j{kk ea=ky;

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

la;qDr lsok xkbM

JOINT SERVICES GUIDE

ON

COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF (COTS)

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

JSG 0206 : 2005

(Reaffirmed 2013)

Ekkudhdj.k funs'kky;
j{kk mRiknu foÒkx
j{kk ea=ky;
,p CykWd] fuekZ.k Hkou Mkd?kj
ubZ fnYyh - 110 011

DIRECTORATE OF STANDARDISATION
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, ‘H’ BLOCK
NIRMAN BHAWAN PO
NEW DELHI – 110 011
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

j{kk ea=ky;
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

la;qDr lsok xkbM

JOINT SERVICES GUIDE

ON

COMMERCIAL OFF THE SHELF (COTS)

ELECTRICAL EQUIPMENT

Ekkudhdj.k funs'kky;
j{kk mRiknu foÒkx
j{kk ea=ky;
,p CykWd] fuekZ.k Hkou Mkd?kj
ubZ fnYyh - 110 011

DIRECTORATE OF STANDARDISATION
DEPARTMENT OF DEFENCE PRODUCTION
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE, ‘H’ BLOCK
NIRMAN BHAWAN PO
NEW DELHI – 110 011
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

LIST OF MEMBERS ASSOCIATED WITH FORMULATION OF THIS STANDARD

1. This Joint Service Guide has been approved by Cmde B. Siva Kumar, PDEE,
Chairman Electrical Standardisation Sub Committee.

2. The following members / agencies have been consulted in approving the document.

Sl. Name & Designation Organisation

No.
(a) Cdr DR Sharma, Jt Dir / E & I DGAQA
(b) Shri YA Kambali, JAG (NFSG) CQA (L) / DGQA, Bangalore
(c) Capt S. Sukumar, JD (L) DQA (N) / DGQA
(d) Cdr Jasvinder Singh, JD DEE / NHQ
(e) Cmde SR Sharma, PDWE DWE / NHQ
(f) Cdr Maneesh Singh, JDLS DLS / NHQ
(g) Cdr N. Bhatia , Principal member DQA (WP), New Delhi
(h) Shri MK Roy, Sc ‘D’ R & DE (Engrs), Pune
(j) Shri KM Madhusudhanan, SSO - II CQA (EE), Pune
(k) Shri HR Meena, Dy. Dir. Eqpt Management (STD), MGO Branch,
New Delhi
(l) Shri KPM Bhat, Sc ‘G’ LRDE, Bangalore
(m) Gp Capt A Bhattacharyya, Dir ES DES, Air HQ, New Delhi
(n) Maj Naveen Siddhu, TSO - I HQ. TGEME, New Delhi
(o) Dr. Ram Varma, ACE Director of Utility, E - in - C’s Branch,
offg Jt DGW (U) New Delhi
(p) Col D S Loomba, Dir (WE - 6) DGWE - 6 / Army HQ
(q) Col Vivek Matta, Dir OS (L & E) DGOS (OS - 17B)
(r) Shri V. Ravi Chandran Addl GM BEL, Bangalore
(s) Shri DAV Satyanarayan, NSO Service STD Cell (Navy)
(t) Wg Cdr R Muralidhar JD TETTRA Service STD Cell (IAF)
(u) Col Patwal, OIC and JD DSC, Badarpur
(v) Lt Col S Tripathi DSC, Pune
(w) Col GVB Sai Sankar DSC, Bangalore
(x) Shri Deendayal Singh, AE(QA) CQA (R)
(y) Shri VK Chhabra, Staff Capt. Directorate of Standardisation

- ii -
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

RECORD OF AMENDMENTS

Amendment Amendment Authority Amended by Signature

No. Date pertains to : Name & Appointment &
Sl. No. / (IN BLOCK LETTERS) Date
Para No. /
Column No.
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

Sl. CONTENTS Page No.

No.

0. FOREWORD 1

1. INTRODUCTION : COTS PROCUREMENT PHILOSOPHY 3

2. ADVANTAGES OF COTS PROCUREMENT PHILOSOPHY 3

3. IMPLICATION OF COTS FOR DEFENCE APPLICATIONS 3

4. COTS PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS FOR 5

DEFENCE

5. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT 8

- iv -
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

0. FOREWORD

0.1 This Joint Services Guide has been prepared by COTS Electrical Equipment Working
Group under Electrical Standardisation Sub - Committee on the authority of the
Standardisation Committee, Ministry of Defence.

0.2 This guide has been approved by Ministry of Defence.

0.3 The objective of this Joint Services Guide is to provide guidelines for the users in
implementation of use of Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) equipments in the three
Services.

