Defence Acquisition: International Best Practices

About the Book

This book is a compendium of papers presented and circulated in the International Seminar on Defence acquisition organised by the Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses on July 12-14, 2011. It contains 29 chapters organised in nine key themes: technical requirement and capability definition; technical and commercial evaluation challenges; optimal procedural framework; contract implementation and project management; logistics management; offsets; defence industrial and R&D base; oversight, organisational structure; and human resource in defence acquisition. Written by the practitioners, industry leaders and subject experts, the book brings out the best international practices in defence acquisition.

About the Editors

Dr Laxman Kumar Behera

Dr Laxman Kumar Behera is Research Fellow at Institute for Defence Studies and Analyses (IDSA). As a member of IDSA’s Defence Economics and Industry Centre, Dr. Behera undertakes policy-relevant research pertaining to various economic aspects of Indian defence. He was closely associated with two high-level committees set up by the Indian Ministry of Defence on Defence Acquisition Reforms and Defence Expenditure Review. He was also the consultant to the Task Force on Self-Reliance and Defence Modernisation constituted by the National Security Council Secretariat, Government of India.

Group Captain (Retd) Vinay Kaushal

Group Captain (Retd) Vinay Kaushal was commissioned in the Accounts Branch of IAF in July 1975 and superannuated in May 2010. He held varied appointments in field formations, staff appointments at Air HQs and instructional appointment in training formation during his service career where he made substantial contributions in enhancing the level of services provided and changing the procedures through innovative methods to bring about efficiency and cost savings. He was commended by AOC-in-C Eastern Air Command in 1991 and by the Chief of Air Staff in 1998. For his distinguished services of very high order, he was conferred the Presidential award of Vishisht Seva Medal in 2006. He refined the costing of major activities of IAF and piloted the use of “Cost of Ownership’ model and “Life Cycle Cost” for acquisition. Presently he is Consultant with IDSA.

Contents

Foreword
Keynote Address
Acknowledgements
List of Contributors
Introduction

1. Categorisation Options: User’s Dilemma
— A.K. Nagalia

2. Challenges of Commercial Evaluation 12
— Harish Masand

3. Cost Estimation for Determining Reasonable Price in Capital Acquisitions: MoD Experience
— Rajnish Kumar

4. Towards an Optimal Procedural Framework: The Indian Experience
— R.K. Ghose

5. Fine Tuning Procedural Framework to Achieve Balance in Defence Acquisitions
— Alina Arora and Yohan J. Balan

6. Defence Acquisition: Indian Army’s Perspective
— Viney Handa

7. Challenges of Defence Procurement: A User Perspective
— Aftab Khan and HS Jhajj

8. Perspective of the Indian Air Force on Key Issues of Defence Acquisition and the Reform Measures: Needed to Expedite Defence Procurements
— S.K. Jha

9. A Critique of the US Defense Acquisition Process
— Terrence Elemendorf

10. Complex Programme Management in Defence
— Michael Christie

11. Indian Experience in Contracting/Post Contract Implementation and Project Management Challenges
— R.K. Arora

12. Logistics Management: The French Experience
— Alain Costes

13. Harnessing the ‘PPP’ Model in Defence Acquisition and Construction Works to be a Catalyst for Participation of the Private Sector
— Vinay Kaushal

14. Perspectives on Performance Based Logistics
— Shobhana Joshi

15. Review of International Offset Experience
— Thomas Mathew

16. International Offset Experiences and Policy Prescription
— Kogila Balakrishnan

17. Impact of India’s Offset Policy on Military Industrial Capability and Self-Reliance
— S.N. Misra

18. Explaining China’s Improving Defence Industrial and Innovation Capabilities
— Tai Ming Cheung

19. Self-Reliance Through Smart Acquisition
— Prahlada

20. Indian Ordnance Factories: An Agenda for Change
— Anuradha Prasad

21. Defence Acquisition: A Shipyard Perspective
— PR Raghunath

22. FDI in Indian Defence Industry
— Laxman Kumar Behera

23. Transparency and Oversight in UK Defence Acquisition
— Tim Banfield

24. The Indian Defence Acquisition System: Improving Oversight and the System
— K Subramaniam

25. Defence Acquisition Systems: A Look at Selected Nations
— Mrinal Suman

26. Organisational Structure and Procedural Framework for Defence Acquisition in Brazil: The Challenge of Technology Transfer
— William de Sousa Moreira

27. Capacity Building for Defence Technology Acquisition and Oversight
— Ravinder Pal Singh

28. Defense Acquisition Workforce Management in the United States
— Greg Beckham

29. Best Practices in U.S. Defence Procurement
— Richard P. Rector and Dionis M. Gauvin

Index

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