Of Matters Military. Mrinal Suman

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      Even the boldest and the most conscientious officers fear subsequent enquiries. Decisions taken in good faith can always be questioned in retrospect. Therefore, even the empowered officers consider it prudent to keep seeking repeated approval of ‘higher ups’ at all steps to shield themselves. Another common practice is to mark all cases to superiors by endorsing ‘for information please’. It is a highly prevalent stratagem to keep seniors ‘in the loop’, so that they can also be roped in later on (see box).

       Media

      A totally independent media is the bedrock of true democracy. Media in India is doing an excellent job to highlight national security concerns. However, at times their coverage of defence deals is based on unverified facts.

      Some segments of media carry stories which may have been planted by the vendors who fail to get orders. The aim of such vendors is to get the deal aborted and have the whole process started afresh. It is a highly widespread ploy in the world arms market, used effectively to sow seeds of doubts regarding the quality of selected equipment. It also raises suspicions regarding the earnestness of the entire evaluation process and hints at underhand dealings.

      Media has to be objective in its coverage and support officials who are above board and are doing a difficult task with conscientiousness. It should not let itself be used by competing vendors to settle scores. Adverse coverage carried by them, wittingly or unwittingly, deters decision making and delays procurements. No functionary wants his honesty and diligence questioned.

       The Road Ahead

      The basic problem lies in segmented approach towards the modernisation of the armed forces. Instead of adopting an integrated mission oriented approach, various organs of the Government tend to guard their own turf for narrow parochial interests. Due to a total lack of accountability, modernisation proposals suffer from gross neglect and bureaucratic delays. As seen above, blame for tardy pace of modernisation can be apportioned to all participating entities (including the services), albeit in varying degrees.

      No one assigns any importance to speedy conclusion of a deal except the service concerned and the user directorate. It is sad to see senior service officers pleading with and humouring MoD officials to get their cases progressed. They do rounds of offices carrying loads of files to answer queries, howsoever irrelevant and infructuous they may be. It is a very frustrating experience for many. Some service officers openly state that fighting bureaucratic quagmire is by far the most demanding activity they are required to undertake in the interest of their service.

      One can have the best of organisations and ideal procedures in place but ultimately any organisation or procedure is as good as the people who work it. Therefore, the foremost requirement is to select acquisition staff diligently. No reforms can yield the desired results unless and until the implementing functionaries are equipped to translate good intentions into tangible actions on ground. Their lack of competence manifests itself in their reluctance to take decisions and for a propensity to involve maximum number of people.

      It has generally been accepted the world over that an efficient acquisition work force can not only expedite procurements but also affect a saving of up to 15 percent of the capital expenditure in initial purchase price and associated life-cycle costs.

      A system should be put in place to obviate requirement of repeated approvals at different stages of acquisition. Sanction of the designated approving authorities should be taken for the comprehensive proposal to preclude the necessity of repeated reference to them. Once approval of DAC is accorded, ‘acceptance of necessity’, ‘quantity vetting’ and finalisation of RFP should be carried out simultaneously to compress time frame.

      The new defence procurement procedure is well intended and addresses most of the critical issues, but its implementation needs streamlining. A number of steps can be taken within the existing structures and procedures to reduce delays considerably. Old mindsets and narrow prejudices must be replaced by collegiate functioning with individual accountability duly spelt out. Finally, evolution of well-analysed long-term plans and their diligent adherence are absolutely essential for continuity.

       Play Safe Syndrome Rules Defence Procurements

      It is a well accepted dictum in the corridors of MoD that not taking a decision is far less risky than taking one. Therefore, it is considered judicious to defer decision making. Additionally, it also helps in masking functionaries’ own incompetence and inadequacies, as one has to be knowledgeable to decide one way or the other.

      Some of the common ploys used are as follows:-

       The simplest is to seek comments from the maximum number of people; howsoever remotely they may be connected with the case. In common jargon it is called ‘putting a case in orbit’, implying thereby that the case would take months before it returns to the sender’s table. At that stage the case can easily be returned to the initiating directorate to incorporate fresh inputs as considerable time would have elapsed since previous initiation.

       Keep the case pending till pressure becomes unbearable and then send it back under the specious plea of needing some innocuous information. Additional information is sought in a piecemeal manner to prolong the process. Such antics can carry on endlessly with enormous resultant delays.

       Ask the initiator of the case to link all previous files relating to equipment of same genre even remotely connected with the current case. Thereafter, an innocuous difference between earlier projections and the current proposal is dug out. It is highlighted to seek justification and reconciliation. The whole case gets side-tracked with non-issues acquiring predominance. Another way is to refer the case to the higher authorities at every stage as ‘a matter of abundant caution’. There have been instances of a procurement case being put up to the Cabinet Committee for Security (CCS) at five different occasions, whereas a single reference for comprehensive sanction could have saved months, if not years. Every single reference to CCS can take up to 6 months due to its preoccupation with more pressing national security concerns. Even if CCS approves a detailed proposal for a package, procurement case for each separate item is again referred to it in a piece-meal manner.

       Ordeals of Decision Making

      During the Kargil conflict, stocks of a particular type of vital ammunition were running frightfully low. A delegation was rushed to the supplier nation to obtain additional supplies urgently. The said nation willingly offered what it had in its inventory. Unfortunately, the latest lot available was six years old. As the total shelf life of the ammunition was ten years, it meant that the said lot had a residual shelf life of only four years.

      The delegation was in acute dilemma. It was aware of the criticality of the ammunition and dreaded the thought of own troops running short of it if the conflict continued for some more days. On the other hand, it was wary of buying ammunition with partial shelf life, as it would certainly have invited adverse comments if the conflict ceased before the ammunition arrived in India. The delegation would have been blamed for buying outdated ammunition and aspersions cast on its diligence leading to enquiries. It was a predicament that offered no easy choice.

      It is a true incidence and amply demonstrates the perils of decision making in defence procurements. It is very difficult to justify in retrospect decisions taken in ‘good faith’ at a particular point in time under certain circumstances.

Shooting in the Foot Services Style

      Every organisation has its archetypal character and traits, some positive and some negative. The services are no exception. They have numerous good attributes but one major failing is their penchant for making a change