Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name, addresses and contact point(s)
Ministry of Defence
DES Digital, Elm 3b #4342, MOD Abbey Wood
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Contact
Nick Clarke
For the attention of
Clarke Nick
Email(s)
Country
United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
General address of the contracting authority/entity
https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=55140
Electronic access to information
https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=55140
Electronic submission of tenders and requests to participate
https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=55140
Further information
Further information can be obtained from the above mentioned contact point(s)
Specifications and additional documents (including documents for competitive dialogue and a dynamic purchasing system) can be obtained from
The above-mentioned contact point(s)
Tenders or requests to participate must be sent to
The above-mentioned contact point(s)
one.2) Type of the contracting authority
Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions
one.3) Main activity
Defence
one.4) Contract award on behalf of other contracting authorities/entities
The contracting authority is purchasing on behalf of other contracting authorities:
No
Section two: Object of the contract
two.1) Description
two.1.1) Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority
Defence Equipment Engineering and Asset Management System (DEEAMS)
two.1.2) Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance
Services
Service category No 13: Computer and related services
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
two.1.5) Short description of the contract or purchase(s)
This Contract Notice outlines the MOD’s intent to competitively assess, select and award a contract to deliver the Defence Equipment Engineering and Asset Management System (DEEAMS) capability.
The Defence Equipment Engineering and Asset Management System (DEEAMS) requirement will deliver the core technical solution for pan-Defence Engineering Through Life Support (ETLS). DEEAMS is the first of 5 Enterprise Wide Support Services (EWSS) which are part of the Business Modernisation for Support (BMfS) transformational programme. Whilst DEEAMS is intended to operate as a self-standing solution, the MOD reserves the right to utilise elements of the DEEAMS solution product set and the technology platform which is procured as part of the DEEAMS solution in the wider BMfS context for reasons of ease of business process, interfacing, compatibility and integration. Any such additional use would be an optional extension of scope under this DEEAMS procurement. The MOD’s expectation is that, should it exercise such optional extension, it will nonetheless require one or more third party suppliers to deliver the development, configuration, integration and support of each of the impacted wider BMfS solutions, and the selection of such supplier(s) will be subject to separate subsequent procurement exercise(s).
DEEAMS will initiate Support Advantage for Engineering by cohering ETLS across Defence by adopting a single solution underpinned by Commercial Off The Shelf (COTS) product(s) which delivers the best-in-class commercial sector business processes Out Of The Box (OOTB).
DEEAMS will improve Defence Support efficiency and Defence asset availability which includes all major equipment (88 fixed wing, 300+ rotary wing aircraft, 4,000+ land vehicles, 75+ ships) and minor equipment (more than 200,000 equipment types equating to more than 1.6m individual assets).
DEEAMS will rationalise the existing MOD IT application landscape not only replacing the existing 3-core Equipment & Asset & Management Systems (JAMES, UMMS, GOLDesp) but also a substantial number (20+) of discrete applications and paper-based systems. BMfS support transformation does not aim to meet the Business need through procuring a like for like direct replacement. The central drive to develop a Business transformation and Change strategy started with the development of a top-down Business Functional Model (BFM) for Defence Support. The principle ETLS functions must deliver Engineering and Equipment Support, which includes Maintenance & Repair, Engineering Planning, Obsolescence, Technical Information, Safety Management, enhancing and expanding the capabilities of the current E&AM applications. The MOD anticipates that DEEAMS will have up to 60,000 users across the Defence Support Network comprising MoD, Civil Servants, and Industry partners.
More details of the DEEAMS requirement are provided in the PQQ Pack on the DEEAMS Opportunity Listing on the Defence Sourcing Portal (link provided elsewhere in Contract Notice). DEEAMS has very specific Defence requirements, and noting the criticality of these factors, the MOD will be seeking novel solutions which will:
a. minimise Business disruption resulting from training a large number of users deployed globally. The DEEAMS System Integrator will be required to provide a COTS training package, which MoD will configure further following completion of a Training Needs Analysis.
b. Complete data migration at pace and have the ability to interoperate DEEAMS with JAMES, UMMS and GOLDesp, whilst ensuring no capability gap to the Front Line Commands.
c. Per the current capability, maintain assets in the fixed environment (i.e. within static MOD bases) and the deployed space (i.e. MOD units deployed operationally away from their normal base) with and without planned and unplanned disconnected communications.
d. Comply with both solution security and cyber protection requirements. DEEAMS will adhere to JSP440 and Secure by Design (SbD). The DEEAMS solution, and provider, has a mandatory requirement to facilitate, manage and support data at both Official Sensitive and Secret classifications. Work on Secret elements of the project will need to be undertaken in accordance with JSP440 and performed exclusively by UK Nationals holding SC clearance. This security and cyber protection requirement includes the environments Defence operates in, where engineering maintenance tasks will be conducted during planned and unplanned disconnection from core services. Disconnection can be for extended periods of time.