04. All technical enquiries regarding additions / alterations, corrections on this document
should be addressed to :-

The Director,
Directorate of Standardisation,
Ministry of Defence,
‘H’ Block, Nirman Bhawan PO,
New Delhi – 110 011.

0.5 Non - registered users can obtain the following on payment :-

(a) Copies of IS from : -

Bureau of Indian Standards,

Manak Bhawan,
9, Bahadur Shah Zafar Marg,
New Delhi – 110 002.
or
their regional / branch offices

(b) Copies of JSS / JSG from :-

The Director,
Directorate of Standardisation,
Standardisation Documents Centre,
Ministry of Defence,
Room No.05, ‘J’ Block, Nirman Bhawan PO,
New Delhi – 110 011.

-1-
JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

0.6 Indian Standard (IS) specifications are available free of cost for registered
users on :-

Directorate of Standardisation Website :-

www.defstand.gov.in
for registration visit our website.

0.7 This specification holds good only for the supply order for which it is issued.

0.8 Directorate of Standardisation Website – All the approved JSS / JSGs

are available on the Directorate of Standardisation Website www.defstand.gov.in
Defence organisations desirous of accessing a copy of this document are requested to
approach the Directorate of Standardisation for obtaining user id / password to access
the website.

-2-
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

1. INTRODUCTION : COTS PROCUREMENT PHILOSOPHY

1.1 COTS (Commercial - off - the - shelf) refers to components, equipments, systems etc.
which can be bought ready made from the manufacture’s virtual store shelf. COTS
procurement implies procuring something that already does the required job at a reasonable
cost. COTS procurement philosophy is thus different from the conventional defence
procurement methodology which involves formulating requirements, design, development,
evaluation of prototypes, bulk production and quality assurance to stringent defence
specifications before the item is made available to the user. COTS procurement in a sense
means that efforts is made to match the requirement (s) with the capabilities of something
that already exists in the market and procure the same rather than go in for ‘design – develop
- manufacture’ cycle.

2. ADVANTAGES OF COTS PROCUREMENT PHILOSOPHY

2.1 Reduced Cycle Time : This is an obvious advantage as the equipment readily
available is procured and fielded as against the conventional ‘design - develop - manufacture’
which take considerably longer time.

2.2 Reduction in Costs : Costs involved in design, development, prototype

evaluation and creation of special manufacturing infrastructure do not get added to the cost of
the equipment and the equipment is available for procurement at ‘market rate’. Further, in a
competitive market with more than one manufacturer offering his equipment, the cost is
further likely to come down.

2.3 Technology Availability : Commercial market is ‘technology driven’ COTS

equipments keep in pace with the advancements in technology and hence equipment with
state - of - the - art technology become available for defence applications.

2.4 Non - Dependence on Limited Sources : Use of MIL - grade or special grade
components / hardware would necessarily mean dependence on limited sources / foreign
sources. These sources may close down their production lines or components may become
non - available to govt. policies or there may be constraints of foreign exchange. COTS
procurement philosophy obviates such difficulties.

3. IMPLICATION OF COTS FOR DEFENCE APPLICATIONS

3.1 The advantages that look obvious when COTS procurement is discussed do have
inherent limitations or problems which need to be looked into.

3.2 The advantage of reduced cycle time may not be apparent when COTS items do not
fully meet the operational requirements. COTS items cannot be fielded in such cases as
operational requirements are likely to be compromised. While application-specific
development of items may not be warranted, it may still become necessary to implement
certain modifications / improvements in COTS items to make them meet operational
requirements. Such ‘Value - add - on’ requirements to COTS items may take considerably
longer time and effort as the existing design needs to be changed. The advantage of reduced
cycle time is thus lost in such cases of ‘Value - add - on’ to COTS items.

-3-
JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

3.3 While reduction in costs of procurement are too obvious. It is also necessary to
understand that such reduction in costs are achieved by the manufacturers by going - in for
cheapest available components in the market which just ‘do - the - job’. There is no control
on the use of such components as in the case of ruggedised equipments specially developed
for defence applications where the components are thoroughly tested / screened before they
are cleared for use in the equipment. The concept of L - 1 procurement may thus be exploited
by unscrupulous manufacturers.

3.4 While technology availability is a distinct advantage, this may lead to logistics
problems in defence scenario. The life of equipment is normally designated to be around 10
to 15 years while the technology advancements may lead to situations where COTS
equipments become technologically out - dated within 2 to 3 years. COTS equipments may
have to be phased - out to keep pace with the technological advancements and given the
defence procurement procedures, this may not be easy.

3.5 Support documentation for COTS equipments is a distinct problem. While ruggedised
equipments for defence applications are supplied with all the documents as per JSG 0251 - 01
such documentation cannot be insisted upon from COTS manufacturer. The COTS
manufacturer may not have the infrastructure to generate the necessary documentation and
may also not be willing to invest time and effort to produce such detailed documentation.
Deficiencies in the documentation for COTS equipments will have a negative impact on the
AHSP activities.

