Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2020-11-02
Buyer: Luftambulansetjenesten HF v/ Advokatfirmaet Haavind
Country: NO
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 34114121 | 34710000: Helicopters and aeroplanes | 34711300: Unmanned aerial vehicles | 35612500 | 50211100: Aircraft maintenance services
Estimated value: 360000000 NOK

Technical requirements: The Air Ambulance Service intends to expand the existing contract with Norsk Luftambulanse AS for the operation of air ambulance bases to include the operation of the new permanent base in Kirkenes.
The procurement includes complete operation in Kirkenes, equivalent to the other 13 air ambulance bases, including operation of an air ambulance helicopter, reserve helicopter, and doctor car, staff, maintenance, stand-by, equipment, training, etc. The base in Kirkenes will operate an alternative 2 helicopter and will have the same quality and safety level as the other bases. The procurement will follow the same period as the contract for the other air ambulance helicopter bases, up to and including 31 May 2024, with an option for an extension for 2 + 2 years.
See the tender documentation, which formed the basis for the existing national contract for general requirements for the type of helicopter, see point 1.3.6 for the definition of the alternative 2nd helicopter.
The contract can be extended for 2 + 2 years. The equivalent will also apply to the expanded contract with operation of the new permanent base in Kirkenes.
The Air Ambulance Service signed a contract with Norsk Luftambulanse AS in 2016 for air ambulance helicopter services. The contract includes complete operation of 13 air ambulance bases, including the procurement and operation of an air ambulance helicopter and doctor car, staff, maintenance, stand-by, equipment, training, etc. The contract includes 17 helicopters that are dedicated to the air ambulance service. 13 helicopters must always be on stand-by at 12 bases. Unforeseen circumstances have arisen that now makes it necessary to expand the contract to include the operation of a new permanent base in Kirkenes, c.f. the Public Procurement Regulations, Section 28-1 (1), letter d.
The need to expand the contract is due to an increased need for stand-by resulting from a changed view of vulnerability/risk. The changed view is partly due to the challenges connected to the air ambulance services, and partly due to the Covid-19 pandemic's influence on the general approach to vulnerability/risk.
The aim of the original contract was to establish uniform national stand-by of air ambulance services. It has become apparant that this aim has not been fully met due to the development that has occurred since the original procurement was made in 2015/2016, which the Norwegian Air Ambulance Service could not have foreseen. The existing contract does not ensure adequate stand-by in North Norway with the current view on vulnerability and risk. The Air Ambulance Service's procurement need has thus changed due to external circumstances. In order to ensure adequate stand-by, it is necessary to establish a new permanent base in Kirkenes.
The original contest stated that there should only be one supplier per health region, and that one supplier should operate at least two health regions. This requirement is also relevant for the contract expansion. There are, thus, weighty reasons for the base in Kirkenes being operated by the same supplier that operates the rest of the region, amongst other things, out of consideration to reserve capacity of the helicopter and maintenance. The resource situation at Kirkenes Hospital also means that there will often be a need to staff the helicopter with doctors from other helicopter bases, so consideration to training in and routines for doctors means that the base in Kirkenes has to be operated by the same supplier as the other bases in the north.
Even if it had been possible to let another supplier operate the base in Kirkenes, it would take time before a new operator could be in place. A new contract, instead of an expansion of the existing contract, would lead to great uncertainty as to whether the Air Ambulance Service would be able to ensure continual operation in Kirkenes until it was in place. Furthermore, a new independent contract would have to be for a significantly shorter duration that the original contract, as a new contract must have the same end date as the original contract. There is doubt as to whether the same requirements listed in the original contract could be set in a new contest for a new contract of such short duration, as this would prevent true competition.
Air Ambulance Helicopter Services, Operation of a New Permanent Base in Kirkenes. A Contract will be entered into at the Earliest 10 Days after this Voluntary Ex-ante Transparency Notice has been published
A contract will be entered into at the earliest 10 days after this voluntary ex-ante transparency notice has been published.


Winner: Norsk Luftambulanse AS
Award value: 360000000