Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-02-25
Buyer: Ministry of Defence Merlin Project Team
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 50212000: Repair and maintenance services of helicopters
Estimated value: 2000000 GBP

Technical requirements: Merlin Emergent Work. A 5-year contract to carry out maintenance and repair of aircraft flight safety critical systems which are required to be rectified during the execution of existing contracted major modification programmes being undertaken. Any values stated in this notice are provisional and a contract has yet to be awarded.
Merlin Emergent work 2020 to 2025. A contract to carry out maintenance and repair of aircraft flight safety critical systems which are required to be rectified during the execution of existing contracted major modification programmes being undertaken. Estimated value 2 000 000 GBP over 5 years. Any values stated in this notice are provisional and a contract has yet to be awarded.
The Merlin Project Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to let a five year contract with Leonardo MW Ltd, the merlin helicopter original equipment manufacturer, to carry out maintenance and repair of aircraft flight safety critical systems which are required to be rectified during the execution of existing contracted major modification programmes being undertaken by Leonardo MW Ltd.
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 (DSPCR 2011 Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) for technical reasons. Leonardo MW Ltd are the only economic operator capable of maintaining the airworthiness, safety and configuration management of the whole aircraft prior to first flight and its release back to the UK Ministry of Defence. Only Leonardo MW Ltd, as the original equipment manufacturer, has the extensive in depth knowledge and specific know-how, proprietary information, aircraft specific tooling and airworthiness approvals required to carry out the required technical services. This work will be carried out simultaneously and in conjunction with other contracted major modification programmes to the aircraft, which are currently being undertaken by Leonardo MW Ltd. Therefore, if another contractor were to meet this requirement, the resultant lack of overall safety integrity would lead to Leonardo MW Ltd ceasing to underwrite the safety of the aircraft, leaving the MoD without the required assurance that any work has not compromised either the operational effectiveness or the safety of the aircraft. No third party will be able to provide the required safety assurance and therefore no other contractor can provide these services.
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. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications. 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-2020221-DCB-16034602


Winner: Leonardo MW. Ltd
Award value: 2000000