CAG report: NDA's Rafale deal 2.86 percent less expensive than UPA, fly away value same

New Delhi, Feb 13 The Comptroller and Auditor General in its report on Rafale deal said that the fighter aircraft under the Narendra Modi government is 2.86 percent cheaper than the deal negotiated by the past UPA government. The CAG report also states that the fly away cost of the aircraft deal negotiated by both the governments is the equivalent.

CAG said that compared to the 126 aircraft deal negotiated by the UPA government, India managed to save 17.08 percent for India-Specific Enhancements in the 36 Rafale contract of the Modi government.

The CAG said that vendor response to the solicitation of offers was low, which limited challenge. It also included that the objectivity, equity and consistency of technical assessment process was not evident in the technical evaluation report.

It also said that it made troubles during technical and price evaluation which affected the integrity of competitive tendering.

In the audit note, the delay in acquisition process has been blamed on the Indian Air Force which reportedly did not define the Air Staff Qualitative Requirements (ASQR) properly due to which none of the vendors could fully meet the ASQRs. ASQRs were likewise changed over and again during the procurement process, the report adds.

The report states that the schedule of the first 18 Rafale aircraft is better than the one proposed in the 126 aircraft deal, by five months.

The CAG report was tabled in Rajya Sabha on the last day of the Budget session on Wednesday.