The army awarded contracts worth NT$974.63 million (US$31.05 million) for next-generation sniper rifles without conducting initial operational tests as required, the National Audit Office said in this year’s general budget evaluation report.
In 2019, the Ministry of National Defense authorized the army to acquire new types of sniper rifles and optical devices to replace the equipment in service, which was about to become obsolete, the office said in the report published on Thursday.
The initiative called for a 7.62mm semi-automatic light sniper system, 7.62mm bolt-action light sniper system and 12.7mm heavy sniper system to be developed and acquired from 2019 to last year, the report said.
Photo: Taipei Times file
Under the ministry’s budget plan, the contracts were to be awarded only after each system’s initial operational capabilities were tested, it said.
However, the army awarded the contracts to the Armaments Bureau’s 205th Arsenal in May 2020, before any of the rifles had completed initial operational tests, the report said.
Records showed that the light sniper rifles did not pass the tests until March 2021, while the heavy sniper rifles had not passed the tests by the time the report was written on April 21, it said.
Because the testing protocols were circumvented, the initial delivery date for the semi-automatic light sniper rifles was delayed from Dec. 10 last year to Nov. 30 this year, the report said.
The delivery of the heavy sniper rifles was delayed indefinitely, while the delivery of their dedicated optical scope was delayed until last month, it said.
Out of the projects’ original budget, NT$864.67 million, or 88.7 percent, remained unspent, the office said, urging the ministry to improve its project management practices.
The ministry said the army has been told to reform its protocols for awarding contracts and would use the sniper rifle program as an expample of project management practices that must be avoided.
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