The agency held a significant defence heritage collection across four sites, including a number of large technology items — aircraft, vehicles and naval equipment — that had not been assessed by a qualified conservator in more than fifteen years. A ministerial review had flagged the collection's condition as a governance risk, and the agency needed an independent assessment to inform both an internal conservation strategy and a public response to the ministerial findings.

The assessment was complicated by the operational nature of the sites: some storage areas were co-located with active facilities, and access was subject to security protocols that affected assessment scheduling and methodology.

The technical assessment covered all four sites over an eight-month period, producing condition reports for each item in the collection and an overall conservation priority schedule. Large technology items were assessed using a methodology developed specifically for the project, drawing on international standards for aviation and naval heritage conservation.