From two weeks to 22 weeks: Delays plague buys by Indian Army commanders

So entrenched is the government’s bureaucratic mode of functioning, even within the military, that granting army commanders special financial powers to procure tactical items could not expedite procurement to the prescribed levels.

An audit by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of sample procurements under the Army Commanders’ Special Financial Powers (ACSFP) made during the period from 2021-22 to 2023-24 found inordinate and unacceptable delays.

The audit report, recently submitted in Parliament, says that in the sample of 281 supply orders (SOs) valued at Rs 930 crore, “against the prescribed timeline of two weeks for approval of the competent financial authority (CFA) after integrated financial advisor (IFA) concurrence for floating the request for proposal (RFP), the average time taken was 22 weeks.” So from the mandated 14 days, the delay extended to 154 days.

“Similarly, evaluation of technical bids and placement of supply orders was also delayed by eight weeks and four weeks respectively.”

Aimed at overcoming delays, the procurement was mainly of stores required for counter-insurgency operations, maintenance of internal security, operations in high-altitude areas, and other immediate requirements including aid to civil authorities.

It was in May 1995 that the defence ministry delegated financial powers to the general officers commanding-in-chief (GOC-in-C) of the Army’s Northern and Eastern commands to meet the urgent requirements of counter-insurgency operations, internal security duties, and for the Siachen Glacier. In April 2002, similar powers were extended to the other four commands. These powers were revised in 2006, 2016, 2021, and 2024.

The Northern Army Commander has an annual ceiling of Rs 400 crore as against the Eastern Army Commander’s ceiling of Rs 200 crore. On the other hand, the Western Army Commander and other commanders, excluding the Army Training Command (ARTRAC), have ceilings of Rs 100 crore and Rs 50 crore respectively.

In a related finding, the CAG pointed out the slow and faltering ‘emergency procurement’ (EP) mode that was announced in July 2020.

The primary objective of EP — for a specific period of time — was to plug critical operational gaps, especially along the northern borders. It included waivers to the already existing Fast Track Procedure (FTP) for the acquisition of new weapon systems, equipment, and the development of military infrastructure.

The national auditor found that while the contracts were to be concluded by December 2020 and deliveries completed by December 2021, items for 72% of the contracts examined in the audit were not delivered within the stipulated timeline, thereby not fully achieving the objective of speedy procurement.

The contracts included remote-control weapon systems, air defence missiles, anti-tank missiles, satellite downlink and recording systems, VSAT terminals, portable mobile terminals, secure army mobile systems, all-terrain vehicles, high-mobility reconnaissance vehicles, radars, loitering ammunition, drones, counter-drone systems, high-endurance UAVs, ballistic helmets, navigation systems, and simulation systems.