The much-touted acquisition of the Prime Minister?s Office in the air has received a rap on the knuckles from the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), the country?s premier watchdog agency.
The deal, for acquisition of the three Boeing jets for VVIPs to fly around the world, was the one of the UPA government?s first big ticket deals soon after coming to power in 2005.
The CAG said that the deal was flawed as excessive payments had been made and competitors unfairly barred.
?The acquisition process for the VVIP aircraft deviated from laid down procedures and well recognised norms of propriety,? the CAG said in veiled reference that there could be undue tilt towards American aviation major Boeing for the contract.
CAG has said an ?inordinate delay? of eight years had been taken to finalise the contract whereby government ended up paying $19.7 million more than the contract amount.
Though the company?s commercial offer was valid for four months against the request for proposals stipulating 12 months, the CAG said ?same was condoned and the company allowed to extend the validity of its offer after opening of price bids with escalation of $19.7 million.?
The watchdog has also said though the government has shelled out a staggering sum of Rs 936.93 crore for the aircraft, the VVIPs won?t be able to use them to fly non-stop to places like London.
This would imply, the committee said, VVIPs would still make use of Air India aircraft for travel abroad on state visits leading to continued disruption of the commercial schedule of the airlines.
The first aircraft is scheduled for delivery in May while the last is expected in October.
The CAG findings come in the wake of government acquiring five Embraer aircraft for VVIP travel and converting eight Russian supplied AN-32 transport aircraft to VVIP travel configuration.
?The new aircraft contracted for is more than requirement of internal flight and falling short of the requirement of international flight,? a CAG statement said.
The new Boeing executive jets will have a range of 3,000 nautical miles, 1,500 miles short of what was proposed by the Indian Air Force (IAF).
Despite spending Rs 936.93 crore on new VVIP aircraft, CAG said, these will not be used for international travel necessitating continued use of Air India aircraft with adverse consequences.
Describing the purchase of the third executive jet as ?avoidable?, the CAG said it found no depth in the ministry of defence plea that it was needed as a standby saying that there was only a 27% utilisation of aircraft by the IAF VVIP squadron over a period of 1999-2007.
The watchdog said further supplies worth over $50 million to arm the three aircraft with missile deflector self protection suits were contracted without the ?benefit of competition?. In the sharp rap of the government, the CAG said Operational Requirements drawn by IAF were ?incomplete and tentative? and the process of shortlisting vendors and tests were contrary to requirements spelled out in the tenders.