Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2018-09-25
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Ships, Maritime Platform Systems (MPS)
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 39721320 | 39721321
Estimated value: 2500000 GBP

Technical requirements: The Authority intends to place a Contract on a single source basis for L B Bentley to continue to provide the necessary support to the Air Dryers and Associated equipment that is currently installed on HM Naval Ships and Submarines. The support will include the provisioning of Spares, Repairs capability, PDS tasking and Management activities.
Supply, Repair, Reactive Engineering and PDS of Desiccant and LP Dryers, BA Filtration and Associated Equipment fitted to HM Ships and Submarines.
The Marine Systems Support Output Business Unit (MSS), within the Defence Equipment and Support organisation (DE&S) which is part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to place a contract for Post Design Services, Repairs and Overhaul, and Spares Supply for The Supply, Repair, Reactive Engineering and PDS of Desiccant Dryers, LP Dryers, BA Filtration and Associated Equipment’s fitted to HM Ships and Submarines supplied by LB Bentley Limited, with LB Bentley Limited for a period of 5 years.
It is considered that this requirement can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons as the contract may be awarded only to LB Bentley.
The HP Desiccant Air Dryers are installed on Royal Navy Ships and Submarines. LB Bentley is the Design Authority and manufacturer of the Desiccant Air Dryers. The contact can only be performed by LB Bentley because they hold the necessary technical knowhow including technical data, technical overhaul manuals and manufacturing design codes that are necessary for performing this requirement. Without access to this information no other contractor could safely maintain this equipment, or safely support this equipment within the current integrated system. LB Bentley spares must be used as no other equipment can be tested and safely integrated with the other equipment. In addition, the technical information held by LB Bentley is necessary for performing this requirement to the safety levels required by the mandatory Safety of Life at Sea requirements. Failure to use LB Bentley would lead to significant safety issues.
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-2018921-DCB-13239322


Winner: LB Bentley Limited
Award value: 2500000