Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom

MOD Request For Information

GB-Bristol: Manoeuvre Shelter (MAN-S)
1. Contract Title
Title attributed to the request by the Contracting Authority: GB-Bristol: Manoeuvre Shelter (MAN-S)

2. Contracting Authority:
Ministry of Defence, Land Equipment, Operational Support Programmes (OSP)
MOD Abbey Wood,#4140, Elm 1A., Bristol, BS34 8JH, United Kingdom
Tel. 07812491208, Email: stephen.fairbanks101@mod.gov.uk, URL: www.contracts.mod.uk
Attn: Stephen Fairbanks

3. Object of the Request for Information:
Contracting Authority’s file Reference number: Manoeuvre Shelter
Weblink to where further documentation can be obtained: www.contracts.mod.uk
Short description of requirement: Protective shelters. Shelters. Shelter parts. The Ministry of Defence has a requirement for Manoeuvre Shelter (MAN-S); a deployable, modular and scalable shelter solution to support Headquarters (HQ) and Medical functions deployed to conduct manoeuvre operations in the land and littoral manoeuvre environment. MAN-S is mandated to be complaint with Land Open Systems Architecture (LOSA) and Generic Base Architecture (GBA), which in its current scope does not specify any design principles or requirements for shelters.
The purpose of this RFI is to ascertain the industry standards/norms for shelters, specifically in relation to door sizes, connections and locations.
CPV codes :
45216129 – Protective shelters.
44112100 – Shelters.
44112110 – Shelter parts.

Time-limit: 29/01/2021 12.00 Information Requested: The Ministry of Defence has a requirement for Manoeuvre Shelter (MAN-S); a deployable, modular and scalable shelter solution to support Headquarters (HQ) and Medical functions deployed to conduct manoeuvre operations in the land and littoral manoeuvre environment. MAN-S is mandated to be complaint with Land Open Systems Architecture (LOSA) and Generic Base Architecture (GBA), which in its current scope does not specify any design principles or requirements for shelters.
In parallel to the procurement of MAN-S, vehicle projects are procuring Protected Working Environment (PWE) shelter systems for their platforms that are required to connect with MAN-S as part of the future deployable HQ solution. Currently, there are no mandated standards or interface requirements for shelters. This means, the PWE shelters do not have standard connections/interfaces to attach to the MAN-S capability, making future integration of these PWE shelters and the MAN-S solution an immediate challenge that needs addressing.
MAN-S also has the requirement of being interoperable with in-service shelters and where possible our allied nations. There is no NATO standard for shelter interfaces, which means there is an opportunity to lead standardisation in this area for wider adoption by our allied nations.
The purpose of this RFI is to ascertain the industry standards/norms for shelters, specifically in relation to door sizes, connections and locations. This information is required to enable the establishment of Part 8 to Def Stan 23-013 standardising shelter connection points to ensure interoperability across defence. Part 8 will cover the following (but is not limited to):
1) Door dimensions and locations.
2) Door closure interfaces.
3) Cable entry points.
4) Shelter to shelter attachments/interconnections, such as (but not limited to) Environmental Control Unit (ECU) connection points and sizes.

The Authority is presenting an open invitation to industry to participate in this RFI exercise to assist the Authority in the development of its understanding of shelter interfaces, and ultimately support the development of the future procurement strategy. Specifically, the information from industry is to assist the Authority in understanding:
• Current market capabilities.
• Industry standards and norms to enable a broadly achievable standard.

The RFI is purely an information gathering exercise in which participants are invited to complete the survey in full or partially, in line with a participant’s in-service products and capabilities. The RFI Survey will contain questions relating to product technical specifications and responses will be requested to show supporting evidence where necessary.
Industry submissions should not expect to assign significant resource into the exercise and any responses should be based on solutions that are already in-production. Engagement will not at any point be used to directly or indirectly enter a contract agreement for delivering Man-S. The Survey responses will be evaluated in a purely non-competitive manner, purely as a data gathering exercise and to measure confidence that the standard can be delivered from industry.
Industry engagement in the RFI will not be used to, directly or indirectly, enter a contractual agreement for the delivery of Man-S. The survey responses will be assessed to measure the confidence that Def Stan (Part 8 to 23-013) can be delivered by industry. The survey will assess the market as a whole, and no individual submission will be identifiable in the findings of the RFI.
In order to register your interest to partake in the Man-S PIN, or ask questions on the survey, industry is requested to register through contacting stephen.fairbanks101@mod.gov.uk
All completed questionnaires should be returned to stephen.fairbanks101@mod.gov.uk no later than 12:00hrs Friday 29 January 2020.

All work completed in response to the RFI is at industry’s own risk. The RFI exercise will not represent a commitment by the Authority to launch any formal procurement procedure, nor does it indicate that the Authority has decided on its procurement options for this requirement. Furthermore, any participation in the RFI exercise does not guarantee that you will be invited to participate in any future tender exercise; should the Authority run a competition for this requirement then participants will be selected via the normal routes (e.g. Pre-Qualification Questionnaires). The RFI exercise forms part of our engagement with industry relating to this requirement and you should note we are conducting similar exercises with other potential suppliers. As part of the RFI exercise, the Authority may engage directly with individual suppliers to discuss the specifics of their responses to the RFI.