SOURCE: Times Now
With China and Pakistan both on our nerves, putting up a two-pronged resistance requires a system to ensure India also has a self-reliant mechanism in place to meet the country’s defence demands.
In line with this same thought, Union Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday released the ‘Procurement Manual 2020’ for the Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), India’s premier agency for military research and development (R&D).
This has been aimed at promoting and encouraging even more participation by Indian industry, including start-ups and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, in R&D to help achieve self-reliance.
“The new DRDO procurement manual will facilitate the indigenous defence industry by simplifying the processes and ensure their participation in design and development activities,” the Defence Minister said.
He acknowledged the contribution of DRDO officials and the finance wing of the Defence Ministry in bringing out the revised manual.
The procurement manual is expected to facilitate faster execution of R&D programmes and projects. The modified features of the manual will go a long way to facilitate participation of industry in various R&D projects.
Bidding security declaration option for earnest money deposit, increasing threshold limit for advance payment, placing orders on second lowest bidder in case the first lowest bidder backs out – these are some of the salient features of the new manual, which will assist the industry in the speedy execution of projects.
The other actions laid out in the manual are exemption of bid security and performance security up to Rs 10 lakh, no negotiations for commercial off-the-shelf items or services, wherever price discovery happens through market forces.
“Performance security for service contracts is linked to the payment cycle instead of contract value. Procurement of stores from development partners, safeguarding free issue material through insurance cover instead of bank guarantee are the other facilitating measures adopted to help the industry,” the Defence Ministry said in a statement.
Furthermore, the liquidated damage rate for development contracts has also been reduced. The delivery period extension process has been simplified for faster decision-making. Many of the internal procedures have been simplified further for faster engagement with industry. The previous procurement manual of the DRDO was last modified in 2016.
