Army Chief Chhatraman Singh Gurung called an emergency meeting of the Principal Staff Officers (PSO) on Sunday and took the decision to buy the goods through open bidding by canceling the previous process.[break]
According to sources at the army headquarters, the NA decision will be formally finalized after a meeting with the ministry of defense on Monday. The NA officials have also planned to consult Public Procurement Monitoring Office on Monday. The open bidding process will begin with the formal cancellation of the direct procurement process.
PSO meetings are often called by the army chief if the national army has to take a crucial policy decision.
"I want to conduct every transaction in a transparent manner. We need to cancel this direct-buying process and buy the goods through competitive bidding," a general quoted Gurung as saying at the meeting.
The army chief repeatedly emphasized the need for buying goods through competitive process. Then, Narendra Rawal, director of NA´s Quarter Master General´s Office, clarified that they just abided by the decision of the ministry of defense that prepared all the documents for the purpose and forwarded it to the NA and ordered the army officials to buy the goods directly from the supplier.
Some of the generals expressed serious concerns over the procurement controversy as it is likely to tarnish the army´s image. "Many generals at the meeting questioned why the NA that never failed to follow the legal procedures in the past worked under political pressure this time around," said a general.
The NA department had forwarded the proposal to procure milk from Hetauda Dairy and biscuits from Pashupati Biscuit Pvt Ltd to the army chief´s secretariat for approval last week.
Lieutenant generals Gaurav Shamsher Rana, Nepal Bhusan Chand, Major generals BA Kumar Sharma, Daman Ghale, Dambar Gurung, Ram Gurung, Netra Bahadur Thapa, Narendra Rawal, Nar Bahadur Kadel and Brigadier General Ramindra Chhetri, among other department chiefs, were present at the meeting.
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