Defence by Design: Redesigning the Acquisition Process for the Royal Australian Air Force

This article presents the process undertaken by the Royal Australian Air Force’s (RAAF) Plan Jericho team and the Design Innovation Research Centre to redesign the existing procurement process. The implementation of a design-led innovation process led to key results such as early industry engagement in the procurement process to overcome prevailing issues and risks. Key to this process was the sharing of expertise and perspectives (empathy) of stakeholders and allowing industry participants to have input into the tender requirement document and process. Implementing design methods such as prototyping into the procurement aims to lower risks and costs associated in the current process, via co-creation, testing and refining solutions in a shorter time frame. Findings demonstrated why, where and how design can be implemented into an area other than technology innovation within a Defence context, contributing to the ongoing debate regarding design’s role and value in complex problems with multiple stakeholders.