New Organisation Planned For Defence Procurement In India

The Indian ministry of defense constituted committee to study the setting up of a new organization for defense procurement has submitted its report in February 2017.

The committee constituted in April 2016 comprising experts from various fields has recommended the creation of a central, autonomous, empowered professional organization to build up indigenous defence capability as a strategic imperative for long term self-reliance, Minister of State for Defence Subhash Bhamre said in a written statement in the Parliament Tuesday.

Among measures that have been taken in this regard includes,  Reducing broad timeframe for completing procurement activities,  Reduction of validity for Acceptance of Necessity to 6 months for ‘Buy’ cases and to one year for ‘Buy and Make (Indian) cases’and Incorporation of guidelines for change of name of vendor in Defence Procurement Procedure-2016 and notification of complaint handling guidelines.

Other measures include, Processing of single vendor cases with due justification, instead of automatic retraction, Provision of Field Evaluation Trials in conditions where equipment is most likely to be deployed, Increased use of certification and simulations in technical evaluation of equipment. Enhancement of aim of Fast Track Procedure to cover urgent operational requirements, Elaboration of Request for Information process as the first step of acquisition process and defining the objectives clearly, and Provision for bringing cases with ‘Acceptance of Necessity’ value of more than 150 crore directly before Services Capital Acquisition Categorisation Higher Committee by eliminating one level.