Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2019-05-28
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Lightning Team
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 18424000 | 24000000 | 34731000: Aircraft engine parts | 39224200 | 44424200
Estimated value: 1000000 GBP

Technical requirements: 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 and 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 above.
The Lightning delivery team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a contract with lockheed martin aeronautics, the prime contractor for the F-35 aircraft, for the purchase of air vehicle General Use Consumables (GUC), at an estimated cost of circa 1 000 000 GBP. 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)(b)(i) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011).
F-35 is an international collaborative programme governed through an international Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the nine F-35 Partner Nations – the Production Sustainment and Follow-on-Development (PSFD MoU). A key tenet of the PSFD MoU is the establishment of a Global Support Solution (GSS) to support the global fleet of circa 3000 F-35 aircraft across nine 9 Partner Nations. The aim of the GSS is to provide economies of scale and deliver a cost effective and affordable support solution for all partner nations.
The F-35 programme is managed through a Joint Programme Office (JPO). In 2001, the JPO selected Lockheed Martin Aeronautics as the prime contractor for the F-35 air vehicle. Lockheed Martin Aeronautics is responsible for the design, build and support of the F-35 air vehicle, which includes responsibility for establishing the GSS. An element of the GSS requires LM to identify and manage the GUC List, the list of general use consumables that is authorised for use on the F-35 air vehicle. GUC items are not provided by the Programme and therefore need to be procured separately; however, LM approval is essential to ensure that there is no potential for the consumable items to impact upon the fabric of the aircraft, and thereby compromise operational capability. No other company other than LM are authorised to make this approval. Further, the GSS is still maturing and is in its early phase of operation. Consequently, the GUC list is still subject to significant change. LM are the only contractor who can identify and approve alternates to items listed under the GUC list. These alternatives can be sourced, approved and supplied without undue delay during this maturing period.
The procurement strategy we intend to follow, for the next couple of years, is to procure the GUC through LM, so that a stabilised list of approved items can be developed. Once the GUC list has been established and is fully codified, which should occur over the next couple of years, MOD will be in a position to compete procurement of GUC.
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-2019524-DCB-14930081


Winner: Lockheed Martin Corporation
Award value: 1000000