Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-06-28
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Land Equipment, Dismounted Close Combat (DCC)
Country: UK
Region: Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 35300000: Weapons, ammunition and associated parts
Estimated value: 1715740 GBP

Technical requirements: The Dismounted Close Combat Programme team on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a contract for the supply of 5 000 A3 upper receiver bodies for the SA80 weapon with Heckler & Koch GMBH & Co (through their UK subsidary NSAF Ltd) for delivery by September 2016. The estimated contract value is 1 720 000 GBP.
It is considered that this single source framework agreement can be placed using the Negotiated Procedure Without Prior Publication pursuant to:
— Article 28(1) (e) of Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation 16(1) (a) (ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons and/or
— Article 28(3) (a) of Directive 2009/81/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation 16(1) (b) (i) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 on the basis that the UK Ministry of Defence is obtaining goods as a replacement for existing goods and to obtain such goods from a third party provider would oblige the UK Ministry of Defence to acquire goods having different technical characteristics which would result in incompatibility with the existing goods.
The Ministry of Defence has undertaken costly and time consuming Safe, Suitable for Service (S3) trials for each of the components within the SA80 weapon system, including the A3 Receiver Housing bodies which are designed and supplied by Heckler & Koch. The S3 trials are to ensure safety and reliability of the SA80 system in all theatres of operation, and are therefore an essential element of the Safety Case the Ministry of Defence is obliged to maintain to allow deployment of the SA80 weapon system.
Heckler & Koch hold the technical specifications and knowledge of the manufacturing processes which are required to ensure interoperability of these components with the existing weapon system and compliance with the relevant Safety Case requirements. Specific tolerances of materials are needed along with exact dimensions and surface finishes on these receiver bodies, along with the expertise in machining of these parts and the development that has been ongoing and actioned in it by Heckler & Koch.
Drawings for the SA80 A3 Receiver Housing are not held by the Ministry of Defence. There are very high risks involved in ignoring the specific tooling requirements and failing to appreciate the associated tolerances and manufacturing processes and simply copying the A3 Receiver Housing bodies; this would not guarantee meeting exact fit, form or function of the SA80 weapon system.
Without knowledge of the technical specifications and processes and/or tools required to manufacture the spares, obtaining these spares from a third party provider would oblige the Ministry of Defence to acquire goods having different technical characteristics from existing goods which would result in incompatibility with the existing weapons and invalidate the Safety Case of the current weapons in the field, and could have devastating health and safety consequences if reversed engineered parts failed in the operation of the SA80 system.
Suppliers interested in working with the Ministry of Defence should register on the MOD Supplier Information Database (SID) Register, available at www.contracts.mod.uk The MOD SID is a database of active and potential suppliers available to all MOD and UK Defence procurement personnel, and is the main supplier database of MOD Procurement organisations. Please note: the registration and publication of a company profile on the MOD SID does not mean or imply that the supplier has in any way been vetted or approved by the MOD. Suppliers wishing to compete for advertised MOD contracts must respond to any specific call for competition by submitting a separate expression of interest in accordance with the instructions of the purchasing organisation.
From 2.4.2014 the Government is introducing its new Government Security Classifications Policy (GSC) to replace the current Government Protective Marking Scheme. A key aspect of this is the reduction in the number of security classifications used. All suppliers to the Department are encouraged to make themselves aware of the changes as it may impact on this Requirement. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the new GSC.
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.
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-2016623-DCB-8397131.


Award value: 1715740