The Committee has been tasked to revise and align the procedures with the aim of ensuring a seamless flow from asset acquisition to life cycle support, according to the release

NEW DELHI: The Defence Ministry is working to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPD) to speed up procurement and incorporate suitable changes in order to strengthen the Centre's ‘Make in India' initiative.

Communicating officially, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in its release on Saturday said, “Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has approved setting up of a Committee under the Chairmanship of Director General (Acquisition) to review the Defence Procurement Procedure (DPP) 2016 and Defence Procurement Manual (DPM) 2009."

The Committee has been given six months to submit its recommendations.

The DPP 2016 and DPM 2009 are also due for revision.

The Committee has been tasked to revise and align the procedures with the aim of ensuring a seamless flow from asset acquisition to life cycle support, according to the release.

The new committee, apart from a DG (Acquisition), will have 11 other members, with all of them being above or equivalent to the rank of a Joint Secretary or a Major General.

Terms of reference of the Committee includes revising the procedures as given in DPP 2016 and DPM 2009, in order to remove procedural bottlenecks and hasten defence acquisition; aligning and standardising the provisions in DPP 2016 and DPM 2009, wherever applicable, to optimise life cycle support for equipment.

The terms of reference also include simplifying policy and procedures to facilitate greater participation of Indian Industry and develop a robust Defence Industrial base.

Steps are also included to examine and incorporate new concepts, such as life cycle costing, life cycle support, performance-based logistics, ICT, lease contracting, codification and standardisation.

The committee can also include new provisions to promote Indian start-ups and research and development.