Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2017-02-23
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Air Support, Air ISTAR
Country: UK
Region: Lincolnshire
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 50211200: Aircraft repair services
Estimated value: 3500000 GBP

Technical requirements: Replacement Thermal and Acoustic Blankets and Cabin Conditioning System Ducts Refurbishment for the Sentry AEW Mk1 aircraft.
Safety Modification in the form of replacement Thermal and Acoustic Blankets and Cabin Conditioning System Ducts Refurbishment (Blankets and Ducts) for the fleet of Sentry AEW Mk1 aircraft.
Safety Modification in the form of replacement Thermal and Acoustic Blankets and Cabin Conditioning System Ducts Refurbishment (Blankets and Ducts) for the fleet of 3 x Sentry AEW Mk1 aircraft.
The AirISTAR project Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence has a requirement to provide a Safety Modification in the form of replacement Thermal and Acoustic Blankets and Cabin Conditioning System Ducts Refurbishment (Blankets and Ducts) for its fleet of Sentry AEW Mk1 aircraft. An initial Contract with Northrop Grumman UK Ltd will be placed for Phase 1 of the Project which will involve the installation and associated design and safety activities for the embodiment of the Blankets and Ducts to 3 Aircraft. It is the intention of the Project Team to negotiate subsequent Phases which will undertake similar work for the remaining fleet at a later date.
It is considered that this contract can be placed using the Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication of a Contract Notice 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 the UK Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011) for technical reasons. This is because the Military Aviation Authority mandates that this requirement is carried out by an organisation with appropriate Design Approved Organisation Scheme (DAOS) accreditation. Northrop Grumman is the only organisation with DAOS accreditation as Co-ordinating Design Organisation (CDO) for the Sentry AEW Mk1 aircraft, where the scope of the accreditation includes this requirement. This requirement is a safety modification for the fleet that will mitigate existing Risk to Life hazards. To maintain operational effectiveness, embodiment of the Blankets and Ducts must be carried out during scheduled depth maintenance events that are already contracted for with Northrop Grumman and due to start in June 2017. It is the MoD's belief that no other company will be able to achieve the required accreditation within the time available. Furthermore, only Northrop Grumman has the technical know-how to integrate the Blankets and Ducts modification during the scheduled maintenance events, in a manner that ensures the Risk to Life hazard is mitigated without incurring unacceptable technical risk to the Aircraft.
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-2017221-DCB-9650871.


Winner: Northrop Grumman UK Ltd
Award value: 3500000