'Defence procurement norms simplified to boost innovation'

Defence procurement norms have been simplified after thorough consultation with the industry and as part of efforts to give a thrust to innovation and import substitution, senior defence officials said today.
A decision was taken yesterday by the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC), chaired by Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, to simplify the 'Make II' category of the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP-2016).
As part of the procedure adopted, Service Headquarters of the Army, Air Force and Navy will list out a series of projects which can be undertaken as 'Make-II' projects under the new procedure.
The industry can come up with suggestions on what products it can offer, especially among those items which are currently being imported.

The changes are expected to give a boost to the 'Make in India' initiative.
The potential 'Make-II' projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Headquarters Integrated Defence Staff (HQ IDS) and the Department of Defence, under a committee chaired by Secretary (Defence Production).

Based on the in-principle approval by the panel, the projects will be hosted on Ministry of Defence's website inviting industry to participate.
There will be no limit to the number of industry players, who may respond to the Expression of Interest (EoI), for the development of the prototype subject to meeting the minimum qualification criteria.

The design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks is granted to industry to offer the prototypes. There is no limit to the number of industry players who may show interest and offer prototype, officials said.
After this period, a commercial Request For Proposal (RFP) will be issued.
Once the RFP is issued, it shall not be retracted. The industry who wins the bid, is assured of an order, officials said.
The industry who develops the product will retain the title and ownership and all other rights of intellectual property. However, for some specified reasons such as national security, the government shall have 'March-in' rights.

There shall be no negotiations by Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC) in multi-vendor contracts, a Defence Ministry statement said.
"'Make-II' procedure reduces the total time from in- principle approval to placing of order by 50 per cent. The estimated time to finish the whole process has come down to 69 to 103 weeks," an official said.