Hello,

When defence procurement makes news, it is usually because of a major deal or controversy. Think Rafale.

But while investigating much smaller, routine Army tenders, I found something happening far away from that scrutiny: four entities linked to one family illegally bidding for defence contracts. And the Army hasn’t caught it.

I am Shubhangi Derhgawen, and for The Reporters’ Collective, I went through around 420 Army tenders to investigate the procurement of two items: Hesco bastions, sand-filled barriers used to build defensive walls, and UG FSC bunkers, steel shelters installed underground bunkers to protect troops.

From those hundreds of tenders, we identified 33 in which companies linked through family, ownership and financial ties illegally bid against one another.

At least one of these companies won 18 of those 33 tenders, securing contracts worth crores.

And while reporting the story, we realised the pattern had not stopped.

Our preliminary investigation had begun with Hesco bastions. We then expanded our search to UG FSC bunkers and found more tenders showing the same bidding pattern.

Four tenders for the UG FSC Bunkers are still underway. The contracts have not yet been awarded, but the related entities are the only bidders left in the financial evaluation stage. This means the Army is effectively choosing the lowest bidder from among related companies. Whichever one quotes the lowest price, the contract is set to remain within the same family-linked network.

These relationships were not buried deep. Much of the evidence was sitting in the companies’ own documents, available to anyone evaluating the bids.

We found it.

The Army’s procurement process didn’t.

Read the full investigation here: One Family Used Four Fronts to Win Crores in Army Contracts

Investigations like this take time, resources and access. Going through more than 420 tenders to find a pattern across 33 of them is exactly the kind of work your support makes possible.

If you value what The Reporters’ Collective does, consider donating today.

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Warm regards,
Shubhangi Derhgawen
The Reporters’ Collective

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One Family’s Play to Win Defence Contracts

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