Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2016-04-28
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Land Equipment, Other
Country: UK
Region: Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Contract award without prior publication
CPV classification: 50116400
Estimated value:  GBP
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Repair and maintenance services of vehicle transmissions. Repair and maintenance services of vehicle transmissions. The contract is for Repair and Upgrade services of the Hydrogas Suspension System on the Challenger 2 platform.
Armoured Vehicles Programme: In-Service Platforms, part of the Ministry of Defence awarded the contract without prior publication with Horstman Defence Systems Limited (Horstman Ltd) for the repair and upgrade of 31 Hydrogas Suspension Units used in connection with the Challenger platform to Generation III Build Standard. 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 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Regulation 16 (1) (a) (ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons. This is because Horstman Ltd, following acquisition of Airlog UK Ltd in the 1980's supplied the original Generation I Units for the Challenger Main Battle Tank and was subsequently contracted to upgrade the units to Generation III Build Standards since that date. Only Horstman Defence Limited is considered to have the relevant technical expertise, including full access to original designs and know-how, necessary to repair and upgrade the Units to Gen III Standard. If a third party was to carry out this work, it would add disproportionate time, risk and cost to the upgrade of a vital piece of the heavy platform running gear system.
Suppliers interested in working with the Ministry of Defence should register on the MOD Supplier Information Database (SID) Register, available at www.contracts.mod.uk The MOD SID is a database of active and potential suppliers available to all MOD and UK Defence procurement personnel, and is the main supplier database of MOD Procurement organisations. Please note: the registration and publication of a company profile on the MOD SID does not mean or imply that the supplier has in any way been vetted or approved by the MOD. Suppliers wishing to compete for advertised MOD contracts must respond to any specific call for competition by submitting a separate expression of interest in accordance with the instructions of the purchasing organisation.
From 2.4.2014 the Government is introducing its new Government Security Classifications Policy (GSC) to replace the current Government Protective Marking Scheme. A key aspect of this is the reduction in the number of security classifications used. All suppliers to the Department are encouraged to make themselves aware of the changes as it may impact on this Requirement. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the new GSC.
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.
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-2016425-DCB-8115091.