Post govt nod, Typhoon, Rafale lock target on mega deal

New Delhi: India moved one step ahead towards finalising the M-MRCA deal with the Defence Ministry today paving the way for opening the commercial bids of two shortlisted vendors by approving their offset proposals. After the bids are opened, the Defence Ministry will be able to determine the lowest bidder in the deal for 126 Medium-Multi Role Combat Aircraft (M-MRCA) and decide who will ultimately get the contract described as the ‘mother of all deals’. At a meeting chaired by Defence Minister A K Antony, the Defence Acquisition Council (DAC) cleared the offset evaluation report of Dassault Rafale and Eurofighter Typhoon, the two remaining contenders, Defence Ministry officials said in New Delhi.[caption id=“attachment_101919” align=“alignleft” width=“380” caption=“A Typhoon Eurofighter lands at the Farnborough Airshow on 20 July 2010 in Farnborough, England. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images”]  [/caption] “All the spade work for the opening of bids have been completed. Opening of the bids will be done in a few days in the presence of the two vendors,” they said. As per the offset clause, foreign vendors bagging deals worth over Rs 300 crore are supposed to invest back 30 percent of the worth of the contract in Indian defence industry. In M-MRCA, the vendors will have to invest 50 percent of the worth of the deal. “No date has been specified for opening of the bids but it will happen soon,” the officials said. The offset proposals of the two companies were tabled before the DAC by Director General (Acquisition) Vivek Rae. Besides the Defence Minister, the two-hour meeting was attended by the three Service chiefs, the Defence Secretary, the Secretarym, Defence Production, the DG (Acquisition) and concerned joint secretaries in the Ministry. After the bids are opened to evaluate the lowest bidder, the proposal will move to the Finance Ministry for its approval and it will then go to the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) for final nod by the government. PTI