I am pleased to announce further significant progress towards establishing the new $300 million purpose-built, fully integrated Headquarters Joint Operations Command facility near Bungendore.

The project will shortly call on specialist IT companies to register interest in designing, building, integrating, testing and commissioning the range of specialised C4I (command, control, communications, computing and intelligence) systems required for the new facility. This is a unique and exciting opportunity for companies to delivery a complex, integrated C4I capability in a significant Defence project.

National newspaper advertisements, calling for registrations of interest for this vital element of the headquarters project, will appear on 10 April 2006 and I expect the contract to be let in October this year.

I also anticipate announcing in coming weeks the successful tenderer for the design, construction and operation of the new facility, which will give Defence, for the first time, a fully integrated command and control facility that will greatly enhance our ability to plan and execute joint and combined defence operations.

The new headquarters, which is the first Defence infrastructure project to be built and managed under private financing arrangements, is on schedule to be fully operational in the last quarter of 2008.