To answer the second part of your question, no, we were never consulted. Like you, we did not see any progress in this area. Nor did we see this entity mentioned in any of the mandate letters.
What I can say, however, without being aware of all the details and without having been consulted, is that the establishment of a specific agency could solve a number of problems, on condition that defence procurement rested exclusively with that agency. For example, introducing a new player while continuing to assign a major role to the two departments you just mentioned would only cause further confusion and even increase the number of steps involved in the procurement process. I believe that creating another agency is not necessarily required to improve the process. We could very well reshuffle the existing cards without adding another entity.