The MOD is therefore seeking to procure a modern, best of breed, industry standard COTS ETLS system to deliver Business Change and Transformation. This solution will be delivered by a System Integrator who will be responsible for the provision of the COTS core software including any associated configuration activity, as well as a basic training solution, and lead on the migration and integration and support the BMfS Business Change team.
The MOD is willing to consider licensing, support and hosting models for the COTS software which both meet its stated requirements and offer value for money. This may include a perpetual licensing model or another delivery model such as SaaS (Software as a Service).
The solution can be hosted using MOD Cloud hosting or utilising an alternative hosting arrangement compliant with JSP 604 (Defence Networks Governance) and National Cyber-Security Centre (NCSC) policies.
The SI will be responsible for determining the best COTS fit and software delivery model to meet the DEEAMS requirement. The tender evaluation process will be centered on an evidenced based process and be agnostic of how the SI bidders opt to meet the COTS approach.
The evaluation of pricing by the MOD will take into account relevant bidder, internal and/or third party costs to the MOD arising from the software licensing, support and hosting models adopted by the bidder.
The DEEAMS contract will mandate the use of a COTS product(s) and BMfS Support Transformation have issued the following description of COTS:
“A Software Product that is available in the Commercial Market and has been deployed with multiple customers which is configurable to the needs of the purchasing organisation. A Software product that can be used either ‘Out of the Box’ or configured to achieve the needs of the business and integrated to existing organisational systems and can provide extended functionality which can be delivered without re-engineering the COTS product. A Software Product that has an evolution roadmap which keep pace with a dynamically changing environment – ideally influenced by end customer user forums. The Software Product can be purchased via a licence or consumption-based agreements the cost of which covers ongoing product support (typically through an ongoing maintenance fee), periodic Functional upgrades (minor & major releases), proactively provided security patches to address known threats, upgrades to avoid future obsolescence issues and technical product support”
The duration of the contract will be up to 66 months from the date of contract, with an option for a further five years of ongoing software licence and maintenance provision (and hosting provision where this is provided by the supplier).
Delivery of DEEAMS will be made incrementally across 4 Releases with support being provided for each Release as it becomes operational, including support for at least 12 months following the final Release.
More details of the DEEAMS requirement are provided in the PQQ Pack on the DEEAMS Opportunity Listing on the Defence Sourcing Portal (link provided elsewhere in Contract Notice).
The Cyber Risk Profile for this requirement identified by the Cyber Risk Assessment is HIGH (Reference – 167689281). Please see DEFSTAN 05/138 for further information on Cyber Security and the Risk Profiles.
The competitive procurement will be managed in accordance with the Negotiated Procedure under DSPCR 2011.
The six highest scoring compliant suppliers at the PQQ stage will be taken through to the Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) phase of the competition. The full requirement will be issued in the ITN and suppliers will be given appropriate time to respond with their initial tenders.
The MOD will complete a tender evaluation against the evaluation strategy detailed in the ITN. Following the evaluation of initial tenders, each tender will be ranked in accordance with the evaluation methodology with the highest scoring tenderers going through to a demonstration phase, which may include validation visits by the MOD to existing customers of the tenderer who utilise the relevant proposed solution. The MOD expects to take the three top scoring tenderers through to the demonstration phase. In the demonstration phase, demonstrations and any validation visits will be used to validate the scores given for the initial tenders, and those scores may be adjusted to take into account the demonstration and any validation visits. Tenderers who have been unable to show during the demonstration phase that they meet the MOD’s mandatory requirements for the solution will be rejected.
The MOD expects to progress to negotiation with the three highest scoring tenderers following the demonstration phase. Upon completion of the negotiations, tenderers will be invited to submit final tenders; these final tenders should take into consideration the issues discussed at the negotiation.
A final evaluation will be undertaken by the MOD and the contract awarded against the evaluation methodology. The MOD intends to utilise a Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) methodology to award the contract.
The MOD reserves the right not to proceed with the negotiation phase of the tendering process and proceed directly to contract award with the tenderer who submits the best compliant tender in accordance with the published award criteria. The MOD reserves the right to cancel the competition at any stage with no liability for tenderer costs and expenses.
You may express your interest in this requirement by completing the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) found at the DEEAMS project Opportunities Notice no later than 17 April 2023. A link to this is provided elsewhere in the Contract Notice.
two.1.6) Common procurement vocabulary (CPV)
- 72320000 - Database services
Additional CPV code(s)
- 48430000 - Inventory management software package
- 48610000 - Database systems
- 48612000 - Database-management system
two.1.8) Lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.9) Information about variants
Variants will be accepted: No
two.2) Quantity or scope of the contract
two.2.1) Total quantity or scope
Estimated value excluding VAT:
£320,000,000
two.2.2) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of these options: Option 1: 5 year extension of initial 5.5 year duration.
