Inaugurating a three-day International Conference on Defence Finance & Economics, the defence minister called for devising innovative methods to maximise the value of money spent on the security needs of the country.
“There would be some rare cases when it may not be possible to go for an open tender process. Such instances should come under exceptions, and exceptions should not become the rule,” he pointed out.
Lapses in the procurement processes, bureaucracy, and a slew of tortuous procurement manuals running into hundreds of pages were largely behind these enduring delays.