CAG says a defence ministry panel report stated in March 2015 that Dassault was not L1 in the original bidding process for 126 jets, and so a contract could not be signed with it.
A CAG report points out the Letter of Comfort means India will have to settle a breach of agreement first through arbitration with French vendors and not the government.
The Comptroller and Auditor General will be tabling a report that looks at similar deals struck between 2012 and 2017 by IAF, as well as other offers that competed with Dassault’s Rafale offer.
The CAG report on Rafale made headlines in December 2018 after 'grammatical errors' in the Centre's affidavit suggested it had been examined by the PAC.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has a reputation for fiscal prudence, so the expectation is that somehow or the other his finance ministry will get the numbers in line.
From Munir’s point of view, a few bumps here and there is par for the course. He isn’t going to drive his dumper truck to its doom. He wants to use it as a weapon.
The author of this article has made only half baked analysis. Had he read the report thoroughly and diligently, he could have observed the following observations made in the Report on acquisition process during the UPA period : (1) Rafale maker Dassault Aviation (DA) did not fulfil request from proposal (FRP) requirements at the stage of technical evaluation committee with respect to air staff qualitative requirements, warranty clauses and an option clause.”The proposal of the vendor should have been rejected at the TEC stage itself”, the CAG said. (2) HAL’s quotation of man hours at a factor of 2.7 to DA significantly increased the cost of Rafale jets. (3) DA’s price bid, the report said, was non-compliant as it was incomplete and not in prescribed format. TheL-1 committee filled up incomplete entries by culling out figures given elsewhere under different headings of the price bid. (4) The calculations were based on incorrect assumption and determination was faulty. (5) The proposal of the competitor, Aeronautic Defence and Space Company makers of Eurofighter planes was also non-compliant of the FRP. (6) The French refused guarantee quality of planes proposed to be manufactured at HAL.
This was the legacy left by the UPA regime. After 7 years of process , that no bidder was eligible! AK Antony realised this and did nothing for two years. Now at this stage, Modi had two options – (1) Start the re-bid process, emulate Antony and do nothing. This would have entailed delay of possibly another decade. (2) Take reasonably acceptable risk and purchase optimum quantity of 2 squadrons. Please note that due to the delay and irregularities India was in a difficult spot and was placed in a very weak bargaining position. The French seem to have taken undue advantage of the situation. Please also note that during the interim period DA had received orders from Qatar and Egypt and their production schedule was tightened.
The problem is they do not believe in any institution as long as it give some favourable judgement for PM Modi. All liberals wants to oppose it whatever will be the outcome. They want to create an election issue and like award wapsi was over after some state election this will go in the same way.
Some idiots will always remain an idiot like this author. Who couldn’t care to read the report in full and listen to the IAF person guy who headed the negotiations. It’s there is no cure for stupidity.
Neither the somewhat hurried apex court judgment nor the CAG report has succeeded in laying the controversy to rest. Although the ISEs are not in the public domain, there would not be a single responsible commentator – apart from the governments of China and Pakistan – who is not aware of them. That the issue will be part of the general election campaign is not in doubt. 2. When the apex court takes up the government’s request for a modification of its judgment- to correct grammatical errors – and the more substantive plea made by the petitioners, it may be pleased to consider all the material that is now being brought into the public domain, which is essentially the official record of this case, and pass suitable orders.
The author of this article has made only half baked analysis. Had he read the report thoroughly and diligently, he could have observed the following observations made in the Report on acquisition process during the UPA period : (1) Rafale maker Dassault Aviation (DA) did not fulfil request from proposal (FRP) requirements at the stage of technical evaluation committee with respect to air staff qualitative requirements, warranty clauses and an option clause.”The proposal of the vendor should have been rejected at the TEC stage itself”, the CAG said. (2) HAL’s quotation of man hours at a factor of 2.7 to DA significantly increased the cost of Rafale jets. (3) DA’s price bid, the report said, was non-compliant as it was incomplete and not in prescribed format. TheL-1 committee filled up incomplete entries by culling out figures given elsewhere under different headings of the price bid. (4) The calculations were based on incorrect assumption and determination was faulty. (5) The proposal of the competitor, Aeronautic Defence and Space Company makers of Eurofighter planes was also non-compliant of the FRP. (6) The French refused guarantee quality of planes proposed to be manufactured at HAL.
This was the legacy left by the UPA regime. After 7 years of process , that no bidder was eligible! AK Antony realised this and did nothing for two years. Now at this stage, Modi had two options – (1) Start the re-bid process, emulate Antony and do nothing. This would have entailed delay of possibly another decade. (2) Take reasonably acceptable risk and purchase optimum quantity of 2 squadrons. Please note that due to the delay and irregularities India was in a difficult spot and was placed in a very weak bargaining position. The French seem to have taken undue advantage of the situation. Please also note that during the interim period DA had received orders from Qatar and Egypt and their production schedule was tightened.
The problem is they do not believe in any institution as long as it give some favourable judgement for PM Modi. All liberals wants to oppose it whatever will be the outcome. They want to create an election issue and like award wapsi was over after some state election this will go in the same way.
Great…now even history professors are acquisition experts.
There is no money trail, no inflated acquisition cost yet this trope does not end.
There is no such thing as a perfect deal.
Some idiots will always remain an idiot like this author. Who couldn’t care to read the report in full and listen to the IAF person guy who headed the negotiations. It’s there is no cure for stupidity.
Neither the somewhat hurried apex court judgment nor the CAG report has succeeded in laying the controversy to rest. Although the ISEs are not in the public domain, there would not be a single responsible commentator – apart from the governments of China and Pakistan – who is not aware of them. That the issue will be part of the general election campaign is not in doubt. 2. When the apex court takes up the government’s request for a modification of its judgment- to correct grammatical errors – and the more substantive plea made by the petitioners, it may be pleased to consider all the material that is now being brought into the public domain, which is essentially the official record of this case, and pass suitable orders.