Indian MoD Sets-up Committee to Expedite Defence Procurement

Indian defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13 member Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence (MoD) Capital Projects (RMCOMP) to expedite capital acquisitions to bolster armed forces preparedness.

The Committee will consist of the following members: Vinay Sheel Oberoi, Former Secretary, Government of India – Chairman. R. K. Tyagi, Former Chairman, HAL, SanhitaKar, IDAS (Retd), Former PCDA, Factories Accounts, R. K. Jain, Former Member, OFB, R. Anand, Special Advisor E&Y LLP, Amber Dubey, Partner Head, Aerospace & Defence, KPMG, M. H. Rehman, Former DG (TM & HR)/DRDO, Rear Admiral Sudhir Pillai (Retd), Former FONA, Maj Gen RKSaiwal (Retd), Former ADG (C&A)/MGO branch, AVM G Raveendranath (Retd), Former TM (Air), ACIDS (PP&FS), HQ IDS, Rep of DDP (JS Rank or Above) and Brig/Col Equivalent from HQ IDS – Member Secy.

The terms of reference for the committee are; Undertake independent review and status check of identified ongoing critical capital projects above Rs. 500 crore including ‘Mission Mode’ projects, ‘Make’ projects, ‘Buy (Indian), ‘Buy (Indian – IDDM), ‘Buy and Make’ and ‘Buy and Make (Indian)’ projects as well as ‘Design and Development’ projects under the Ministry.

Assess the physical and financial progress of these schemes/projects. Identify specific bottlenecks and concerns that are responsible for delays, wherever applicable and suggest the way forward. Any other issues related to project monitoring and appraisal that may be referred by MoD.

The committee will have a tenure until the end of August 2018 (unless otherwise ordered). Deliverables for the committee are as follows:

Present an initial status report on the identified projects to RakshaMantri by 31st March 2018. The report shall include apart from the current status of the projects, issues, remedial measures and follow-up strategy.

Based on the decisions on the status report, submit two follow-up corrective Action Taken Reports by 30th April 2018 and 31st July 2018, respectively. Suggest modern management concepts that can be leveraged to reduce delays. Suggest actionable measures to improve the capital acquisition process/procedures.

The Chairman RMCOMP may co-opt up to two specialists/consultants as members, if considered necessary for value addition. The committee will also invite/visit heads of DPSUs/DRDO/OFB and senior officers of MoD/DDP/Armed Forces for interactions.