New Ministry of Defence committee will push capital projects worth Rs 5 bn

Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has constituted a 13-member committee that will review ongoing capital acquisition projects worth over Rs 5 billion, and suggest ways of taking them towards fruition.

Called Raksha Mantri’s Advisory Committee on Ministry of Defence Capital Projects (RMCOMP), the body is required to “expedite capital acquisitions to bolster armed forces preparedness”, the defence ministry announced on Wednesday.

The committee will be chaired by Vinay Sheel Oberoi, who retired earlier this year as secretary for higher education in the human resource development ministry. Its members include former Hindustan Aeronautics  chairman R K Tyagi, Defence Accounts Secretary Sanhita Kar, retired rear admiral Sudhir Pillai and representatives from each of the three services.

The committee is charged with “independent review and status check” of ongoing critical capital projects above Rs 5 billion, assessing their “physical and financial progress” and identifying “specific bottlenecks and concerns that are responsible for delays”, and suggesting the way forward.

The RMCOMP’s ambit will include multiple categories of procurements under the Defence Procurement Procedure, including ‘mission mode’ projects, ‘make’ projects as well as ‘design and development’ projects under the ministry. The RMCOMP will have an initial tenure until the end of August 2018. It is required to present an initial status report on identified projects to the defence minister by March 31. It is also mandated to present “remedial measures and follow-up strategy.”

Based on the ministry’s decisions on the status report, the RMCOMP must submit two follow-up corrective action taken reports by April 30 and July 31.