India likely to speed up defence buys, reduce purchase timeline
The ministry wants the average time taken for defence acquisition to be cut from the present 96 weeks to only 24 weeks.
New Delhi: The defence ministry will on Thursday, seek approval from the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by defence minister Rajnath Singh to drastically compress time lines for the procurement of defence equipment in an effort to ensure that the country’s ability to defend itself doesn’t fall victim to bureaucratic procedures.
The ministry wants the average time taken for defence acquisition to be cut from the present 96 weeks (roughly two years) to only 24 weeks (less than six months).
According to at least three top officials who spoke on condition of anonymity, the defence ministry wants the cumbersome capital acquisition procedure, governed by a voluminous Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) manual, running into 657 pages across two volumes, to be made more efficient so that acquisition of much-needed platforms is not delayed. The tedious DAP document was last amended in 2020. Over the years, there have been acquisition delays in procurement of Rafale fighters, Rafale-Maritime fighters (still to be cleared by CCS), three additional Scorpene class submarines, Project 75 I air independent propulsion submarines, and Predator Drones.
HT learns that the proposal before DAC lays down strict timelines for Request for Proposals (RFP), Field Evaluation Trials and Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC), so that the entire process is completed within six months.
According to the officials cited above, the Modi government wants armed forces to get the RFP ready even as they move (or ideally, before they move) the defence ministry for Acceptance of Necessity (AON) for a particular platform to be acquired. Until now, the whole process of RFP by the armed forces starts after DAC gives an AON for a particular capital acquisition.
The next step is Field Evaluation Trial of a weapon system, which currently takes years as the armed forces want the system to be tested in polar conditions as well as the desert. Given that conditions can now be simulated, the defence ministry wants the trials to be completed parallelly by testing the capital equipment under simulated conditions
The final step, which involves CNC, driven by top defence ministry mandarins, must also be completed within six months rather than being negotiated with the supplier ad nauseam. It is only after the contract price has been negotiated and approved by the finance ministry, that the matter reached the Cabinet Committee on Security headed by the Prime Minister.
By compressing the timelines of the capital acquisition process, the defence ministry wants faster decision making when it comes to procurement of high end platforms. It wants to hold both the armed forces and itself accountable in case the price of the platform changes due to delays .
