Indian Navy’s Request for Proposal: India’s ministry of defence has kickstarted the process for acquiring ships for Indian Navy and coast guard. It has issued request for proposal (RFP) for supplying ships amounting to Rs 15,000 crore. The Request for Proposal for 6 next generation missile vessels (NGMVs) has been issued to seven shipyards. And RFPs for 8 fast patrol vessels (FPVs) and 12 air cushion vehicles (ACVs) and 8 missile-cum-ammunition barges have been issued to shortlisted Indian shipyards.
The RFP for air cushion vehicls (ACVs) also includes the initial requirement for 6 ACVs for the Indian Army.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government places a lot of emphasis on strengthening India’s defence preparedness as the country faces hostile neighbours. The proposal to buy ships worth Rs 15,000 crore will be followed by other orders as the ministry of defence expects higher allocation in union budget 2019-20 to be presented by finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman on July 5.
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“In addition to the above, a few more RFPs for more shipbuilding projects are likely to be issued in the next few months,” said the ministry of defence in a statement.
India’s defence budget is over Rs 3 lakh crore and nearly one third of it or Rs 1 lakh crore is earmarked for the capital acquisition.
Details of Request for Proposals (RFPs)
In order to make the process of qualifying the shipyards for the issue of RFPs for shipbuilding projects of various ships and craft of the Navy and the Coast Guard more objective and to encourage participation by a larger number of Indian shipyards, an exercise was undertaken by the Ministry along with Indian Navy and Coast Guard.
This led to rationalisation of guidelines for capacity assessment of shipyards that have been promulgated recently. Rationalisation and promulgation of financial selection criteria have paved the way for issue of RFPs for a large number of shipbuilding projects that have been pending.
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In a significant move to encourage smaller shipyards, participation in the projects with the anticipated annual outflow of less than Rs 75 crore has been restricted to smaller shipyards having an average annual turnover less than Rs 500 crore.
Air Cushion Vehicles (ACVs)
In addition to a wide application in military and coastal surveillance, Air Cushion Vehicles have substantial potential in the commercial sector like civil transportation, disaster management and tourism.
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Considering the need for absorbing the relevant design and construction technology for building these craft in India at affordable cost, a feature to encourage joint development of design by Indian Shipyards in collaboration with a foreign design house of ACVs or by sourcing the design for construction of ACVs with substantial Indian content has been included in the RFP for ACVs.
