Armed Forces Given Free Hand for Procurements up to $40 million

Lieutenant General Raj Shukla,

YSM, SM is the GOC-in-C Army Training Command who assumed office on May 1, 2020.

Lieutenant General Manoj Chandrashekhar Pande,

AVSM, VSM is the Commander-in-Chief of the Andaman and Nicobar Command (CINCAN) who assumed office on June 1, 2020,

ASPECIAL MEETING OF THE Defence Acquisition Council ( DAC) on July 15, chaired by Defence Minister Rajnath Singh, delegated powers for making urgent capital acquisitions up to 300 crore ($40 million) to the armed forces.

This step has been taken “considering the security environment due to prevailing situation along the Northern Borders and the need to strengthen the Armed Forces for the Defence of our borders”, a senior officer of the Ministry of Defence said.

“The DAC delegated the powers for progressing urgent Capital Acquisition

Cases upto 300 Crore to the armed forces to meet their emergent operational requirements. This will shrink the procurement timelines and ensure placement of orders within six months and commencement of deliveries within one year,” the officer elaborated.

This is the first time that financial powers for capital procurements have been delegated to the armed forces for capital purchases. It’s in addition to the delegation of powers to Vice-Chiefs to make revenue purchases of up to 500 Crore per procurement on their own.

—Vishal Thapar