The 30-year-old INS Kozhikode, one of the Indian Navy's four remaining minesweepers
By Ajai Shukla
Business Standard, 9th Jan 18
The defence
ministry has scrapped a 13-year-long procurement process for 12 minesweepers,
warships that are critically needed to counter hostile navies’ strategy of bottling
up Indian Navy warships in harbour, by laying explosive mines at the exits. For
years, the navy has made do with six Soviet-era minesweepers, of which two
retired last year and the remainder are outdated. This leaves a glaring hole in
our maritime security until a new vendor is identified, a contract concluded
and the minesweepers built. Going by past track record, this could take over a
decade. This is hardly the first time an operationally vital procurement has
been cancelled after years of evaluation. The cancellation of the tender for
126 medium multi-role combat aircraft (MMRCA), and its culmination in the
unplanned procurement of 36 Rafale fighters in flyaway condition, too,
embarrassed the Indian procurement process.
Similarly,
last month, after years of trials, the defence ministry cancelled the
procurement of Spike anti-tank missiles from Israeli company, Rafael. Also last
month, Prime Minister Narendra Modi commissioned the first Scorpene submarine,
INS Kalvari, with great fanfare, but without matching torpedoes – its primary
weapon – because of the cancellation of a contract with Italian company WASS
for Black Shark torpedoes after its sister firm, helicopter maker
AgustaWestland, was investigated in Italy for bribing Indian officials. That
also caused the scuppering of a contract for eight AW-101 helicopters for
Indian VVIPs. The truth is Indian defence procurement is littered with tens of
such cancelled acquisitions and include light utility helicopters, assault
rifles and light machine guns for the infantry, naval multi-role helicopters
for Indian warships, aerial refuelling aircraft to extend the range of air
force fighters, quick reaction surface-to-air missiles (QR-SAMs) to defend
against enemy fighter aircraft and many more.
The obvious
question that comes to mind is: why do so many procurements fail? The reasons
vary: but a prime culprit is the flawed framing of qualitative requirements
(QRs) or the performance criteria the weapon being bought must meet. Too often,
the user service – the army, navy or air force – motivated by the certainty
that sluggish procurement processes will ensure the system enters service at
least a decade later when technologies would have advanced, frames such technologically
ambitious QRs that no existing system, or perhaps a single existing system,
meets those requirements. Since bureaucrats desire at least two eligible contenders
for “price discovery”, this sends the acquisition back to the start line.
Other
reasons include having unrealistic demands for high-technology that vendors are
unprepared to part with; or, as in the MMRCA case, by stipulating such a
complex “life cycle costing” model for comparing bids that determining a winner
became impossible. Simplification of the procurement process has been repeatedly
promised in the past Yet, on the ground the procurement remains every bit as
cumbersome as ever. What remains elusive is a simple procurement procedure and
bureaucrats who know their subject and do not constantly fear the possibility of
subsequent investigation.
Our QR and bidding process will not work. Our babudom will not decide, they will keep making notes in the files and moving it around.
ReplyDeleteBest is to sign a Govt to Govt deal like in case of Rafale, Sukhoi etc.
The cancellation of Minesweeper project may not be a pure procurement failure; but one that may involve geopolitical considerations too. South Korea had been teetering between US and China under its previous President. Is it conceivable that it has lurched towards China under its new President? It is worth noting that the cancellation of the Minesweeper project came close on the heels of the cancellation of a civilian project for constructing LNG Tankers; one that also involved a Korean ship builder. It is also possible that the South Koreans themselves preempted a cancellation by imposing onerous terms on the proposed contracts under the influence of the Chinese. When trade is an important consideration for a nation; it should not be surprising that nation should choose China over India (or the US for that matter). But that should also help abundantly clarify for India the nations that can be relied upon when it comes to dealing with China.
ReplyDeleteApart from the geo-political considerations behind cancelling the negotiations with S. Korea, the fact still remains that the IN is desperately short of minesweepers. So also, multi role helicopters, submarines, heavy weight torpedoes, the list is endless. Same is the case with the IA and the IAF.
ReplyDeleteBut, one thing we are not short of is bombast - both at the political and military levels! One gathers that the powers-that-be responsible of defence of the Indian realm seem to place too much trust in Providence in winning future wars for us that they can afford stretching, cancelling, procrastinating procurement of critical defence equipment. Such a shame, for crying out loud!