Award

OB1 Data Provision

  • Ministry of Defence

F15: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice

Notice identifier: 2022/S 000-010413

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-032f4b

Published 21 April 2022, 4:46pm



Section one: Contracting authority/entity

one.1) Name and addresses

Ministry of Defence

Salisbury

Email

mburden@dstl.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-science-and-technology-laboratory

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

OB1 Data Provision

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 32531000 - Satellite communications equipment

two.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

two.1.4) Short description

The objective of the current package of work is to obtain access to a supply of commercial spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data that is representative of that collected from a small SAR platform. The data provision will serve to de-risk and develop a UK MoD Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (TCPED) ground architecture and support validation of future operational workflows.

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: 420,000 EUR

two.2) Description

two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)

  • 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • FI - Finland
  • UK - United Kingdom

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

The objective of the current package of work is to obtain access to a supply of commercial spaceborne Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) data that is representative of that collected from a small SAR platform. The data provision will serve to de-risk and develop a UK MoD Tasking, Collection, Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (TCPED) ground architecture and support validation of future operational workflows.

This is going to be single source to ICEYE.

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price

two.2.11) Information about options

Options: Yes

Description of options

Additional data sets.

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

Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below

  • The contract has its object services listed in Annex II B

Explanation:

The Defence Science & Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Ob1 project intends to award a contract to ICEYE to purchase SAR imagery data. This SAR imagery data will be used to mature existing tools and develop new tools and techniques for SAR processing, define and test Processing, Exploitation and Dissemination (PED) architectures and define downstream solutions to support the end-to-end data flow for Ob1. The contract will be for up to eleven months from May 2022 until March 2023 with an estimated value of £350k.

In accordance with the provisions of The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 SI No. 2020/1319, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended (in particular by SI 2020/1319). 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 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 32(b)(ii) of the PCR 2015 because competition is absent for technical reasons.

Dstl require ICEYE high-resolution imagery (up to 0.2m) associated with a range of modes that closely reflect the modes of interest for the Ob1 Operational Capability Demonstrator (OCD) and for the cluster configuration that is intended for the Full Operating Capability (FOC). Dstl require an unclassified product so that there can be collaboration to innovate advanced imaging routines with UK academia and non-defence industrial firms. ICEYE is the only commercial SAR satellite provider who operate in a way to meet Dstl requirements.

Dstl requires Common Phase History Data (CPHD) which is the only option that will allow interfacing with existing models and SAR image processors available to Dstl - this CPHD data structure is fundamental for imaging routines to work/perform smoothly.

It is essential that the SAR imagery data is compatible with the existing hardware. Another government department have already awarded a contract for ICEYE hardware to be integrated with Dstl, and ICEYE is the only supplier who can provide suitable SAR data products that will be compatible with the ICEYE hardware. In addition, the data generated by ICEYE is representative of the type and format of data Dstl would expect to receive from the OBERON mission, making them the only suitable option for this data contract at an acceptable risk level. Finally, the Minerva HUB is on contract to deploy a Mission planning architecture that will have an operational life until 2024 when it is expected that Oberon will launch. The use of ICEYE hardware and data is required to test the interfaces between the mission and the HUB and is the only option to provide time critical test campaigns to align the common architecture to the mission and validate the Oberon PED architecture.

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

31 March 2022

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

ICEYE

Espoo

Country

Finland

NUTS code
  • FI - Finland
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

Yes

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

Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot/concession: 420,000 EUR

Lowest offer: 420,000 EUR / Highest offer: 420,000 EUR 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

Defence Science & Technology Laboratory

Salisbury

Country

United Kingdom