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Tuesday, December 15, 2009

Indian Midair Refueler Program May Be Rebid



By vivek raghuvanshi

NEW DELHI - India's purchase program for six midair refuelers may be rebid after questions arose regarding bid cost and competitiveness, Indian Defence Ministry sources said.

"The procurement proposal had been progressed in accordance with the Defence Procurement Procedure-2006 and thereafter referred to the Ministry of Finance, who has expressed certain reservations relating to the competitiveness of the bids and the reasonableness of the price," says a Dec. 14 Defence Ministry release, quoting the official reply of Defence Minister A. K. Antony to India's Parliament.


Though the release does not specify the program is facing serious problems, Defence Ministry sources said that because of objections from the Finance Ministry, the program will be quashed and rebid next year.Four years ago, a request for proposal was sent to U.S.-based Lockheed Martin and Boeing, EADS and Ilyushin of Tashkent.


Lockheed Martin and Boeing did not respond to the tender, leaving only Ilyushin and EADS in the fray. Ilyushin's bid was lower than that of EADS but the Air Force favored buying the A330 multirole tanker over the IL-78 of Ilyushin, which it had been using. The matter was referred to the Finance Ministry, which rejected the Air Force request, saying the lowest bidder should be the obvious choice.

IAF drops Russia from $1 bn Multi-Role Tanker Transport deal

IAF is set to acquire six Airbus tankers

3 comments:

"The program will be quashed and rebid next year" : and what do they expect from that excepting further delays ? The A330 won't get cheaper and the IL78 won't get better. Question of choice and priorities. Furthermore, how could DPP06 be strictly followed and the result be questionned this way ? I don't get it !

Very simple, some body is expecting some thing from this deal.

isn't this a matter for the home secretary in england to decide ?

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