Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) organized a Global Business Partners’ Meet of its vendors here on Saturday to apprise them of recent changes within HAL to speed up the process of procurement and make suppliers aware of various procedures, statutory requirements and adherence to Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) guidelines.
Eighty three vendors, 26 foreign and 57 from India, attended the day-long session. In his inaugural address, Mr. R.K. Tyagi, Chairman of HAL stressed on the importance of Integrity pact and introduction of e-Procurement initiated by the Company. He called upon the vendors to play a wider role as HAL’s partner in progress. “We need to think beyond our relationship as purchaser and supplier”, he added.

Integrity Pact is a tool to curtail corruption and promote fair practices in each and every large value transaction. Pre-contract Integrity Pact is a binding agreement between HAL and bidders for a specific contract in which the parties promise that they will not resort to any corrupt practices in any stage of the contract. HAL has adopted and implemented the Integrity Pact with vendors wherever the estimated value of each contract exceeds Rs. 20 crores ($3.57 Million)

Similarly, e-Procurement is an automated web-based procurement process, utilizing the benefits of information technology across the whole gamut of transaction from indent creation to payment, reducing the corruption and inefficiency to a bare minimum. Presently every tender with estimated value of Rs. 10 lakhs (about $17,800) and above has to take the e-route. Efforts are being made to reduce this threshold to Rupees five lakhs (about $8,900)

Dr A K Mishra, Director (Finance) in his welcome address, touched upon various steps taken by HAL to ensure transparency in business transactions. “Our vendors play a critical role in making the supply chain effective and robust”, he said.