The decision-making process of New Zealand's acquisition of Project Protector

Abstract

This thesis sets out to answer the question ‘What were the political and bureaucratic paradigms applied to the decision-making process during the acquisition of Project Protector?’ The theoretical basis for this thesis is the Foreign Policy Analysis rational actor model. To set the context, I outline New Zealand’s notion of security and identify the stakeholders in the project. My thesis draws on earlier work by Dr Peter Greener in his study of the various defence procurements that the New Zealand Defence Force undertook to overcome the block obsolesce that it faced in the 1990s. I adopt the rational actor model to assess how the whole-of-government approach adopted by the incoming Labour Government in 1999 proved to be more valid than the two other major models encompassed by Foreign Policy Analysis: the bureaucratic politics model and the organisational process model. My thesis also provides examples of the Project Protector vessels’ operational employment and finds that while they had some capability shortfalls, by and large, the government, through a rational decisionmaking process, achieved the goals set out in its new Defence Policy Framework. The thesis concludes that subsequent improvements made to the procurement process since Project Protector have gone a long way to addressing procedural concerns for future procurements, and that the remediation package, nearing completion, has addressed many of the initial shortfalls in the protect thus illustrating the feedback mechanism that is an essential element of the rational decision-making model. The thesis concludes that the Project Protector decision process was appropriate inasmuch as it delivered suitable vessels that served New Zealand’s current local, regional and global interests at an affordable cost.