the success of TLCM comes down to the UK defence acquisition community’s (DECs, DE&S, end users and, just as importantly, industry) ability to:

Create a repository of new and existing capability as defined by all DLoDs
Better understand the interdependent relationships of DLoDs across systems and systems of systems
Define a common language by which the resulting investment decisions can then be more accurately assessed, prioritised and reviewed

The content on this page, and those related to it, constitute both VEGA’s and UK MoD’s latest thinking around Through Life Capability Management.

Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) thought leadership

Through Life Capability Management (TLCM) - Understanding the Complexity