BDS - US alongside the Foreign and Common­wealth Office and other UK Government Departments collectively serve the interests of Her Majesty’s Government throughout the USA. BDS-US is committed to providing an excellent service to our UK and US stakehold­ers.

We utilise our collective presence, MoD personnel located both within the Embassy and Exchange and Liaison Officers in 35 states across the USA, as indicated in the map, thereby making maximum use of our team in engaging with the US Defense and wider community. Requests for BDS-US support should be addressed to Colonel Mike Page, Chief of Staff - mike.page@bdsus.mod.uk

 

Alabama  15
Alaska  5
Arizona  5
Arkansas 1
California 17
Colorado 9
Connecticut 2
Florida  10
Georgia  7
Illinois  3
Kansas  7
Kentucky  5
Louisiana  2
Maine  1
Maryland  23
Mississippi 1
Missouri  5
 Nebraska  4
Nevada 89
New Jersey 2
New Mexico 4
New York 6
North Carolina 7
Ohio 7
Oklahoma 3
Pennsylvania 8
Rhode Island 3
South Carolina 1
Tennessee 2
Texas 23
Virginia 109
Washington 1
Washington, DC 69
 

Providing Support to the Liaison and Exchange Officers throughout the US

BDS/MoD personnel in the US The MOD has Liaison and Exchange Officers throughout the US working for the UK.

Human Resources

Human Resources (HR) is your own in-theatre HR Team which provides support for you and your families to move to the United States of America (USA), settle into your new lives over here, support you for the duration of your tour and support your move to your next posting wherever that may be. We have 670 principal visa holders and 100 locally engaged civilians spread across 34 States. All in all, including families, we look after over 2200 people in the USA, and cover the following areas:

Pay & Allowances
Accommodation
Education
Healthcare Community
Liaison Learning & Development Personnel Management
Finance and Resources
The Defence Finance and Resource (dFR) Section’s 14 members of staff have cross cutting responsibilities, from the outward facing customer interaction of the Cash Office, to the internal processes of resource management and financial systems.

The Cash Office team provides a highly effective, efficient, processing area for personnel and commercial payments for Ministry of Defence’s activities in the Untied States (US) (Claim support for US based personnel, commercial transactions for Defence Equipment Systems and other Top Level Budgets).  During 05/06 12,026 commercial invoices totalling $816.6 million and 33,449 personnel claims, totalling $40.2 million were processed.

The Budget Manager teams for the British Defence Staff - United States Resource Control Total (£37.438M for 06/07) are split between centrally held running costs and delegated resources.  Wrapped within this area are the sub-responsibilities for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office invoice billing, Entertainment/Representational Entertainment Allowance, Standing data for Oracle and Accounts Receivable.

Other significant responsibilities undertaken within FR include the US Manpower footprint, Government Procurement Card issue and reconciliation, Systems Accountant, Short Term Planning and Service Level Agreement provisioning

Business Services

Business Services delivers a wide range of services to the defence community and is broadly based along six functional themes (Security, Health & Safety, Facilities Management, Corporate Travel Services, Transport Services and Foreign Disclosure Approval), the section is also responsible for liaison with the Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) over a range of common issues between the FCO and MOD or those issues affecting defence staff posted to the USA.

Information Services

The Information Services team support both military and civilian staff throughout the United States and comprises an Information Technology support team (for business specific applications including Oracle11i), document handling, (including Electronic Document and Records Management), information management, and corporate communications (including DESTINY, the BDS extranet) together with the British Forces Postal Office and Courier Service. Support for generic computer systems and applications are provided by Defence Communications Services Agency, Communications Information Systems North America.

Performance Management

Performance Management covers coordinating and delivering the British Defence Staff-United States Business Plan, Project Reports, Business Risk Management, Management Board and Executive Committee Secretariat and acting as a focal point for championing business improvement initiatives, which includes setting up and facilitating Management Board and Executive Committee workshops. The team also provide inputs into the Policy and Commitments Management Plan and Balance Score Card.

Corporate Governance

Corporate Governance has been set up to ensure that as an organisation we adhere to Ministry of Defence Policy, Regulations, Law and Procedures. The Corporate Governance team conduct regular compliance checks and take action to implement process improvements in order to gain compliance where necessary and provide governance reports as required. The team are also the focal point for liaising with United Kingdom stakeholders to seek clarification of policy and where appropriate champion the revision of policy where existing policy is found to be inadequate to meet the business needs.

Learning and Development

Learning and Development covers the coordination of the British Defence Staff-United States Training Plan identifying training and development needs to support the objectives of the department. As a department we act as the focal point for communicating Learning and Development Policy, training opportunities, availability as well as evaluating types and costs of training attributed to the Learning and Development Budget. This training is wide ranging, covering in-house training programs, Ministry of Defence (MOD) wide training opportunities, Defence Electronic Learning Centre and other further development opportunities in the wider MOD as appropriate