Defence Online

Type of document: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Country: United Kingdom
OJEU Ref: (2020/S 239-592289/EN)
Nature of contract: Supply contract
Procedure: Negotiated without a call for competition
Type of bid required: Not applicable

Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Supplies

Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Lightning Team
Postal address: Lightning Operations Centre, Royal Air Force Marham
Town: Marham
Postal code: PE33 9NP
Country: United Kingdom
Contact Person: Andrew Pillow
Telephone: +44 3001645755
Email: andrew.pillow238@mod.gov.uk
Internet address(es):
Main address: www.gov.uk

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
Defence

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Pilot Flight Jacket Modification
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 18132100
II.1.3) Type of contract Supplies
II.1.4) Short Description:
A new contract is required to procure a modification of the current LII F-35B pilot flight jacket to make provision for man-mounted auto-activation HR Smith beacons under Service Modification 003 (SM003).
II.1.6) Information about lots
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement(excluding VAT)
Value:107000
Currency:GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code: UKH16 Main site or place of performance:North and West Norfolk

II.2.4) Description of the procurement
A new contract is required to procure a modification of the current LII F-35B pilot flight jacket to make provision for man-mounted auto-activation HR Smith beacons under Service Modification 003 (SM003).

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:
This notice is not a request for expressions of interest so please do not apply to be invited to tender. This notice advises that the Authority has decided to negotiate a contract with the named supplier on a single source basis, & is published for reasons of transparency. If you are interested in becoming a sub-contractor for this requirement, you should apply directly to the supplier named.

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/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

Section V: Award of contract/concession
V.2) Award of contract/concession
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:2020-12-01
V.2.2) Information about tenders
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Official name: Survitec Group Limited
Postal address: Head Office, 12 Finsbury Square, 4th Floor
Town: London
Postal code: EC2A 1AS
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 7810527148
Email: martin.beagan@survitecgroup.com
Nuts code: UKI
The contractor is an SME: no

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

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-2020123-DCB-17454509
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Lightning Team
Postal address: Lightning Operations Centre
Town: RAF Marham
Postal code: PE33 9NP
Country: United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 3001645755
E-mail: andrew.pillow238@mod.gov.uk

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:
2020-12-03

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 publication of a call for competition in accordance with
Article 28 of Directive 2009/81/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:
The Lightning II Delivery Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a contract with Survitec Group Ltd for the modification of F-35 Pilot Flight Jackets to enable the provision of man-mounted auto-activation HR Smith beacons and associated equipment, at an estimated cost of £107,000.00. It is considered that this contract 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).
The PFJ is the only F-35 programme approved and cleared life jacket. It has been tested and approved Safe-To-Fly on all USAF/USN/USMC LII aircraft and is also cleared under the UK LII F-35B Release to Service. Such clearance is both lengthy and expensive. Furthermore, Survitec are the owners and creators of the F-35 PFJ and hold contract to the US DOD Joint Program Office and Lockheed Martin (LM) in the production, underwriting, capability and delivery of the PFJ.
Survitec are MAOS and DAOS approved (mandatory requirement for any organisation developing and in-service design change). Modifying the LII F-35 PFJ without Survitec’s direct involvement risks inadvertently degrading the jackets overall performance and invalidating associated programmed contractual supply and support arrangements between Survitec and LM the LII F-35B program provider. Furthermore, Survitec have stated that their testing and development for configuring SM003 into full-service use will allow for the testing protocol necessary to qualify the product. The lifejacket warranty is provided to the authority on the basis that as a critical safety product, no modification can be carried out on the product except by the OEM. Any breach of this would lead to the warranty being null and void. Survitec will not allow any interference in design, modification or adaptation to the PFJ, they are therein the only possible solution to rectifying SM003.