New Delhi: Taking note of the possible impact on supplies of spares and services due to the crisis arising out of Russian invasion of Ukraine, feedback from industry keen to enter the defence ecosystem and the ever increasing importance of self-reliance, the defence ministry has brought in key changes to simplify the contract negotiating process and procurement timelines. These changes will accelerate private sector led military design and development projects and lay the platform in signing of significant deals with Indian companies in near term.

According to officials, the five-month deadline for signing of a contract, if a private company led initiative to develop a defence system prototype has been deemed successful is a major change incorporated into procurement rules. This significantly reduces the gap between demonstrating a prototype to the armed forces and signing of a contract that exceeded two years earlier and often resulted in major losses and cancellations.

Similarly, the process of signing the contract has also been simplified, with only five officials now deemed to be part of the contract negotiating committee, thus making clearances a less time consuming and smooth.

By reducing the number of trials required before accepting an industry developed weapon system into service, the ministry has now changed the rules to deem the user assisted trial as the final word, enabling placement of quick orders on the industry.

Another simplification has been to better define the technical specifications of the weapon systems sought by the armed forces. The ministry has now deemed that the Preliminary Staff Qualitative Requirement (PSQR) itself – drawn carefully to include all requirements — would be the final document as far as the industry is concerned, giving companies more clarity on the exact technical specifications desired by the armed forces.