Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Ref: (2023/S 000-009432/EN)
Nature of contract: Service contract
Procedure: Negotiated without a call for competition
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
Town: Bristol
Postal code: BS34 8JH
Country: United Kingdom
Contact Person: Lewis Baker
Email: lewis.baker136@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
Defence

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 50333000
II.1.3) Type of contract Services
II.1.4) Short Description:
Supply of spares and repairs, engineering support.
II.1.6) Information about lots
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement(excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: 1900000/ Highest offer: 2200000 taken into consideration
Currency: GBP

II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code:
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
Contract for Spares and Repairs, engineering support

II.2.5) Award criteria
II.2.11) Information about options
Options:yes
Description of options:
3 single +1 option years.

II.2.13) Information about European Union funds
The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: no
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
Title: Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs

V.2) Award of contract/concession
V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract/concession award decision:2023-03-31
V.2.2) Information about tenders
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Official name: Kelvin Hughes Limited Trading as Hensoldt UK
Town: Enfield
Country: United Kingdom
Nuts code:
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

Section VI: Complementary informationVI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: Ministry of Defence
Town: Bristol
Postal code: BS34 8JH
Country: United Kingdom

VI.5) Date of dispatch of this notice:
2023-03-31

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

No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to:
restricted procedure

The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment,study or development under the conditions
stated in the directive(for services and supplies only)
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:
Communications & Situational Awareness (CSA) Project Team within Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), part of the UK Ministry of Defence, (“the Authority”) intends to award a Contract to Hensoldt Ltd. (“the Contractor”) for Supply of Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs. The Contract will extend the services currently provided to the Authority by the Contractor for a period of two years to 31 March 2025 with a further three option years included to 31 March 2028. The value of the proposed Contract is £1.9-2.2m.
A separate contract (CSA/4030) for Navigation Radar Programme (NRP) project is rolling out across the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Auxiliary Fleet (RFA). Purpose of the Contract is for spare and repair, plus technical support of the legacy Radar equipment.
It’s considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 for technical reasons.
Through its support of Radar 1007/1009 over the last 32 years, Hensoldt UK has developed a significant level design and technical knowledge. The company’s engineers can be regarded as being Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEP) regarding Radar 1007/1009 expertise. From this, there is a limited supply of knowledge available in the market landscape and has now made the current contractor the only viable option.
There are significant implications associated with failing to effectively support Radar 1007/1009 by the introduction of a new supplier to support this equipment. One of the implications is the possibility of compromising the platform safety as the equipment is a mission critical system to ensure safe navigation of platforms at sea. Therefore, any compromise to the system may leave the MoD exposed to operational deficiencies, preventing the platform from safely achieving its operational programme. As the MoD does not have the required technical knowledge or understanding of the system and equipment to support an alternative supplier, by introducing a new supplier, with no prior experience, technical SQEP or specific tools and testing equipment for the Radar system’s would introduce an unacceptable risk to safety and equipment availability.
This is on the basis that the Contractor (Original Equipment Manufacturer – OEM), for this equipment, have sole capability of performing the contract. No other company has access to the specific repair capabilities or any information to reverse engineer. Replacement of the existing legacy equipment is now done through repair and parts salvaged from items deemed Beyond Economical Repair (BER) with few spares supply available on the market. The Contractor owns the IPR imbedded in the software within the legacy equipment and possess the SQEP technical expertise to provide the repair activity at the sole repair facility.