Flying High: Industry now have more opportunities to participate in defence production. Indian industry can suggest projects related to sub-systems for innovation

Indian industry can suggest projects related to sub-systems for innovation and import substitution under the revised Make-II procedure in the Defence Procurement Procedure, the Defence Ministry said on Wednesday.

“The potential ‘Make-II’ projects will be approved by a collegiate comprising the DRDO, Headquarter Integrated Defence Staff and Department of Defence under a committee chaired by Secretary, Defence Production,” the Ministry said in a statement.

Start-Ups Welcome

Even start-ups or individuals can propose projects. The Service Headquarters will soon come with a list of projects which can be undertaken under the new procedure. Companies would get design and development time of 12 to 30 weeks to offer prototypes and there is no limit to the number of companies which can respond to the Expression of Interest (EoI).

Speaking at the ongoing Raisina Dialogue, Secretary, Defence Production Ajay Kumar said that under the new proposal, the time taken to place orders from the proposal stage would be reduced by 50%. After the development period, the Request for Proposal would be issued to all qualifying companies.

“Once issued, the RFP cannot be retracted. The company which wins the bid, is assured of an order,” a senior official said.

He stated that even in the case of a single vendor situation, the tender would go through. The estimated time to finish the whole process has come down to 69 to 103 weeks. There would also be no negotiations under the Contract Negotiation Committee (CNC).

There are are already 40-50 projects which are being looked at including advanced gun barrels for T-72 tanks and chaff and flare systems, the official added.