Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-03-24
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Air Support, Aircraft Commodities Project Team (AC PT)
Country: UK
Region: Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 50210000: Repair and maintenance of aircraft
Estimated value: 250000 GBP

Technical requirements: Repair, maintenance and associated services related to aircraft and other equipment. Package of remedial safety work for the Hypobaric Chamber facility at RAF Henlow.
The Air Commodities Team, part of the Ministry of Defence, intends to place a Contract for a period of 12 months with Autoclave & Industrial Controls Ltd (‘AIC’) for maintenance and upgrades to the hypobaric chambers at RAF Henlow, to conclude completion of rectification work and safety upgrades and production of a pack of technical documents, manuals and procedures for future maintenance of the chambers. It is considered that this Contract can be awarded using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a Contract notice pursuant to Article 32(2)(b)(ii) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council 
(Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the UK Public Contract Regulations 2015) for technical reasons. Currently, AIC is the only supplier with a sufficient level of technical knowledge to complete this work As the specifications are incomplete pending finalisation of the upgrades, any other supplier would be required to take the equipment on at a high risk level and re-confirm the safety standards of the work that AIC has completed to date. Once the upgrades have been implemented, the Authority intends to issue an advertisement for long term in service support of the hypobaric chamber.
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-2016322-DCB-7954931.