In what is probably the biggest IT deals in the domestic market currently, Indian Air Force?s e-maintenance project will see India?s top three IT players?TCS, Infosys Technologies and Wipro Technologies?slug it out among themselves to grab the deal, pegged to be worth Rs 2,500 crore.

According to sources close to the development, the Indian Air Force (IAF) has short-listed eight IT companies to give ?proof of concept? for the ambitious 10-year project, which will involve configuration management, fleet planning and management, maintenance repair and overhaul along with supply chain management of its entire fleet of aircraft, radars, missiles and other equipment.

Apart from country?s top three IT vendors, four other companies which have qualified the third round are BAeHAL (a joint venture between UK-based BAE Systems and Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd), Mahindra Satyam, HCL Technologies, L&T Infotech and CMC Ltd. While most of the vendors have bid along with Germany-based software company SAP, BAeHAL is offering a portfolio of products under IFS India. Infosys has bid along with IBM?s software product Maximo.

The project will involve 170 bases, 550 squadrons and 70,000 users and is aimed at increasing the war readiness of the nation through increased uptime of fleet available at IAF. It will include e-maintenance solution for the aircraft fleet, guided weapon systems, air defence radars, safety equipment, communication systems, ground support equipment, armaments and mechanical transport.

While 14 top IT players had submitted expression of interest (EoI) for the project, ten offered technical and commercial bids. After evaluation of the bids, the short-listed vendors will be asked to give a “proof of concept” where they will demonstrate their solution through a pre-defined script.

Explaining the project, retired Air Marshal PS Ahluwalia told FE that IAF handles different types of aircraft, radars, missiles and various other equipment and maintaining electronic records would avoid wastage of the ground inventory. ?If you link up the systems, it will be easy to maintain records of inventory, which is running out and what part needs to be serviced and when?. He added that the project, once implemented would ensure good inventory management, while ensuring that the issue of safety is addressed quickly.

Incidentally, Ahluwalia was commanding the Western Air Command, which was the first to run the trial of the e-maintenance project. The project will involve development of the software for IAF, its implementation and also its modification to suit the requirements of the Air Force. The successful bidder will also provide support and maintenance for a period of 10 years.