New Delhi: The Defence Ministry Thursday cleared a proposal to cut down procurement timelines by half, which will be incorporated in the new Defence Acquisition Procedure (DAP) likely to be issued later this year, ThePrint has learnt.
Sources in the defence and security establishment told ThePrint that Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has been keen on reduction of timelines to ensure faster induction of systems for the armed forces.
This was the thrust of the special committee set up by him under Defence Secretary Rajesh Kumar Singh, which had members from the three armed services as well as the Chief of Defence Staff.
Faster procurement timelines, cutting down archaic processes, eradicating entry barriers for new players and providing a level playing field for all are some of the steps the defence ministry is looking to introduce in 2025, sources said.
They said that existing timelines will be slashed for various procedures, like the need for Acceptance of Necessity (AON) for a project, Request for Information (RFI), Request for Proposals (RFP), Field Evaluation Trials and Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC).
Sources said that the idea is to ensure that work is done simultaneously on multiple fronts, instead of waiting for one process to be completed to start the next.
The current DAP 2020 runs into over 600 pages and was last updated five years back.
Sources said that along with reduction in timelines, the defence ministry will also fix specific positions responsible for ensuring the deadlines are met. Compressing the timelines will ensure that procurement is faster, they added.
Sources also pointed out that projects like the Advanced Towed Artillery Gun System (ATAGS)—the finished version of which came out in 2016—took another six years in trials, and about three years for the file to reach the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) that finally cleared it Wednesday evening.
They also spoke about the need for new fighters and the delays connected to it, besides simpler projects, like the need for snipers, carbines, bullet-proof jackets, radars and others, which take a lot of time.
The defence secretary had said last month that since the day he took office in November last year, his focus has been on procurement.
“That is an area which has been bedevilled by delays. We have identified where the delays are. It is in three specific areas,” he had said, adding that the first is at the Services front in finalising the Request for Proposal (RFP) The next delay, according to him, is “in what they call the field evaluation trials, and thereafter delays in what they call cost negotiations”. “All of them take years at a time,” he had said.
Multiple industry sources said that evaluation trials take years to be completed because of the way they are designed. However, the Services argue that many times, it is those participating in trials who keep seeking extensions and changes which are allowed under the framed rules.
“We are going to ensure accountability in terms of much shorter timelines, and that I said I intend to ensure that our contracts this year are double if not triple of last year,” the defence secretary had said, regarding the identified areas of delay.
He had also said in January that the procurement policy in India’s defence system “in many ways was broken”.
“We have not been able to do things in time. The timelines we have given ourselves are too luxurious. Very basic things like preparing RFPs in time even before you go for an Acceptance of Necessity were not done. Thereafter, you all know that we have been gold-plating many of our requirements and the evaluation was taking too long. It’s time to call a spade a spade and have a different approach,” the secretary had said.
(Edited by Mannat Chugh)
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