Rajnath Singh releases new version of DRDO PM 2020
New Delhi: Aiming to give a fillip to “Atmanirbhar Bharat” initiative of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh on Tuesday released a new version of Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) Procurement Manual 2020 (PM-2020) here.
The development came in effort to encourage more participation of Indian industry, including Start-ups and Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in Defence Research & Development (R&D) for achieving “Atmanirbhar Bharat”.
Speaking on the occasion, Mr Singh said, “The new DRDO Procurement Manual will facilitate the indigenous Defence Industry by simplifying the processes and ensure their participation in design and development activities. The PM-2020 will help towards realising Prime Minister Modi’s dream of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat’.”
Raksha Mantri Shri @rajnathsingh has approved a new @DRDO_India Procurement Manual (PM-2020) to encourage more participation of the Indian Industry including startups and MSMEs in Research & Development activity and also to achieve the goal of self reliance in Defence.
— रक्षा मंत्री कार्यालय/ RMO India (@DefenceMinIndia) October 20, 2020
The minister appreciated the contribution of all the officials of DRDO and Finance wing in the Ministry of Defence for their contribution in bringing out the revised PM-2020.
The PM-2020, will facilitate faster execution of R&D projects and programmes.
The modified features the Manual will go a long way to facilitate participation of industry in various R&D projects, the defence ministry said.
“Bid security declaration option for earnest money deposit, increase of threshold limit for advance payment, placement of order on lowest bidder 2 (L2) in case L1 backs out are some of the salient features of the new manual, which will assist the industry for the speedy execution of projects,” it said.
Some more enabling measures of PM-2020 are exemption of bid security and performance security up to Rs 10 lakh, no negotiations for commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) items and services wherever price discovery is happening through market forces, the ministry said.
The new DRDO Procurement Manual will facilitate the indigenous Defence Industry by simplifying the processes and ensuring their participation in design and development activities.
— Rajnath Singh (@rajnathsingh) October 20, 2020
PM-2020 will help towards realising Prime Minister Sh @narendramodi’s dream of #AtmaNirbharBharat https://t.co/jifikhO7YW
Performance security for service contracts is linked to the payment cycle instead of total contract value.
Procurement of stores from development partners, safeguarding of free issue material through insurance cover instead of bank guarantee (BG) are other facilitating measures adopted to help the industry.
In the new PM-2020, the liquidated damage (LD) rate for development contracts has been reduced.
The delivery period (DP) extension process has been simplified for faster decision making.
Many of the internal procedures have been further simplified for faster engagement with industry.
It may be noted that the previous Procurement Manual of DRDO was last modified in 2016.
