Public procurement notice: Prior Information Notice Without Call For Competition
Published: 2016-09-27
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Weapons, Project Abel
Country: UK
Region: Bristol, City of
Contract type: Supplies
CPV classification: 35300000: Weapons, ammunition and associated parts
Estimated value: 1000000000 GBP

Technical requirements: The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) has commenced a review of its General Munitions (GM) procurement and support strategies (Project Abel) to identify whether there are alternative strategies that may provide improved Value for Money (VfM). This PIN is to initiate the process of seeking Industry views on current and alternative strategies; therefore, any supplier or organisation which believes it can contribute to the review should respond according to the directions provided below. In issuing this PIN and engaging with the market, DE&S is not committing to carry out any procurement in relation to the requirements stated in this PIN. Equally non-participation in these activites will not be taken into account in any future procurement activities or preclude any organisation from submitting a tender in any future competition.
The GM portfolio covers approximately 700 different products, supplied to all Front Line Commands for operational and training use — including small arms ammunition, mortars, grenades, medium calibre cannon ammunition, shells, explosives & detonators, depth charges, pyrotechnics and countermeasures.. A significant proportion of the portfolio is currently supplied via the Munitions Acquisition the Supply Solution (MASS) Contract placed with BAE Systems in 2008, however the total annual consumption across the entire portfolio (including non-MASS items) is currently about 300 000 000 GBP
MoD objectives of this engagement activity are to understand Industry capabilities and test the hypothesis that a number of procurement and support strategies are available for future procurement of GM. As part of this exercise, MOD is willing to consider trade-offs at product level (for example within the cost/time/performance envelope) and at the portfolio level against a range of strategic factors including:
— Freedom of Action (The degree of influence over industrial capabilities and technology to ensure operational independence. This includes location of manufacture)
MoD would be particularly interested in hearing from organisations which have experience in the Defence Munitions or similar environments, or have significant academic experience in a relevant field. The MoD is using a third party to support this review and therefore does not require any interest to be submitted by firms wishing to support the Authority in its review.
Any organisation wishing to participate in engaging with the MoD regarding current and/or future procurement strategies for GM should respond using the contact details provided by no later than 6.10.2016. Following responses to this PIN, a representative cross-section of no more than 10 (ten) organisations will be provided with additional information who will then be invited to provide detailed inputs/views through further structured bilateral engagement. This is expected to cover, inter alia, organisations' views about market capability/capacity, key opportunities, risks and issues, procurement strategy(ies) and associated timelines, costs and benefits. Should more than 10 (ten) organisations express an interest, the Authority reserves the right to issue a minimum criteria exercise to all parties to enable a selection process.
The follow on engagements are likely to begin with a series of workshops that are anticipated to run between 21.10.2016 and 18.11.2016. Further workshops will be scheduled as appropriate with each participating organisation, and all activity under this phase is expected to be completed before the end of January 2017. Decisions about possible alternative procurement & support strategies are subject to high level MoD and Treasury Approval expected to be sought in Q3/2017.
Please note: MoD will not be liable to reimburse any costs incurred by any parties who respond to this PIN.
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-2016922-DCB-8830321.