Lt. Col. Chris Richards from the Defence Procurement Agency was the guest speaker at the UK Southern Chapter February meeting at the Hall & Woodhouse Brewery Visitors' Centre at Blandford in Dorset, which has become a favorite meeting place for our members. Col. Tom Moncur, chapter president, introduced the speaker, who addressed the role, organization and activities of the Ministry Of Defence's Integration Authority. He explained the importance of ensuring, at the earliest possible stages in the procurement cycle, that proposed systems conform to the established architectural framework, assuring system interoperability and compliance with standards. Tools associated with the Defense Department's Architectural Framework were described as aiding assessment of strategic, operational, systemic, technical and other parameters in a project's life cycle. In closing he outlined the Authority's international interests and work on GII and message architectures, and noted the pressures on its efforts caused by intense operational activities, financial squeezes and difficulties in gaining full conformance from major platform projects.

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