Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2017-06-22
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Ships, Communications and Situational Awareness (CSA)
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 34933000
Estimated value: 619000 GBP

Technical requirements: The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (the ‘Authority’) intends to amend a contract with Ultra Electronics Limited (the ‘Company’) to include additional PDM2 Tech Refresh design and to provide an additional 12 month extension to the current CSA/4006 contract to provide both engineering and inventory support for the management of in service PDM Series Equipment. This is required to deliver the requisite Quality of Service to interfacing systems and to ensure Operational Capability is optimised.
It is considered that this contract can be amended 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 Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons.
a. Technical complexity of the PDM2 TR solution: PDM would qualify as ‘particularly complex equipment’. The Tech Refresh solution comprises of 5 000 bespoke drawings, specifications and manufactured parts. As a result, the MDP is large and very difficult to comprehend without a working knowledge of the full PDM2 TR design. The experience UECCS acquired during development of the solution cannot be fully replicated in a technical pack and that, without expert knowledge of the equipment and TR design that an alternative supplier would be unable to manufacture, assemble and install the equipment without unacceptable risk to the Authority.
b. Technical expertise/know-how — PDM2 TR Installation/Integration and In service Support: It was considered from the outset that only UECCS possess the technical expertise, including the know-how, which is necessary to develop the PDM2 TR solution. This is derived from their experience as the OEM, Design Authority, and maintainer throughout PDMs 30+ year history and more recently as the Design Authority for the PDM2 TR solution. Failure to provide contractual cover for the additional 12 months would also result in a serious risk in the supporting of the capability PDM series provides through a lack of technical expertise held only by the company.
Software/Firmware: The PDM system is heavily dependent on software, including firmware, to operate and software forms a significant proportion of the Tech Refresh design. The software used includes D3 Assembler, the PDM Real Time Operating System (RTOS) and Harmony (software development tool) which were developed by UECCS (and their predecessors) specifically for PDM in the 1980's. No other supplier has the knowledge or experience to work with D3 Assembler which is a key software requirement of the PDM2 TR solution. It is possible that RTOS and Harmony were originally based on COTS solutions and capability may not rest solely with UECCS. It is considered that no other supplier has the working knowledge of the software as a whole to successfully undertake the PDM2 TR solution.
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-2017619-DCB-10453833.


Winner: Ultra Electronics Limited
Award value: 619000