Defence Online

Type of document: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Country: United Kingdom
OJEU Ref: (2019/S 053-123022/EN)
Nature of contract: Service contract
Procedure: Negotiated without a call for competition
Regulation of procurement: EU
Type of bid required: Not applicable

Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Services

Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: Ministry of Defence, C&C, C&C
Postal address: D Res, Zone 8, 2nd Floor, Ramillies Building, Marlborough Lines, Monxton Road
Town: Andover, Hampshire
Postal code: SP11 8HJ
Country: United Kingdom
Contact Person: Army Commercial
Telephone: +44 1264381945
Email: ArmyComrcl-T1-Mailbox@mod.gov.uk
Internet address(es):
Main address:

I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions
I.5) Main activity
General public services

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Provision of Virtual Reality in Land Training — Phase 2

Reference number: ArmyHQ2/00408
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 71600000
II.1.3) Type of contract Services
II.1.4) Short Description:
The army is looking to enhance the scope of the VRLT pilot to include complementary innovation opportunities that have not been actively pursued to date. This requirement delivers additional innovation into the VRLT and secures exploitation of the existing Pilot hardware.
II.1.6) Information about lots
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement(excluding VAT)
Value:200000
Currency:GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code: UKJ35 Main site or place of performance:South Hampshire.

II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Army is looking to enhance the scope of the VRLT pilot to include complementary innovation opportunities that have not been actively pursued to date. This requirement delivers additional innovation into the VRLT and secures exploitation of the existing Pilot hardware.

II.2.5) Award criteria
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:
Army HQ Commercial Branch, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to award a contract to Bohemia Interactive Simulations (UK) Ltd for the provision of additional support to the Virtual Reality In-Land Training Pilot as soon as possible.

Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Negotiated procedure without prior publication(in accordance with Article 32 of Directive 2014/24/EU)
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 the OJ S:2018/S 190-429785

Section V: Award of contract/concession
Contract No: ArmyHQ2/00408
Title: Provision of Virtual Reality In-Land Training — Phase 2

V.2) Award of contract/concession
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:2019-03-12
V.2.2) Information about tenders
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Official name: Bohemia Interactive Simulations (UK) Ltd
Postal address: Farnborough Aerospace Centre, 31 Hercules Way
Town: Hampshire
Postal code: GU14 6UU
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 7884444783
Email: david.orwin@bisimulations.com
Nuts code: UKJ35
Internet address:
The contractor is an SME: yes

V.2.4) Information on value of the contract/lot/concession(excluding VAT)
for framework agreements – total maximum value for this lot
for contracts based on framework agreements, if required – value of contract(s) for this lot not included in
previous contract award notices
V.2.5) Information about subcontracting
The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted
Value or proportion likely to be subcontracted to third parties
Proportion: 23 %
Short description of the part of the contract to be subcontracted:5 % = subcontractor to provide a cloud network for one of the sprints using polystream.
18 % = subcontractor to provide data management and exploitation.

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
GO Reference: GO-2019313-DCB-14364774
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: Ministry of Defence, C&C, C&C
Postal address: D Res, Zone 8, 2nd Floor, Ramillies Building, Marlborough Lines, Monxton Road
Town: Andover, Hampshire
Postal code: SP11 8HJ
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 1264381945
E-mail: ArmyComrcl-T1-Mailbox@mod.gov.uk
Internet address:

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:
2019-03-13

Justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for
competition in the Official Journal of the European Union
1.Justification for the choice of the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a call for competition in accordance with Article
32 of Directive 2014/24/EU
The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
absence of competition for technical reasons

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:
Army HQ Commercial Branch, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to award a contract to Bohemia Interactive Simulations (UK) Ltd for the provision of additional support to the Virtual Reality In-Land Training Pilot as soon as possible.
It is considered that this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to:
(a) Directive 2014/24/EU; and
(b) Regulation 32(5)(b) of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as the equipment/services is required in addition to an existing service and existing goods. To obtain goods/services from a supplier other than Bohemia would oblige the MoD to acquire goods/services which potentially have different technical characteristics.
The VRLT pilot is an agile development of emerging COTS gaming Virtual Reality technology to demonstrate a low cost, interoperable, mobile and deployable collective training capability that could compliment and integrate with other synthetics in the Land Domain. The pilot is made up of 3 sprints, the first of which has been successful in putting VR into the hands of the user, demonstrating technology in context structured against Collective Competencies in a contemporary operating scenario, and coupling innovation with exploitation working closely with industry delivered innovations. Two further sprints are planned, to conclude by April 19.
There is an opportunity to demonstrate additional training innovations. It is proposed that these can be achieved using the extant infrastructure and allocated troops to prove concepts and provide evidence for the CTTP. Training innovations were identified originally but are complimentary to the VR technology being piloted and meet known collective training shortfalls. Additionally, the equipment from the pilot will be transferred to 2 new simulation training centres in Tidworth and Catterick. The Virtual Reality In-Land Training Pilot is part of an innovative, agile solution and the additional deliverables required currently sit outside of the scope of the current contract but are intrinsically linked to the VRLT pilot and the overall outcomes of the project. Training innovation can be demonstrated in tandem with the scheduled sprints (2 and 3) and meet the collective training shortfalls. The proposed additional technology innovations are complementary to the VRLT Pilot and will inform development of the Collective Training Transformation Programme (CTTP). Any other supplier’s equipment could be incompatible with this system, and with the existing goods. If such a link was attempted this could lead to disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance and hinder the planned sprints.