Babcock team wins award for assisting secure SME collaboration in defence supply chain
The award was made in recognition of work undertaken by the Babcock-led team to enable Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in the defence supply chain to share sensitive information securely and effectively when working with the MoD and prime defence contractors, by facilitating secure role-based access to Babcock’s Collaborative Working Environment (CWE) on the MoD’s Restricted LAN Interconnect (RLI) via the internet, using an accredited identity management system. 
The CWE delivered by Babcock provides a web-based workspace for members of disparate organisations to work together within a single, secure environment. It provides a comprehensive collaborative working toolset that can support alliance working across a large and multi-partnered enterprise, and is used by the MoD to share data and systems with all its Tier 1 industry partners on a wide range of new build and in-service programmes.
Cost typically precludes SMEs from using RLI CWEs. Now a pilot scheme by Babcock (the prime contractor), MoD (the end customer) and Capgemini (the IT supplier) has demonstrated how existing MoD and industry capability can be integrated to provide secure internet access to RLI CWE capability.
Benefits include improved security, efficiencies in administration and information exchange, and time and cost savings to Team Defence.
The capability provides SMEs with better visibility of programme activities, enabling them to plan effectively, make value-enhancing and innovative contributions, and participate more effectively on defence programmes.
The UKCeB award was made on the basis of various criteria that were successfully met by this project, including a high degree of collaboration, beneficial impact, innovative approach, potential for wider application, ease of implementation, and successful application of past learning.
Babcock head of information knowledge management, Chris Rowley, said: “We are delighted to have won this prestigious award in recognition of the work we and our partners have undertaken to provide secure collaboration for SMEs in defence projects. The ability to provide secure access to the CWE for SMEs via the internet overcomes traditional obstacles and opens up significant benefits across the defence supply chain and support network as a whole, with potential to build on this further.“
Six finalists were nominated for the annual UKCeB Excellence Award, which was made at the Defence Information 2013 conference and forum held on 17-18 April at the Defence Academy, Shrivenham.
