Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-08-11
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Submarines, In-Service Submarines (ISM) Team
Country: UK
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 31421000 | 35512000: Submarines
Estimated value: 2840000 GBP

Technical requirements: Procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8 800 main battery cells, associated support equipment, and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute, and Trafalgar Class submarines.
Procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells, associated support equipment, and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute, and Trafalgar Class submarines.
(i) The purpose of this Voluntary Transparency Notice (VTN) is to alert the market of the intention of In-Service Submarines, which forms part of the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA), to enter into a contract on a single source basis with Enersys Ltd.
(ii) The contract shall be for the procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells, associated support equipment, and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute, and Trafalgar Class submarines.
(iii) Enersys’ exit from the submarine main batteries market and their transfer of all related assets to another supplier requires a final contract to be placed with Enersys to ensure continuity of supply and provide qualification assurance upon proprietary transfers. As the Original Equipment Manufacturer, Enersys are the only supplier capable of providing In-Service Submarines with the requirement.
(iv) The contract shall be subject to the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC and Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations (DSPCR) 2011 (SI 2011/No 1848) where for technical reasons the contract may only be awarded to a particular economic operator. This is due to the technical need to utilise the Enersys cell design 8800 main battery cells to ensure operability with multiple systems such as agitation system; ventilation system; shock; electrical protection; endurance and to ensure nuclear safety.
(v) These systems have been designed and validated against the 8800Ahr Enersys cell parameters and onboard battery configuration. The main battery compartment is sized around an exact multiple of the width and length of the cell. Furthermore, all support equipment is sized both electrically and spatially around the 8800Ahr Enersys cell. Any replacement battery would require a complete redesign and validation of the relevant systems within the battery compartment. As such, using any other cell would present significant interoperability and incompatibility issues. Enersys are the only contractor able to qualify the supply of the required configuration of their cell.
(vi) Furthermore, Article 28(3)(a) of Directive 2009/81/EC and DSPCR 2011 Regulation 16(1)(b)(i) part (bb) applies. That is because additional Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 Main battery cells are required as a partial replacement for the existing cells, and to obtain cells from any economic operator other than PMB Defence would oblige SDA to acquire goods having different technical characteristics which would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.
(vii) It is anticipated that the contract award date will be February 2021 with an estimated value of GBP 2.84 million (ex VAT). Please note that the dates provided are provided for indicative purposes only.
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-202086-DCB-16919902


Winner: Enersys Ltd
Award value: 2840000