Awarded contract

Project BRACIS

  • Ministry of Defence

F15: Voluntary ex ante transparency notice

Notice reference: 2021/S 000-012508

Published 3 June 2021, 10:45pm



Section one: Contracting authority/entity

one.1) Name and addresses

Ministry of Defence

Bristol

Contact

Carly Williams

Email

carly.williams713@mod.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UKK1 - Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://des.mod.uk/

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

Project BRACIS

two.1.2) Main CPV code

  • 72000000 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

two.1.3) Type of contract

Services

two.1.4) Short description

The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear delivery team (CBRN DT)— part of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) – seek to place a contract amendment to an existing contract with Bruhn Newtech Ltd (BNT) for the supply of BRACIS warning and reporting software for a period of 3 years to FY26 with an estimated value of £3M GBP. It is considered that this contract amendment can be awarded using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice, pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the UK Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011, for technical reasons.

CBRN DT has a continuing requirement to supply CBRN warning and reporting (W&R) software including training. This is essential to provide command and control where CBRN is an aspect of operations. Since the Second World War the majority of UK combat operations have been in coalitions, often including NATO partners. NATO sets common standards for CBRN warning and reporting software. BNT is the only provider who is also a member of the committee that manage updates to the NATO standards (ATTP-45). This ensures BNT software is future proofed against any planned changes to the software. The use of a CBRN warning and reporting software that was not compliant with the NATO standards would result in delays in receiving warnings of a CBRN attack, which would result in a risk to life which is intolerable to the Authority.

Integrating new software applications onto a system as complicated as BOWMAN is technically challenging. The BOWMAN Joint Systems Integration Board (JSIB) currently estimate a period between 5-7 years to integrate and distribute new applications. As BRACIS has previously been integrated into BOWMAN, this work has been carried out. Hence any updates to BRACIS due to changes in the NATO standard are far simpler and quicker to integrate as the majority of work has already been undertaken.

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: £3,000,000

two.2) Description

two.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes
  • UKK1 - Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath area

two.2.4) Description of the procurement

Please see short description above.

two.2.5) Award criteria

Price

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

two.2.14) Additional information

This is a Notice to state that a Contract Amendment is being placed with Bruhn Newtech Ltd (BNT) for the supply of BRACIS warning and reporting software for a period of 3 years to FY26 with an estimated value of £3M GBP using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice for technical reasons.


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
  • 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:

The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear delivery team (CBRN DT)— part of the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) organisation within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) – seek to place a contract with Bruhn Newtech Ltd (BNT) for the supply of BRACIS warning and reporting software for a period of 3 years to FY26 with an estimated value of £3M GBP. It is considered that this contract can be awarded using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice, pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the UK Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011, for technical reasons.

CBRN DT has a continuing requirement to supply CBRN warning and reporting (W&R) software including training. This is essential to provide command and control where CBRN is an aspect of operations. Since the Second World War the majority of UK combat operations have been in coalitions, often including NATO partners. NATO sets common standards for CBRN warning and reporting software. BNT is the only provider who is also a member of the committee that manage updates to the NATO standards (ATTP-45). This ensures BNT software is future proofed against any planned changes to the software. The use of a CBRN warning and reporting software that was not compliant with the NATO standards would result in delays in receiving warnings of a CBRN attack, which would result in a risk to life which is intolerable to the Authority.

Any values stated in this notice are provisional and a contract extension has yet to be awarded. 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. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the Government Security Classification. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications

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

Contract No

CBRN/00244

Title

Project BRACIS Contract Amendment

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

five.2) Award of contract/concession

five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

27 May 2021

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

Bruhn Newtech Ltd

Suite 6, The Portway Centre, Old Sarum Park

Salisbury

SP4 6EB

Email

eje@bruhn-newtech.co.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code
  • UK - United Kingdom
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: £3,000,000

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

CBRN DT

Bristol

Country

United Kingdom