3.6 COTS products are not necessarily open. That is, they do not necessarily conform to
any recognised interface standards. Thus, it is possible that using COTS product commits the
user to proprietary interfaces and solutions that are not common with any other product,
component or system. The disadvantages of this approach become apparent for defence
systems. While the life designated for defence systems is 10 to 15 years, COTS product may
get upgraded / technologically updated every 6 to 12 months and new technology appears on
the scene about every 18 to 24 months. With proprietary interfaces, the ability to migrate cost
- effectively to other products and other technologies in the future will have been lost. COTS
Electrical Equipment may be warranted minimum for a period of 6 months from the date of
supply or commissioning which ever is later is recommended.

3.7 With COTS procurement, there is a need to lay - down the procedure for post -
procurement maintenance of the equipments. While the ruggedised equipments are supported
by detailed documentation as well as an established procedure for post - procurement
maintenance, the same cannot be made applicable to COTS equipment. Product maintenance
by the user cannot be guaranteed over a longer period due to constant fluctuations in the
technology. The manufacturer may stop supporting the product or goes out of business
altogether. In any case, the equipment cannot be phased out to keep pace with the fluctuations
of the technology and needs to be maintained for a longer duration. This calls a different
maintenance and spare procurement policy for COTS equipments / products.

-4-
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

4. COTS PROCUREMENT OF ELECTRICAL SYSTEMS FOR DEFENCE

4.1 Identification of Equipments / Systems for COTS Procurement : Sponsoring

Directorate or Coordinating Directorate of the Service should identify equipments / systems
that can be procured on COTS philosophy. There are significant number of areas, particularly
in battle field related defence unique applications where it is difficult to understand as to how
COTS systems and services alone will meet the requirements. The task is therefore to identify
COTS electrical systems which do not call for any compromise on mission - critical
requirements.

4.2 Formulation of Joint Services Qualitative Requirements for COTS Electrical

Systems : Sponsoring Directorate or Coordinating Directorate shall formulate Qualitative
requirements for electrical systems identified for COTS procurement Care should be
exercised while specifying the qualitative requirements as these have to match the technology
available for commercial products and systems. For example operating temperature
requirements for ruggedised Generating Sets are from – 20° C to + 55° C while the
commercial Generating Sets are not normally designed to meet such severities of use. The
Qualitative requirements specify an operating temperature of 0° C to 45° C. Similarly other
climatic and dynamic requirements as normally applicable to ruggedised systems (as per JSS
55555) cannot be part of Qualitative requirements for commercial electrical systems.

4.2.1 There can however be instances that off - the - shelf commercial electrical systems
may not meet the operational requirements fully. While going - in for ruggedised electrical
systems can be one option in such cases, the advantages of COTS electrical systems may far
out-weigh the considerations related to fielding of ruggedised electrical systems. In such
cases there would be a need to include additional qualitative requirements for commercial
electrical systems. These additional requirements may relate to climatic and dynamic features
(JSS 55555 Table 3.3.2 specifies climatic and dynamic requirements for commercial
grade - ruggedised equipments) or may even relate to functional requirements. Such
additional requirements would mean implementing improvements / modifications to the
existing features of the commercial electrical systems. Hence adequate caution should be
exercised while including the additional features in the qualitative requirements so that
minimal ‘value - add - on’ to the existing design features would be required else the
advantages of opting for commercially available equipments would be lost. In other words, a
balance should be maintained so that the essential requirements are still met retaining the
advantages of COTS procurement.

4.2.2 The draft Joint Services Qualitative Requirements (JSQR) shall then be discussed by
the concerned Inter Services Working Group formed under Joint Services Equipment Policy
Committee (JSEPC). The discussions on the qualitative requirements contained in the JSQR
shall focus on the following issues

(a) QR meet the desired objectives and no compromise on essential features.

(b) QR acceptable to three Services

(c) Requirements of documents specified or not.

-5-
JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

(d) Availability of the off - the - shelf commercial electrical system matching the
QR.

(e) Viability of matching the additional features, if any, which are not normally
found in the off - the - shelf commercial electrical systems with the technology
available in the market.

(f) Implications in terms of cost, time frame for development vis – à - vis the
deployment requirements for the value-add-on feature in the commercial systems.

4.2.3 The JSQR for the COTS electrical system shall then be finalized by the concerned
ISWG.

4.3 Formulation of JSS for COTS Electrical Systems

4.3.1 Adoption of BIS Standards as JSS : If the COTS electrical equipment is being
marketed against IS specification, the IS specification shall be adopted as JSS provided all
the essential requirements contained in JSQR are reflected in the IS specification with the
approval of the ISWG (Inter Services Working Group).

