Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-02-23
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Ships, Commercially Supported Shipping (CSS) Team
Country: UK
Region: Bristol, City of
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 72261000: Software support services
Estimated value: 116000 GBP

Technical requirements: Software support services. To provide specialist software to enable data gathered by hydrographic sonar systems to be analysed.
Commercially Supported Shipping, part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence, intends to award a contract to Caris Geographic Information Systems B.V. for the supply and maintenance of specialist software to support the analysis, formatting and correction of data gathered by hydrographic sonar systems on board Royal Naval vessels. The Contract will have a duration of four (4) years. It is considered that this Contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication pursuant to Article 32(2)(b)(ii) of Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) of the Public Contract Regulations 2015 (SI 2015/102)) on the basis that the relevant products and services can be supplied only by Caris, competition being absent for technical reasons, including the ongoing reliance of other systems on board RN vessels on Caris's software solution, which cannot be replicated due to Caris's proprietary rights in the relevant source code, as well as bespoke technical know-how and expertise. It is considered that the appointment of a third party to deliver Contract products and services would prejudice operations as well as the quality, hence Safety of Life at Sea (SOLAS) charting obligations and military specific bathymetric requirements provided by the RN.
Suppliers interested in working with the Ministry of Defence should register on the MOD Supplier Information Database (SID) Register, available at www.contracts.mod.uk The MOD SID is a database of active and potential suppliers available to all MOD and UK Defence procurement personnel, and is the main supplier database of MOD Procurement organisations. Please note the registration and publication of a company profile on the MOD SID does not mean or imply that the supplier has in any way been vetted or approved by the MOD. Suppliers wishing to compete for advertised MOD contracts must respond to any specific call for competition by submitting a separate expression of interest in accordance with the instructions of the purchasing organisation.
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.
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-2016219-DCB-7782355.