Defence Ministry to bring changes in procurement system

Stung by scams in procurement of military hardware from foreign vendors, Defence Ministry is planning to put in place a revised procurement system under which the first right of refusal would be with the domestic industry.

The Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) would be witnessing changes with an aim of making a procedure where the armed forces will have to first check with domestic public and private sector industry if they can provide any desired weapon system, Defence Ministry officials told PTI here.

If the domestic industry says that it cannot produce or make available such a system, then only the forces would be allowed to approach the foreign vendors, they said.

Changes in the DPP in this regard are expected to be approved by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) headed by Defence Minister A K Antony in its meeting next month, they said.

After the recent AgustaWestland chopper scam, the defence Minister has asked Ministry officials to bring about major changes in the defence procurement and production policies to reduce dependence on imports for military hardware.

Under attack over the AgustaWestland controversy, Defence Minister had said indigenisation of military hardware is the "ultimate answer" to avoid controversies such as the chopper scam and asked the armed forces to change their mindset of relying on imports to meet operational requirements.

"As we move forward more and more especially after the recent deal controversy coming, the ultimate answer is maximum indigenisation. Depending too much on imports...This can land us in trouble".

He said the Government will have a "second look" at its policies on defence production and defence procurement to speed up indigenisation in "mission mode".