Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2022-01-10
Buyer: University of Copenhagen
Country: DK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 34000000 | 34144000: Special-purpose motor vehicles
Estimated value: 2967814 DKK

Technical requirements: The Geophysical Ice and Climate Group at the Niels Bohr Institute has for more than 30 years been responsible for the construction, operation and maintenance of research stations on the Greenland
Since 2008, we have used Pistenbully PB 300 Polar to maintain our deep drilling ice core camps NEEM and EGRIP on the Greenland Ice Sheet.
The model was originally selected on the recommendation of our project partner Alfred Wegener Institute in Bremerhaven (AWI), which has more than twenty of these models in operation in Antarctica. We have now two machines in camp.
They are used for construction and maintaining the camp on the ice sheet. Tasks are e.g. grooming skiway, moving snow and cargo, loading planes, construction of balloon tunnels and traverse. They have proved to be a great success in operation and reliability.
However, as operations have grown and we plan to move our present camp to another location in the coming years, we have to expand our fleet of tractors.
It is important for us that Kässbohrer is able to supply a machine that is the exact same model (PB300 Polar) as the two machines we already have. This is crucial for us, as repair, maintenance and service take place in a tent on the Inland Ice, and it is imperative that spare parts, spare part numbers and service manuals are the same.
We also have a 4.6 m wide hydraulic snow blower for mounting in front and a hydraulic snow harrow for rear mounting. It is also important for us that Kässbohrer can supply a machine with the same connections as the other two machines, so that the tools can be interchanged.
Another important aspect is that Kässbohrer can supply a new PB300 Polar with exactly the same electronics as the other two machines, as this electronics has shown its robustness in the extreme weather situations on the Inland Ice and in Antarctica with temperatures below -65 C in winter.
Both of our current PB300 Polar machines have been flown to camp in sections with LC-130 Hercules on ski. The vehicle itself, without dozer blade, drive belts and cabin, exactly fits in an LC-130 with tolerances of 10 cm. Together with the New York Air National Guard, we have developed a loading and unloading technique for specific PB300 Polar.
Finally, it is important to us that special tools, lubricants, hydraulic oil and engine oil are the same, as the only deliveries in the camp take place with chartered aircraft once a month.
Also, it is essential for us to fully use already purchased and deployed stock of spareparts, special tools and maintenance equipment as most of these items are model specific. It is therefore also essential to enable the use of already purchased stock of maintenance equipment and spare parts, and other accessories already purchased with the existing systems to avoid purchasing unnecessary extra (similar but not identical) equipment, as we already have a large stock of parts and spares in camp. It would be very costly having to refill the current stock status in camp. A final economically perspective is the high price of sending a technician to the ice sheet, this is very costly and it is therefore important that we only need to send one technician that can service all of our fleet.
To summarize, introducing a new model or make of a tracked vehicle at EGRIP will be a very time consuming and expensive logistical task, as we will be forced to purchase and deploy separate sets of spareparts, special tools, technicians and equipment purchased for the existing machines in the camp.


Winner: Kässbohrer Geländefahrzeug AG
Award value: 2967814