Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-12-08
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Submarines, In-Service Submarines (ISM) Team
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 31421000 | 35512000: Submarines
Estimated value: 23500000 GBP

Technical requirements: Procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells, associated support equipment, and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute, and Trafalgar class submarines.
(i) The purpose of this Voluntary Transparency Notice (VTN) is to notify the market of the intention of In-Service Submarines, which forms part of the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA), to enter into a 7-year contract on a single source basis with Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd.
(ii) The contract shall be for the supply, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells, associated support equipment and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute and Trafalgar class submarines.
(iii) Enersys Ltd’s exit from the submarine main batteries market and their transfer of all related technical information and other assets to Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd has resulted in Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd becoming the only supplier capable of providing In-Service Submarines with the requirement.
(iv) The contract shall be subject to the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice under DSPCR 2011 Regulation 16 (1)(a)(ii) where for technical reasons the contract may only be awarded to a particular economic operator. This is due to the technical need to utilise the Enersys cell design 8800 main battery cells to ensure operability with multiple systems such as agitation system, ventilation system, shock, electrical protection, endurance and to ensure nuclear safety.
(v) These systems have been designed and validated against the 8800 Ahr Enersys cell parameters and onboard battery configuration. The main battery compartment is sized around an exact multiple of the width and length of the cell. Furthermore, all support equipment is sized both electrically and spatially around the 8800 Ahr Enersys cell. Any replacement battery would require a complete redesign and validation of the relevant systems within the battery compartment. As such, using any other cell would present significant interoperability and incompatibility issues. Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd are the only contractor able to supply the required configuration of cell.
(vi) Furthermore, Regulation 16(1)(b)(i) part (bb) applies. That is because additional Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells are required as a partial replacement for the existing cells and to obtain cells from any economic operator other than Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd would oblige SDA to acquire goods having different technical characteristics which would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.
(vii) It is anticipated that the contract award date will be Spring 2022 with an estimated value of GBP 23.5 million (ex VAT).
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


Winner: Pacific Marine Batteries Pty Ltd
Award value: 23500000