Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Contact
Lewis Baker
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-equipment-and-support
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
Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 50333000 - Maintenance services of radio-communications equipment
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Supply of spares and repairs, engineering support.
two.1.6) Information about lots
This contract is divided into lots: No
two.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £1,900,000 / Highest offer: £2,200,000 taken into consideration
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Contract for Spares and Repairs, engineering support
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
3 single +1 option years.
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 restricted procedure
- The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development
- The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:
- absence of competition for technical reasons
Explanation:
Communications & Situational Awareness (CSA) Project Team within Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), part of the UK Ministry of Defence, (“the Authority”) intends to award a Contract to Hensoldt Ltd. (“the Contractor”) for Supply of Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs. The Contract will extend the services currently provided to the Authority by the Contractor for a period of two years to 31 March 2025 with a further three option years included to 31 March 2028. The value of the proposed Contract is £1.9-2.2m.
A separate contract (CSA/4030) for Navigation Radar Programme (NRP) project is rolling out across the Royal Navy (RN) and Royal Auxiliary Fleet (RFA). Purpose of the Contract is for spare and repair, plus technical support of the legacy Radar equipment.
It’s considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 for technical reasons.
Through its support of Radar 1007/1009 over the last 32 years, Hensoldt UK has developed a significant level design and technical knowledge. The company’s engineers can be regarded as being Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEP) regarding Radar 1007/1009 expertise. From this, there is a limited supply of knowledge available in the market landscape and has now made the current contractor the only viable option.
There are significant implications associated with failing to effectively support Radar 1007/1009 by the introduction of a new supplier to support this equipment. One of the implications is the possibility of compromising the platform safety as the equipment is a mission critical system to ensure safe navigation of platforms at sea. Therefore, any compromise to the system may leave the MoD exposed to operational deficiencies, preventing the platform from safely achieving its operational programme. As the MoD does not have the required technical knowledge or understanding of the system and equipment to support an alternative supplier, by introducing a new supplier, with no prior experience, technical SQEP or specific tools and testing equipment for the Radar system’s would introduce an unacceptable risk to safety and equipment availability.
This is on the basis that the Contractor (Original Equipment Manufacturer - OEM), for this equipment, have sole capability of performing the contract. No other company has access to the specific repair capabilities or any information to reverse engineer. Replacement of the existing legacy equipment is now done through repair and parts salvaged from items deemed Beyond Economical Repair (BER) with few spares supply available on the market. The Contractor owns the IPR imbedded in the software within the legacy equipment and possess the SQEP technical expertise to provide the repair activity at the sole repair facility.
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
Title
Engineering Support, Supply of Spares and Repairs
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
31 March 2023
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
Kelvin Hughes Limited Trading as Hensoldt UK
Enfield
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UKI54 - Enfield
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £1,900,000 / Highest offer: £2,200,000 taken into consideration
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
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Country
United Kingdom