Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-02-28
Buyer: Defence Equipment and Support
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 35613000
Estimated value:  GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-04-05
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Unmanned Aerial Vehicles. The requirement is for the provision of contractor support to operations for a Military Regulated Civil Owned (MRCO) unmanned air system (UAS) to deliver the Royal Navy (RN) Flexible Tactical Unmanned Air System (FTUAS) Urgent Capability Requirement (UCR) for Royal Navy/Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) forward presence shipping to counter Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) in an operational theatre.
The requirement is for a capability to FIND, FIX, TRACK and RECOGNISE USVs operating alone, in large numbers or in combination with small manned vessels. It is anticipated that the solution will permanently embark in shipping (including Type 23/Type 31/Type 45/LSDA/AO) to provide a persistent, intimate, integrated and assured capability to the parent unit. The ability to operate at sufficient range from its parent ship to facilitate timely decision making is anticipated as is the need for a maritime radar to satisfactorily deliver ‘FIND’.
The contract duration will be for a period of 36 months with options to extend at 6 monthly intervals (up to a maximum of 2 years) subject to Ministry of Defence approval prior to the expiry of the initial 36 months period.
The requirement is for the provision of contractor support to operations for a Military Regulated Civil Owned (MRCO) unmanned air system (UAS) to deliver the Royal Navy (RN) Flexible Tactical Unmanned Air System (FTUAS) Urgent Capability Requirement (UCR) for Royal Navy/Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) forward presence shipping to counter Unmanned Surface Vessels (USVs) in an operational theatre.
The requirement is for a capability to FIND, FIX, TRACK and RECOGNISE USVs operating alone, in large numbers or in combination with small manned vessels. It is anticipated that the solution will permanently embark in shipping (including Type 23/Type 31/Type 45/LSDA/AO) to provide a persistent, intimate, integrated and assured capability to the parent unit. The ability to operate at sufficient range from its parent ship to facilitate timely decision making is anticipated as is the need for a maritime radar to satisfactorily deliver ‘FIND’.
The contract duration will be for a period of 36 months with options to extend at 6 monthly intervals (up to a maximum of 2 years) subject to Ministry of Defence approval prior to the expiry of the initial 36 months period.
The authority will apply all the offences listed in Article 39(1) of Directive 2009/81/EC (implemented as Regulation 23(1) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations (DSPCR) 2011 in the UK) and all of the professional misconducts listed at Article 39(2) of Directive 2009/81/EC (see also Regulation 23(2) in the DSPCR 2011) to the decision of whether a candidate is eligible to be invited to tender.
A full list of the Regulation 23(1) and 23(2) criteria are at http://www.contracts.mod.uk/delta/project/reasonsForExclusion.html#dspr
Candidates will be required to sign a declaration confirming whether they do or do not have any of the listed criteria as part of the pre-qualification process.
Candidates who have been convicted of any of the offences under Article 39(1) are ineligible and will not be selected to bid, unless there are overriding requirements in the general interest (including defence and security factors) for doing so.
Candidates who are guilty of any of the offences, circumstances or misconduct under Article 39(2) may be excluded from being selected to bid at the discretion of the authority.
The most economically advantageous tender (MEAT) in accordance with the criteria to be stated in the invitation to tender documentation.
To support the RN UCR, it is likely that the successful solution will be mature, possess a civil type airworthiness certification (or equivalent) and need little adaptation or modification (e.g. COTS/MOTS) to meet the requirement and be deployable in the operational theatre at sea.
Given the nature of the Military Regulated Civil Owned (MRCO) service, the contractor will need to deploy its personnel in operational situations to provide the MRCO service under Contractors on Deployed Operations (CONDO) terms.

Eligibility requirements: Minimum ISO 9001 or equivalent.