4.3.2 Adoption of Standards other than BIS as JSS : In cases where there is no BIS
standard for the COTS electrical equipment and conformance to any other recognised
standard is claimed by the manufacturer of the COTS electrical equipment, the standard shall
be discussed in the ISWG meeting and the standard shall either be adopted as JSS or a JSS
prepared based on the standard.

4.3.3 Preparation of JSS : In cases where there is no BIS standard or any other
recognised standard, preparation of JSS for the COTS electrical equipment based on the
JSQR approved by the ISWG shall be taken up. JSS shall lay down tests and test procedures
which shall ensure conformance to the requirements contained in the JSQR. QR procedures
namely tests applicable for evaluation / approval, bulk acceptance, sampling procedures and
acceptance / rejection criteria shall be unambiguously defined. Climatic and dynamic tests to
ensure the performance of the equipment under the conditions of use as specific in JSQR
shall also be laid down in the JSS. Reference to climatic and dynamic test as specified for
commercial equipments in JSS 55555 may be made. However, caution should be exercised
while specifying the test, test procedures and test requirements so as to match these
requirements with the COTS technology. It shall be possible to procure COTS equipment
against the JSS either off - the - shelf or with minimal ‘value - add - on’ features. JSS shall
also specify the supporting documentation to be supplied by the manufacturer with the
equipments.

-6-
 JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

4.4 Formulation of QA Procedures for COTS Electrical Equipments : QA Authority

shall formulate the QA procedures for the COTS electrical equipment based on the governing
specification. Requirements of prototype evaluation shall be specified by the Quality
Assurance Authority. In cases where proto evaluation is desirable detailed procedures for
proto evaluation namely number of samples required for proto evaluation, sub - assembly
checks by the concerned QA agencies, preliminary checks by board of officers (which may
consists of reps. from users, maintenance agency), requirement of maintenance evaluation
trails (MET) shall be formulate by QA authority. After successful evaluation of the proto
types, bulk QA of the equipment shall be taken up by the Regional Quality Assurance agency
in accordance with the Quality Assurance Test Schedules issued by the QA authority.

4.5 Segregation of COTS Equipments from Ruggedised Equipments : COTS

electrical equipments do not meet the climatic and dynamic requirements as applicable to
ruggedised equipments and hence cannot be fielded in all the terrains as applicable to
ruggedised equipments. For example high altitude requirements specified for ruggedised
Generating Set is 4000 meters while 1000 meters is specified for COTS Gen Set. Similarly,
the operating temperature requirements for ruggedised Gen Set is - 20° C to + 55° C while
the operating temperature for COTS Gen Set is 0° C to + 45° C. It is therefore essential that
identification labels shall be affixed on the COTS equipment to distinguish them from the
ruggedised equipments, particularly if both ruggedised and commercial versions are procured
for the same equipment as in the case of Generating Sets. A red label indicating that the
equipment shall not be used above specified operational limits shall be affixed on the COTS
equipments (For example, a metallic plate is affixed on the COTS Gen Sets specifying that
the Gen set shall be operated to its rated capacity at an altitude of 1000 metres max and at
temperature 0° C to + 45 °C and 95 % RH).

4.6 Storage and Issue : Procedures for stocking and issue of COTS electrical
equipments shall be laid down by Ordnance authorities. If both versions namely ruggedised
and commercial are procured for a particular class of equipment, it shall be ensured that
COTS equipments are issued only to those users whose requirements match with those
applicable for COTS electrical equipments.

4.7 Maintenance : Maintenance procedures for COTS equipments shall be

documented by the Maintenance Authority. COTS equipments have a shorter life (as
compared to ruggedised equipments) due to faster changes in the technology. While the
service life of ruggedised equipments is normally 10 to 15 years, COTS equipment may
become obsolete sooner due to advancements in the technology. As the technology advances,
maintenance support for the already procured COTS equipments in terms of spares, technical
support from the manufacturer may not be readily available. The procurement of spares for
COTS equipment shall therefore be planned keeping the long time requirements of the COTS
equipments in mind. Maintenance training shall also be planned. There is a need to draw up a
comprehensive procedure for maintenance of COTS equipments as the COTS equipments
cannot be discarded at the rate of technology changes.

-7-
JSG 0206 : 2005
(Reaffirmed 2013)

5. SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT

5.1 Any suggestion for improvement of this standard may please be forwarded to :-

The Director,
Directorate of Standardisation,
Ministry of Defence,
‘H’ Block, Nirman Bhawan PO,
New Delhi – 110 011.

-8-