Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

UK-Bristol: Aircraft or spacecraft equipment, trainers, simulators and associated parts.

Preliminary Questions
This notice is published by:
Directive 2009/81/EC

Section I: Contracting authority/entity

I.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Fast Air Support Team (FAST)
MOD Abbey Wood, Bristol, BS34 8JH, United Kingdom
Email: Ryan.Giblin101@mod.gov.uk
Main Address: www.gov.uk
NUTS Code: UKK11

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement

II.1.1) Title: Development for LIDSS DASS Drain and Fill.
Reference number: Not Provided

II.1.2) Main CPV code:
34740000 – Aircraft or spacecraft equipment, trainers, simulators and associated parts.

II.1.3) Type of contract: SERVICES

II.1.4) Short Description: Fully develop the COTS LIDSS to the MOD MOTS standard and complete testing of this demonstration unit.

II.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Value: 193,980
Currency: GBP

II.2) Description

II.2.2) Additional CPV codes:
Not provided

II.2.3) Place of performance:
UKF3 Lincolnshire

II.2.4) Description of the procurement:
Not provided

II.2.5) Award criteria
(Directive 2009/81/EC)

The most economically advantageous tender in terms of: Criterion – Weighting
Criterion: As stated in ITT / Weighting: 10

II.2.11) Information about options:
Options: No

II.2.13) Information about European Union funds:
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

II.2.14) Additional information:
Not provided

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1) Description

IV.1.1) Type of procedure: Negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice (in accordance with Article 28 of Directive 2009/81/EC)

IV.1.3) Information about framework agreement
The procurement involves the establishment of a framework agreement: No

IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

IV.2)Administrative Information

IV.2.1) Previous publication concerning this procedure:
Notice number in OJ S: Not provided

Section V: Award Of Contract/Concession

Award of Contract/Concession No: 1
Contract No: Not Provided Lot Number: Not Provided Title: Not Provided

V.2) Award of contract/concession

V.2.1) Date of contract award decision: 31/05/2017.

V.2.2) Information about tenders
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No .

V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire, No. 1:
Lightfoot Defence
Premier Business Centre, Newgate Lane, Fareham, United Kingdom
NUTS Code: UKJ35
The contractor/concessionaire will be an SME: No

V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession:
Initial estimated total value of the contract: Not Provided
Total value of the contract/lot/concession 193,980
Currency: GBP

V.2.5) Information about subcontracting:
The contract is likely to be subcontracted: No

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.3) Additional Information:
The Authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information (e.g. a Security Aspects Letter), the Authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions to reflect any changes in national law or government policy, whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies, or otherwise. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the Government Security Classification.

Advertising Regime OJEU:- This contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU),the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk
VI.4) Procedures for review

VI.4.1) Review Body
Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Fast Air Support Team (FAST)
Bristol, United Kingdom

V1.4.2) Body responsible for mediation procedures:
Not Provided .

VI.4.3) Review procedure
Not Provided

VI.4.4) Service from which information about the review procedure may be obtained
Not Provided

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice: 20/06/2017

Annex D3 – Defence and Security
Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union
Directive 2009/81/EC

1. Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without publication of a call for competition in accordance with Article 28 of Directive 2009/81/EC

No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to: Not Provided

The contract concerns research and development services other than those referred to in Article 13 of Directive 2009/81/EC: No

The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the directive: No

All tenders submitted in reply to a restricted procedure, negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice or competitive dialogue were irregular or unacceptable. Only those tenderers were included in the negotiations which have satisfied the qualitative selection criteria: No

The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason: absence of competition for technical reasons

The periods for the restricted procedure and the negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice are incompatible with the urgency resulting from a crisis: No

Extreme urgency brought about by events unforeseeable for the contracting authority and in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

Additional deliveries by the original supplier ordered under the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

New works/services, constituting a repetition of existing works/services and ordered in accordance with the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

Purchase of supplies or services on particularly advantageous terms: Not Provided

Contract related to the provision of air and maritime transport services for the armed forces of a Member State deployed or to be deployed abroad, under the strict conditions stated in the directive: No

3. Explanation

Please explain in a clear and comprehensive manner why the award of the contract without prior publication in the Official Journal of the European Union is
lawful, by stating the relevant facts and, as appropriate, the conclusions of law in accordance with the directive: (500 words maximum)
The FAST Project team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a contract to Lightfoot Defence Ltd (the contractor) for the procurement of the Defence Aid Sub System (DASS) Aerospace Ground Equipment (AGE) suite.
It is considered that this requirement can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011) for technical reasons.
The MOD intends to award a contract to Lightfoot who already have the prior knowledge, are security cleared on the aircraft, shown to have the specific know how, tools and means at its disposal along with having the specific interoperability and safety requirements. No other company would be able to provide a solution in the required timescales.

Current industry technology for refrigeration recovery and charge systems are based around commercially available refrigerants. As such any recovery system utilises off the shelf components that have been designed for use with common refrigerants. R245fa ECR Grade refrigerant is used only for military application and specifically only used for the DASS pod cooling. The use of standard refrigeration components would not work with this refrigerant. It needs to be used with components that can maintain the cleanliness standards (micron level), be compatible with the refrigerant and must be oil free for use in the DASS pod.

The Contractor has extensive experience, which has enabled them to produce a solution that accommodates these special requirements. There is nobody else in this field at the moment who is offering a completely oil less system. MOD believes that any other company attempting to offer a solution would have a steep learning curve to go through (time-consuming) before they were able to meet MOD’s requirement. It is also worth noting that there would be no guarantee that the solution would work. This is compounded by the fact that it is not a straight forward process draining and filling the DASS pod due to its complex manufacture, configuration and needle valve restrictions. We are therefore looking at a specialised requirement that has only been successfully achieved, to the accuracy required by the contractor.

The contractor is in a unique position as the only viable company to offer a low risk option within the timescales required, aligned with meeting the legal requirements for handling refrigerants. Additionally, the Contractor is the only company to have produced a unit that meets the stringent AGE EMC requirements for DASS Fill & Drain units. As a further endorsement of the Contractor’s track record, it has also developed and built a recycling unit that can recycle r245fa ECR Grade back to the manufacturers virgin purity standards (as tested by an independent chemist/test lab). It is the only company to have achieved this other than the refrigerant manufacturer.

MOD is not aware of any other suppliers in the current market capable of delivering this requirement to the required standards expected of the UK MOD.