Option 2.Whilst DEEAMS is intended to operate as a self-standing solution, the Authority reserves the right to utilise elements of the DEEAMS solution product set and the technology platform in the wider BMfS context when procured as part of the DEEAMS solution. This will be considered to ease the transformation of business process, interfacing, compatibility and integration. Any such additional use would be an optional extension of scope under this DEEAMS procurement. The Authority’s expectation is that, should it exercise such optional extension, it will nonetheless require one or more third party suppliers to deliver the development, configuration, integration and support of each of the impacted wider BMfS solutions, and the selection of such supplier(s) is likely to be subject to separate subsequent procurement exercise(s)
two.3) Duration of the contract or time limit for completion
Duration in months: 126 (from the award of the contract)
Section three. Legal, economic, financial and technical information
three.1) Conditions relating to the contract
three.1.5) Information about security clearance
Candidates which do not yet hold security clearance may obtain such clearance until: 18 June 2024
three.2) Conditions for participation
three.2.1) Personal situation
Criteria regarding the personal situation of economic operators (that may lead to their exclusion) including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Suppliers Instructions How to Express Interest in this Tender:
1. Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once)
- Browse to the eSourcing Portal
- Click the “Click here to register” link
- Accept the terms and conditions and click “continue”
- Enter your correct business and user details
- Note the username you chose and click “Save” when complete
- You will shortly receive an email with your unique password (please keep this secure)
2. Express an Interest in the tender
- Login to the portal with the username/password
- Click the "PQQs Open to All Suppliers" link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires open to any registered supplier)
- Click on the relevant PQQ to access the content.
- Click the “Express Interest” button in the “Actions” box on the left-hand side of the page.
- This will move the PQQ into your “My PQQs” page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only)
- Click on the PQQ code, you can now access any attachments by clicking the “Settings and Buyer Attachments” in the “Actions” box
3. Responding to the tender
- You can now choose to “Reply” or “Reject” (please give a reason if rejecting)
- You can now use the ‘Messages’ function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification
- Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ
- There may be a mixture of online & offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available)
If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the eTendering help desk.
Criteria regarding the personal situation of subcontractors (that may lead to their rejection) including requirements relating to enrolment on professional or trade registers
Information and formalities necessary for evaluating if the requirements are met: Suppliers Instructions How to Express Interest in this Tender:
1. Register your company on the eSourcing portal (this is only required once)
- Browse to the eSourcing Portal
- Click the “Click here to register” link
- Accept the terms and conditions and click “continue”
- Enter your correct business and user details
- Note the username you chose and click “Save” when complete
- You will shortly receive an email with your unique password (please keep this secure)
2. Express an Interest in the tender
- Login to the portal with the username/password
- Click the "PQQs Open to All Suppliers" link. (These are Pre-Qualification Questionnaires open to any registered supplier)
- Click on the relevant PQQ to access the content.
- Click the “Express Interest” button in the “Actions” box on the left-hand side of the page.
- This will move the PQQ into your “My PQQs” page. (This is a secure area reserved for your projects only)
- Click on the PQQ code, you can now access any attachments by clicking the “Settings and Buyer Attachments” in the “Actions” box
3. Responding to the tender
- You can now choose to “Reply” or “Reject” (please give a reason if rejecting)
- You can now use the ‘Messages’ function to communicate with the buyer and seek any clarification
- Note the deadline for completion, then follow the onscreen instructions to complete the PQQ
- There may be a mixture of online & offline actions for you to perform (there is detailed online help available)
If you require any further assistance please consult the online help, or contact the eTendering help desk.
Section four: Procedure
four.1) Type of procedure
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Negotiated
four.1.2) Limitations on the number of operators who will be invited to tender or to participate
Envisaged number of operators: 6
Objective criteria for choosing the limited number of candidates: Contained within DEEAMS Pre-Qualification Questionnaire
four.1.3) Reduction of the number of operators during the negotiation or dialogue
Recourse to staged procedure to gradually reduce the number of solutions to be discussed or tenders to be negotiated: yes
four.2) Award criteria
four.2.1) Award criteria
the criteria stated in the specifications, in the invitation to tender or to negotiate or in the descriptive document
four.2.2) Information about electronic auction
An electronic auction has been used: no
four.3) Administrative information
four.3.4) Time limit for receipt of tenders or requests to participate
17 April 2023 - 11:59pm
four.3.6) Language(s) in which tenders or requests to participate may be drawn up
English
Section six: Complementary information
six.1) Information about recurrence
This is a recurrent procurement: No
six.2) Information about European Union funds
The contract is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No
six.3) Additional information
The Contracting Authority intends to use an e-Tendering system in this procurement exercise, please visit www.contracts.mod.uk for full details and to register your interest in this procurement.