Indian Air Force 197 Light Helicopter Contract: Bell Withdraws Bid Citing Offsets Clause

Indian Air Force 197 Light Helicopter Contract: Bell Withdraws Bid Citing Offsets Clause (NSI News Source Info) November 14, 2008: After withdrawing its bid from the Indian Air Force's (IAF) attack helicopter deal, US chopper manufacturer Bell has now backed off from the contest for 197 light utility helicopters (LUHs). "We are not participating in the competition as our senior management felt it was not feasible for the company to comply with the offsets clause in the tender documents," a Bell Helicopters India Incorporated official said today.The decision of Bell comes within a month of it exiting the attack helicopter bids citing problems with procurement procedure. India had issued the request for proposals (RFP) for the 197 LUHs this July. Bell claimed the Indian Defence Ministry had put down clauses under which the original equipment manufacturer winning the contract was bound to plough back 50 per cent of the deal amount to India as offsets, which was hard for them to comply with.In fact, India was forced to issue a fresh tender for its LUH requirements, after cancelling the original RFP in December last following objections raised by Bell over rejection of its bids in favour of French major Eurocopter's AS-355 'Fennec'.Bell and Eurocopter were the two final contenders and India had decided to put its weight with 'Fennec' after technical evaluation.