Defence Online

Type of document: Contract Notice
Country: United Kingdom
Publication Ref: (2023/S 000-009499/EN)
Nature of contract: Supply contract
Procedure: Award of a contract without prior publication
Type of bid required: Not applicable

Voluntary ex ante transparency notice
Supplies

Section I: Contracting authority
I.1) Name and addresses
Official name: Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service
Postal address: 12 Geoff Monk Way
Town: Leicester
Postal code: LE4 3BU
Country: United Kingdom
Contact Person: Roger Smith
Telephone: +44 1162105555
Email: roger.smith@leics-fire.gov.uk
Internet address(es):
Main address:

I.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
I.5) Main activity
Public order and saftey

Section II: Object
II.1) Scope of the procurement
II.1.1) Title: Mobilising System Replacement Contract
II.1.2) Main CPV code: 35710000
II.1.3) Type of contract Supplies
II.1.4) Short Description:
Leicestershire Fire and Rescue (“the Authority”) awarded a contract for the delivery of a mobilising solution and associated support and maintenance services (“Services”) to Systel SA (“Systel”) (“the Contract”). The initial term of the Contract expires on 31 October 2024 and there is an ability to extend beyond the initial term by up to 2 further years, up to 31 October 2026 which has not and will not be exercised by the Authority.
Systel has been placed into administration in France and has applied to the French courts for protection which could allow Systel to renegotiate unprofitable contracts or parts thereof.
The Services represent critical infrastructure to enable the Authority to discharge its statutory duties under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004. Any disruption to the Services would pose significant issues for the Authority and could impact the safety of the public.
Whilst Systel has not exercised the right to terminate the whole of the Contract, it has sought to renegotiate its terms. The Authority considers there is significant risk on the reliability of the availability of the Contract and the ability for Systel to perform the Services.
The Authority does not consider it can continue with the existing arrangements with Systel beyond 31 October 2024. This is for the reasons set out in this notice and in light of the Authority being made aware of Scottish Fire and Northern Ireland Fire also sharing similar concerns to the Authority and taking action to terminate the high-value contracts they hold with Systel following being made aware of its administration status.
II.1.6) Information about lots
The contract is divided into lots: no
II.1.7) Total value of the procurement(excluding VAT)
Value:4500000
Currency:GBP
II.2) Description
II.2.3) Place of performance
Nuts code:
II.2.4) Description of the procurement
The Authority intends to procure a complete mobilising solution from Motorola Solutions UK LTD. This will be provisioned via a tenancy on the Motorola platform.

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:
The Authority, relying on the extreme urgency ground within Regulation 32 of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) (“PCR”) intends to award a contract to Motorola Solutions UK LTD for the delivery of the Services for a term of five years with a maximum estimated value of £4,500,000.

Section IV: Procedure
IV.1) Description
IV.1.1) Type of procedure
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the Official Journal of the European Union in the cases listed below
(please complete point 2 of the Annex D)
IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement(GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: yes
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:2023-03-31
V.2.2) Information about tenders
V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Official name: Motorola Solutions UK Limited
National registration number: 00912182
Postal address: Nova South 160 Victoria Street
Town: London
Postal code: SW1E 5LB
Country: United Kingdom
Nuts code:
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:
You have 10,000 characters available
VI.4) Procedures for review
VI.4.1) Review body
Official name: The Royal Courts of Justice
Postal address: The Strand
Town: London
Postal code: WC2A 2LL
Country: United Kingdom

VI.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures:
In accordance with Regulation 88 – 104 (Enforcement of duties through the Court) of the PCR.

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

Other justification for the award of the contract without prior publication of a call for competition
in the Official Journal of the European Union
The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive

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 Authority considers that there is a real risk of Systel imminently ceasing to operate because of its financial position and this has created a situation of extreme urgency to secure an alternative arrangement to mitigate operational and commercial risk. Systel’s administration was not foreseeable by the Authority.
Systel currently provides maintenance of infrastructure and software which is critical to the Authority discharging its duties under the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 and any disruption/reduction of the Services would impact on this and the safety of the public as it would compromise the Authority’s connection to the Airwave network.
In order for mobilisation solutions to be compliant in the UK they need to be using the new, secure communication system (DCS) to connect to the Airwave network by December 2023. Under the Contract Systel, have indicated that the Authority will need to meet the costs of such transition, requiring the further investment of public funds into a company that is in administration but the Authority considers it unlikely that Systel are able to meet this deadline and is also not prepared to risk investing further funds into Systel as a result of its current status.
The Authority’s connection to the Airwave network is based on hardware provided by Systel that is end of life and will not be supported by [Airwave] beyond December 2023. As DCS is a component of the wider solution, there are also wider integrated software/hardware and infrastructure upgrades required as a result of the migration to DCS.
Failure to migrate to DCS will result in the control room losing its ground-based connection to the Airwave network; causing significant operational issues and legal ramifications (namely, inability to record calls and Airwave voice traffic). The Authority will be unable to rely on its consortium partners for back-up mobilising system arrangements because these utilise Systel’s current solution, which will be non-compliant from December 2023.
For the reasons set out above, the Authority considers it necessary to award a contract to Motorola Solutions UK LTD as they are able to meet the DCS migration deadline, to maintain the crucial ground-based connection to Airwave and provide the necessary integrated infrastructure, hardware and software upgrades to ensure that the future solution remains fit for purpose.
The Authority does not consider it is able to comply with the time limits for the open, restricted or competitive procedure with negotiation (and accelerated limits within them) to conduct a compliant procurement process because of the need to migrate to DCS by December 2023 which can only be achieved by awarding a contract to Motorola Solutions UK LTD in April 2023. A procurement process would prevent the Authority meeting this deadline and compromise the crucial ground-based connection to Airwave.
The proposed duration of the award to Motorola Solutions UK LTD for five years is strictly necessary because it reflects the time required to implement a mobilising system (18-24 months). This will also allow the necessary time for the Authority to prepare and complete an open, restricted, or competitive procedure.