Public procurement notice: Contract Award Notice
Published: 2016-01-20
Buyer: Ministry of Defence, Air Support, Air Commodities Project Team (AC PT)
Country: UK
Region: UNITED KINGDOM
Contract type: Supplies
Procedure: Negotiated without a prior call for competition
CPV classification: 35813000: Military boots
Estimated value: 450000 GBP

Technical requirements: Military helmets. A 2 year contract for the supply of Communication Earplugs with supporting services to enable minor modifications.
The Air Commodities Team of the Ministry of Defence, intends to award a 2 year contract to Communication and Ear Protection Inc. of Enterprise, Alabama, USA for the supply of Communication Earplugs (together with supporting services to enable minor modifications). The contract value is estimated to be 425 000 GBP VAT ex. It is considered that this contract could be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication pursuant to Article 28 (1) (e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16 (1) (a) (ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations (DSPCR) of 2011), because for technical reasons, the contract can only be awarded to Communication and Ear Protection Inc. The Communication Earplugs provide essential hearing protection for aircrew. A competition was commenced in November 2013 for the provision of both custom-moulded and pre-moulded Communication Earplugs but was not successful as none of the tenderers could provide both requirements. A further competition is being re-run (advert published December 2014) with a revised specification and division into lots. The Ministry of Defence needs to enter into the proposed contract in order to ensure a continued supply of Communication Earplugs (together with supporting services) to enable it to meet its operational requirements in a manner compatible with relevant Health and Safety Regulations. Obtaining replacement spares from another economic operator would necessitate the equipment having to be tested by various authorities to establish their interoperability before being approved for use. Furthermore, achieving the required airworthiness standards required by the Military Airworthiness Authority (MAA), is a complex and lengthy process as any new manufacturer would have to obtain all licenses, approvals and MAA accreditations for the equipment prior to it being accepted for use, and would add additional, disproportionate time and cost and unacceptable risk to the requirement, thus impacting on operations.
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.
This contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk


Winner: Communication and Ear Protection Inc.
Number of bids: 1