The contractual agreements between Defence and its suppliers have been slow to adopt changes to business and pricing models in the civil domain. New approaches to the business relationships within existing contractual frameworks are restricted in their usage due to outdated models and commercial agreements. While Defence’s attitude to new models of contracting and servicing simulation is changing it still runs the risk of falling behind.
One approach is Modelling and Simulation as a Service (MSaaS), employing principles of civil cloud computing, adapted to Defence requirements. While MSaaS is technically feasible, a lack of support from a community of active participants, no driving directive from Defence, no appropriate contractual frameworks, and the security requirements will continue to limit its progress. This paper will look at how business models can adapt to accommodate newer technological approaches without hindering its usage. Looking at more transparent methods of payment models that better reflects Defence usage of cloud resources. Identifying the problems being faced in the commercial side and suggesting ways they can change in order to support both Defence and Industry requirements.
A slower pace of change in Defence as compared to commercial approaches is resulting in divergence and a limitation in our ability to exploit technological advances and achieve value for money. This has been recognised within the MOD and is actively investigating and challenging traditional approaches to contracts and policies.