Public procurement notice: Voluntary Ex Ante Transparency Notice
Published: 2018-02-01
Buyer: Ministry of Defence
Country: UK
Contract type: Works
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 35813000: Military boots
Estimated value: 451223 GBP

Technical requirements: The Apache Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP) team has a requirement to purchase a minimum total of 8 x Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets (AAIH) and 1 x AAIH Alignment Kit as identified as a critical path deliverable for the Apache CSP. It is necessary to seek procurement of the AAIH system direct with the supplier (Elbit Systems of America (ESA) as the Design Authority (DA) and sole vendor of the US Army AAIH system. An AAIH Alignment Kit is required to enable custom fitting of the Helmets to UK pilots.
The Apache Capability Sustainment Programme (CSP) team has a requirement to purchase a minimum total of 8 x Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets (AAIH) and 1 x AAIH Alignment Kit. It is necessary to seek procurement of the AAIH system direct with the supplier (Elbit Systems of America (ESA) as the Design Authority (DA) and sole vendor of the US Army AAIH system. An AAIH Alignment Kit is required to enable custom fitting of the Helmets to UK pilots. The Authority has set out justifiable grounds for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights including for intellectual property rights within this Voluntary Transparency Notice (VTN). The Authority will therefore award this Contract in accordance with Regulation 16(1)((a)(ii) of Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations (DSPCR) 2011. The DSPCR 2011 implemented the European Union (EU) Directive 2009/81/EC on Defence and Sensitive Security Procurement (from here on referred to as “the directive”) into UK Law.
An initial cohort of UK Apache pilots will attend US Army delivered D-E conversion training. In order to support the US delivered courses, a procurement of 8 Helmets is required. ESA is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems of America Forth Worth (EFW) and is the only organisation that can qualify the AAIH system on behalf of the US Army.
The Apache Project Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to place a contract with Elbit Systems of America (ESA) to deliver a minimum of 8 x Apache Aviator Integrated Helmets (AAIH) and 1 x AAIH Alignment Kit for the Apache Capability Sustainment Programme. ESA, an EFW subsidiary is the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and is the only source presently capable and approved by the US Government (USG) to provide these items for the Apache AH-64E system. Intellectual Property Rights that include the helmet system technical design drawings are wholly owned by EFW. The UK needs to maintain a commonality of acceptance standards and build quality with the USG in the provision of the UK AAIH system, failure to maintain commonality may risk product quality and safety standards, potentially resulting in incompatibility with the Apache AH-64E aircraft systems and flight simulators being procured via a Foreign Military Sales (FMS) case (UK-B-WSO) with the USG.
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-2018130-DCB-11813171.


Winner: Elbit Systems of America LLC
Award value: 451223