In its January 2016 decision in Union of India v. HBL Nife Power Systems Ltd., the Supreme Court of India rejected a challenge to a restricted tendering process run by the government for the acquisition of navy submarine batteries. A supplier challenged the invitational tendering process, arguing that it should have the opportunity to bid on the contract. The court disagreed, noting that defence department rules distinguished between common use items that are subject to open tendering and mission-critical strategic defence products that can only be procured from preregistered firms. The court found that the batteries fell into the latter category as the sole power source for the submarines.
