Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2016-01-30
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Ships, Communications and Situational Awareness (CSA)
Country: UK
Region: Dorset and Somerset
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 34995000
Estimated value: 10000000 GBP

Technical requirements: Lighting for aircraft guidance and illumination. The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (the ‘Authority’) intends to place a contract with Aeronautical and General Instruments Limited (the ‘Company’) for the In-Service Support, including maintenance, repair and replacement component spares of certain Visual Landing Aid (‘VLA’) equipment fitted to current platforms including T45 and future platforms, MARS Tanker and the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Carrier. The term of the contract is envisaged to be 5 years (with an option for the Authority to extend the contract for an additional 2 years).
ii. Mark 2 glide path indicator (GPI MK2) (although this is due to be phased out and replaced by GPI MK3 over the next 3 years).
iv. Helicopter visual approach system (HELIVAS), a suite of equipment which provides a range of lighting solutions for ships.
vi. Option to include electro-magnetic (EM) LOG (AGILOG) within the contract, when its individual support contract between the Authority and the Company expires in 2019.
This notice is not a request for expressions of interest so please do not apply to be invited to tender. This notice advises that the Authority has decided to negotiate a contract with the named supplier on a single source basis, and is published for reasons of transparency. If you are interested in becoming a sub-contractor for this requirement, you should apply directly to the supplier named above.
The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (the ‘Authority’) intends to place a contract with Aeronautical and General Instruments Limited (the ‘Company’) for the In-Service Support, including maintenance, repair and replacement component spares of certain Visual Landing Aid (‘VLA’) equipment fitted to current platforms including T45 and future platforms, MARS Tanker and the Queen Elizabeth Class (QEC) Carrier. The term of the contract is envisaged to be 5 years (with an option for the Authority to extend the contract for an additional 2 years).
It is considered that this contract can be placed 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. GPI equipment performs the essential function of managing the known risk of an aircraft crashing whilst attempting to land on board a ship at sea. As such, the Authority requires absolute confidence that repairs and maintenance are carried out in accordance with design specifications, so as to ensure that the equipment is fit for purpose and enabling the Armed Forces to function safely. The safety mitigation that this equipment provides is a key tenet of the Certificate of Safety (Aviation) issued to each aviation-capable platform.
b. In respect of GPI and IAL, there is strict technical impracticability for a candidate other than the Company to achieve the required goals of maintaining and repairing the equipment. This is because only the Company has at its disposal the specialist know how, extensive technical knowledge and maintenance history of the products and the characteristics of the system(s) being maintained.
c. The Company has developed in-house Special To Type Test equipment that is required to maintain, repair, fit and Set to Work IAL and GPI equipment.
d. In respect of HELIVAS, the Company is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for the system. This range of equipment is made up of modernised versions of what is currently fitted to Royal Navy/Royal Fleet Arm legacy platforms (i.e. Digital version of GPI MK3), plus new equipment designed to further mitigate safety risks associated with landing aircraft on ships at sea. The Company is responsible for the overall system integrity and safe operability, ensuring form fit for function is maintained and certifying that this safety critical equipment remains fit for purpose, at component and system level. The same technical reasons as outlined in the paragraphs a) to c) above apply to HELIVAS.
e. VLA is essentially a combined set of common equipment that must operate effectively and reliably as a complete system capability. The Company is the only supplier able to perform the services due to its extensive technical know-how (together with its relationship with the OEM in relation to the GPI MK 2 equipment, and its access to their technical know-how, expertise and equipment specific tools and testing equipment).
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.