Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-01-16
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Combat Air, Unmanned Air Systems (UAS) Team
Country: UK
Region: Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 35613000
Estimated value: 80000000 GBP

Technical requirements: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The provision of contractor logistic support to include supply of spares, equipment storage, maintenance and repair, training support, engineering and engineering safety support and maintenance of technical documentation.
The Secretary of State for Defence (‘the Authority’) through the Defence Equipment and Support Unmanned Air Systems Team intends to contract for the provision of contractor logistic support (CLS) to support contract number (TUAV/00026), made between the Authority and Thales UK Limited (‘the Contractor’) for the Demonstration, Manufacture and Initial Support of the Watchkeeper Unmanned Air System (UAS) (‘the DMIS Contract’) in July 2005. Whilst the DMIS Contract was previously amended in 2009 to provide certain CLS services until 31.1.2016, there is a continuing requirement beyond this date for the provision of support to the system at both Initial Operating Capability (IOC) and Full Operating Capability (FOC) equipment standards. The proposed contractual requirement will be for a period of 3 years and 2 months with a further option period of up to 1 year to take into account any delay in any proposed future competition.
The Authority considers that this contract action can be taken 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)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011). This is for the following technical reasons:
There is a strict technical impracticality for any contractor other than the Contractor to provide CLS due to the necessity to use specific know-how and information which only the Contractor has at its disposal. Ongoing development of the Watchkeeper UAS under the DMIS contract to deliver the contracted FOC equipment standard including modifications to incorporate the upgrade of the Narrow Band Data Links means there is currently insufficient baseline technical data available (including flight trial, maintenance, servicing and spares data) to provide an alternative contractor the information necessary to bid for and deliver the required support thus necessitating reliance on the Contractor's know-how and expertise.
Secondly there are constraints associated with the impracticality for alternative suppliers to be able to deliver CLS due to logistical, interoperability and safety requirements which must be met to the Authority's satisfaction during the conversion of the systems from IOC to FOC equipment standard under the DMIS contract during 2016 and 2017.
Thirdly the conversion of the systems from IOC to FOC standard will necessitate the provision of a technical data pack, to be provided by the Contractor, without which the CLS cannot be undertaken by another contractor.
It is envisaged that following completion of development and delivery of the contracted FOC Equipment Standard, baseline technical data referred to above will become available to the Authority to enable a third party to provide the required support from 1.4.2019 onwards. It is therefore the Authority's intention to compete the provision of ongoing CLS from that date, to be managed via a competition to be started in the first half of 2016. In the event that such a competition encounters any delay the Authority proposes to include an option within the proposed contract provisions which are the subject of this notice to extend the proposed CLS arrangements by up to 1 year.
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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.
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