Award

Classification, Survey and Design Appraisal Services for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessels

  • Ministry of Defence, Naval Ship Support

F15: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice

Notice identifier: 2024/S 000-002836

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-04352e

Published 26 January 2024, 6:27pm



Section one: Contracting authority/entity

one.1) Name and addresses

Ministry of Defence, Naval Ship Support

Bristol

Email

DESShipsComrcl-NSS-RFA-TLS@mod.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

Region code

UKK11 - Bristol, City of

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://contracts.mod.uk/web/login.html

one.4) Type of the contracting authority

Ministry or any other national or federal authority

one.5) Main activity

Defence


Section two: Object

two.1) Scope of the procurement

two.1.1) Title

Classification, Survey and Design Appraisal Services for the Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessels

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 50241000 - Repair and maintenance services of ships

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

The MOD intends to amend the Contract for the provision of Classification, Survey and Design Appraisal Services to support the FISS requirement for Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessels, Royal Navy Ocean Survey Vessel and Survey Vessels by extending the current term by 18 months until 30th September 2025 to ensure the continued provision of in-service support.

two.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)

Value excluding VAT: £4,420,000

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UK - United Kingdom

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

The Royal Fleet Auxiliary (RFA) is a naval auxiliary fleet owned by the UK's Ministry of Defence.

The Ministry of Defence (MOD) manages the in-service support of the Royal Fleet Auxiliary, Hydrographic and Patrol vessels via the Future In-Service Support (FISS) Contracts, including Contract number CSS/0126 (the “Contract”) with Lloyd’s Register EMEA (“Lloyd’s Register”).

The MOD intends to amend the Contract for the provision of Classification, Survey and Design Appraisal Services to support the FISS requirement for Royal Fleet Auxiliary Vessels, Royal Navy Ocean Survey Vessel and Survey Vessels by extending the current term by 18 months until 30th September 2025 to ensure the continued provision of in-service support. The current value of the contract is £3,400,000 and the approximate value of the extension is £1,020,000, giving an estimated revised contract value following the extension of £4,420,000.

two.2.5) Award criteria

Criterion: Technical Merit 100

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: No

two.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No


Section four. Procedure

four.1) Description

four.1.1) Type of procedure

Negotiated procedure without publication of a contract notice

  • No tenders or no suitable tenders/requests to participate in response to negotiated procedure with prior publication of a contract notice
  • The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development

Explanation:

In accordance with regulation 4 of The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (DSPCR) as amended (in particular by SI 2019/697 and SI 2020/1450). Prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is no longer appropriate. It is considered that the award of the contract, by way of an amendment to the Contract, without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (as required by the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR as the continued in-service support services cannot for technical reasons be carried out by a different supplier due to the mandatory statutory, regulatory and MOD standards required whilst ensuring on-going operability.

The vessels are operated and maintained to both commercial and naval standards and are subject to classification society rules and Naval Authority (NA) rules. Lloyd’s Register have co-authored the Lloyd’s Register Naval Ship Rules and Regulations (LRNSR) for the Classification of Ships and Naval Ships that apply to naval and RFA ships. RFA Tide class vessels are built to these rules and the future FSS class are being designed and built to these LRNSR rules.

Only Lloyd’s Register, the parent Classification Society of the LRNSR rule set, can conduct surveys, plan appraisals and provide certification against any RFA vessels which are classified as being “in-class” in accordance with the LRNSR. In operating and maintaining vessels in line with LRNSR, it is not possible for another Classification Society to provide equivalent certification against an alternative set of Naval Ship rules. Changing the rule set in respect of which the RFA platforms are currently classified would introduce an unacceptable level of safety risk to the vessels and personnel.

Lloyd’s Register is the only Classification society, for these RFA vessels, that have delegated authority from the DE&S Naval Authority Group for issuing Naval Ship Stability Certification on their behalf.

four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No


Section five. Award of contract/concession

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

five.2) Award of contract/concession

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

26 January 2024

five.2.2) Information about tenders

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire

Lloyd's Register EMEA

Nailsea

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UKK11 - Bristol, City of
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

Yes

five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)

Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £4,420,000

five.2.5) Information about subcontracting

The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted


Section six. Complementary information

six.4) Procedures for review

six.4.1) Review body

Ministry of Defence, Naval Ship Support

Bristol

Country

United Kingdom