Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-01-28
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Land Equipment, Special Projects SCM (SPSCM)
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 44316400
Estimated value: 550800 GBP

Technical requirements: Project COMTRACK provides situational awareness and tracks the location of deployed Explosive Ordinance Disposal (EOD) vehicles from a static control room. The system also allows communications and full interoperability with other Government entities, who utilise software currently provided by a third party. Additionally, it includes navigation software, the capability to create reports, and allows the user to search for information held on the system.
This procurement is in the form of a contract amendment to purchase hardware that supports the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) Command, Control and Information System (C2IS) and Tracking system, named COMTRACK. This system is used in the current and future EOD vehicles: WEDGEWOOD and GASKET. The new hardware purchase via this contract amendment will be integrated into the new GASKET variant of EOD vehicles currently coming into service.
The special projects explosive ordnance disposal and search (SPEOD&S) delivery team, as part of the UK Ministry of Defence (‘MOD’), intends to award a contract amendment to Terrafix Ltd (Terrafix) for the procurement of hardware that supports the explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) command, control and information system (C2IS) and tracking system, named COMTRACK used in the current and future EOD vehicles: Wedgewood and Gasket. The value of this contract amendment is approximately 660 000 GBP inc VAT. The expected delivery date (EDD) for this hardware is required by 31.3.2020 in order to allow for integration into the new EOD vehicle, Gasket, which will be replacing the Wedgewood fleet in a phased approach from January 2020 – April 2023. The contractor must meet the EDD in order to fulfil this requirement.
It is considered that this contract amendment can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of the Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16 (1)(a)(ii) of the UK Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons derived from the specific interoperability requirements. Terrafix is the OEM of the COMTRACK system and has previously designed and developed the electronic architecture including hardware elements to support current, in-service, complex multi-system communication architecture over multiple networks which provides the connection and integration across other communication systems hardware used by blue-light response specialists.
Not contracting with Terrafix would result in a complete rework of all the electronic architecture, including the hardware, introducing the risk of a high probability of failure to meet the specific User requirement of a C2IS capability that interoperates with Blue-Light Response Specialists. This would lead to an unacceptable level of operational risk related to the Blue-Light Response Specialists capability to directly share situational awareness, command tracking and communications. This capability is critical to Military Aid to Civilian Authorities (MACA) EOD operations.
Additionally, not contracting with Terrafix would result in a separate server needing to be installed at the Joint Services EOD Operating Centre (JSEODOC) in order to make the Gasket vehicle fleet operational with another aggregator system. This would be required in order to manage this fleet while continuing to manage the existing Wedgewood fleet, which is required to remain operational capability during the changeover between Gasket and Wedgewood. Due to the existing JSEODOC infrastructure, this would be technically impractical and would require significant work to be undertaken in order to run both systems simultaneously.
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-2020123-DCB-15856558


Winner: Terrafix Ltd
Award value: 550800