Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2017-02-25
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Ships, Commercially Supported Shipping (CSS) Team
Country: UK
Region: Bristol, City of
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Negotiated procedure
CPV classification: 50241000
Estimated value: 11000000 GBP
Submission deadline: 2017-03-25
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Commercially Supported Shipping (CSS) Future In-Service Support (FISS) — Technical Coatings Requirement for thirteen (13) Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) and one (1) Royal Navy (RN) Vessels.
The contract will be for ten (10) years, with a value for money exercise commencing at the three and a half (3.5) year point. The Authority will have the option, at its sole discretion, to break the contract at the five (5) year point if it believes value for money is not being achieved.
Years one (1) to three (3) will be firm price i.e. not subject to variation, and years four (4) to ten (10) will be fixed price, subject to the price index / indices stated in the contract. The justification for the proposed framework duration is that RFA vessels and the RN Ocean Survey Vessel (OSV) require a refit period every five (5) years, and a ten (10) year framework will allow for two (2) refit periods within one contractual agreement which will provide benefits to both the successful bidder and Authority through learning from experience. Planning a refit period requires approximately eighteen (18) months, and a seven (7) year contract period would risk interruption to the planning or delivery of a second refit period. Certification is required at a docking every five (5) years so a ten (10) year framework would afford full certification twice preventing the risk of uncertified and therefore unusable vessels in the fleet. This is therefore deemed as exceptional circumstances.
Repair and maintenance services of ships. The Commercially Supported Shipping (CSS) Team manages the In-Service Support of a diverse range of platforms including the Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) flotilla and the Royal Navy (RN) Hydrographic and Patrol (H&P) including Survey Ships. The majority of contracts which support these platforms will expire in 2018.
This requirement is for the planning, procurement and supply of technical coatings services to support x13 RFA and x1 RN platforms. Services to include: technical coating systems (internal and external); technical services, including an on-site technical coating advisor; surveying capability; research and development.
The successful bidder must support all requirements over the ten (10) year framework agreement duration.
The scope of this requirement covers the provision and procurement of technical coatings and associated technical services for the following ships: RFA WAVE KNIGHT, RFA WAVE RULER (Wave class); RFA FORT AUSTIN, RFA FORT ROSALIE, RFA FORT VICTORIA (Fort Class); RFA LYME BAY, RFA MOUNTS BAY, RFA CARDIGAN BAY (Bay Class); RFA ARGUS; HMS SCOTT (OSV); RFA TIDESPRING, RFA TIDERACE, RFA TIDESURGE, RFA TIDEFORCE (Tide Class);. The successful contractors may need to offer national and international technical coatings support and assist with the planning, management and implementation of maintenance periods. Maintenance periods may include, but not be limited to: Refit Periods; Docking Periods; Contractor Support Periods; Annual Certification Periods; and Assisted Maintenance Periods.
A joint team (the Authority, a technical coatings advisor from the successful technical coatings bidder, and the successful maintenance/refit/repair contractor) will be co-located at the maintenance/refit/repair contractor's premises and work collaboratively with allocated maintenance contractors and CSS staff. CSS is currently running a competition to identify the maintenance contractors suitable for managing the support requirements. This is split into three separate capabilities as follows: Lot 1(Wave and Fort Class), Lot 2 (Bay Class, RFA Argus and HMS Scott) and Lot 3 (Tide Class). It is envisaged that there will be one (1) joint support team per maintenance contractor.
The contract will be for ten (10) years, with a value for money exercise commencing at the three and a half (3.5) year point. The Authority will have the option, at its sole discretion, to break the contract at the five (5) year point if it believes value for money is not being achieved. Years one (1) to three (3) will be firm price i.e. not subject to variation, and years four (4) to ten (10) will be fixed price, subject to the price index / indices stated in the contract. The justification for the proposed framework duration is that RFA and OSV vessels require a refit period every five (5) years, and a ten (10) year framework will allow for two (2) refit periods within one contractual agreement which will provide benefits to both the successful bidder and Authority through learning for experience. Planning a refit period requires eighteen (18) months, and a seven (7) year contract period would risk interruption to the planning or delivery of a second refit period. Certification is required at a docking every five (5) years so a ten (10) year framework would afford full certification twice preventing the risk of uncertified and therefore unusable vessels in the fleet. This is therefore deemed as exceptional circumstances.
No work whatsoever is guaranteed under any resulting framework agreement or contract and there is no guarantee that any framework agreement or contract will be put in place in relation to this notice. No compensation etc. will be paid if a tender or resulting framework agreement is withdrawn for any reason. Bidders should take part in this process only on the basis that they fully understand and accept this position.
Potential Providers are advised CSS currently utilise Hempel Ltd coating products for all of its internal, external and specialist coating requirements. Where it is necessary to remove these current products and to prepare and re-apply your own specified proprietary products as part of any Tendered support solution, the cost of this activity will be considered and evaluated along with all tendered costs. A list of the current application requirements is detailed at Appendix A to Annex C of the dPQQ guidance.
The Authority shall reserve the right to request a proportional Parent company guarantee or Bank Bond.
If a group of economic operators submits a bid, the group must nominate a lead organisation to deal with the Authority. The Authority shall require the group to form a legal entity before entering into the contract.
— 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 a Security Aspects Letter, the Authority reserves the right to amend the terms of the Security Aspects Letter to reflect any changes in national law or government policy whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, and the aspects to which any protective marking applies or otherwise.
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.

Eligibility requirements: (a) Appropriate statements from the economic operator's bankers or where appropriate, evidence of relevant professional risk indemnity insurance (b) The presentation of balance-sheets or extracts from the balance-sheets, where publication of the balance-sheet is required under the law of the country in which the economic operator is established Two (2) years audited accounts (if available) or equivalent information, which will be sought through Pre-Qualification Questionnaire
The estimated average annual contract value is 1 100 000 - 1 400 000 GBP. If the estimated average annual contract value a potential supplier is planning to bid for is greater than 40 % of its turnover, the Authority reserves the right to exclude them from being selected to tender. The Authority reserves the right to exclude the supplier from being selected to tender except where the supplier provides, to the satisfaction of the Authority, evidence showing it has sufficient economic and financial capability, e.g. such evidence may include: (1) Any additional information proving it has sufficient economic and financial resources to deliver the requirement; and (2) State whether the supplier is willing to provide the Authority with an indemnity, guarantee or bank bond. A financial assessment will be undertaken on the supplier's financial status. An overall pass / fail judgement will be made after considering areas such as turnover, profit, net assets, liquidity, gearing and capacity. This assessment will include the Parent company where applicable. An independent financial assessment obtained from a reputable credit rating organisation will be utilised as part of this process.
See Pre-Qualification Questionnaire and Guidance document.