New Delhi, Mar 13: Various defence purchases including special clothing and mountaineering equipment for use in high-altitude Siachen and bullet proof vehicles by the army have come under audit attack.

The procurement of 3.5 lakh blankets from private firms for use by troops in winter 2005-06 was also criticised by the audit which found inefficient planning and poor procurement management leading to avoidable expenditure and inconvenience to soldiers, sources in the Defence Ministry said.

The audit covered nearly dozen contracts relating to procurement between 2002 and 2007 involving critical items like down-feather jackets, trousers, sleeping bags and rucksacks.

It found that there was absence of well-defined qualitative requirements leading to incorrect technical and commercial selection and arbitrary, in consistent and in effective quality assurance.

The audit is believed to have found that the weight of down jackets quoted in the offer by a firm was higher than stipulated in the request for proposal and yet the firm was selected on the basis of lowest price, sources said.

The entire consignment of nearly 8,000 jackets supplied by the firm was rejected by the Quality Assurance Directorate on the ground that they were overweight and higher oxygen number, they said.