Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence, DE&S, Mine Hunting Capability Team
Abbey Wood, Filton
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Contact
Garry Ogborne
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
UKK11 - Bristol, City of
Internet address(es)
Main address
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
MHC Autonomy (SeeByte Software Support)
Reference number
701558388
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 Mine Hunting Capability Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to award a contract to Seebyte Limited for the support and continued development of software based upon Seebyte’s suite of software.
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: £2,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKM - Scotland
Main site or place of performance
Edinburgh
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Support and continued development of software based upon Seebyte’s suite of software.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: Yes
Description of options
Options to be included for additional years of contractual cover.
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
- 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 Mine Hunting Capability Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to award a contract to Seebyte Limited for the support and continued development of software based upon Seebyte’s suite of proprietary, privately developed software for which Seebyte Limited holds the background IP - namely: NEPTUNE, SeeTrack & CoPilot. This suite of software enables autonomy behaviours for Unmanned Vehicles to work collaboratively and effectively for the purpose of Maritime Mine Countermeasures. Through the three software products listed, the software enables features such as; Low-Level mission planning, Autonomous missions by vehicles and Mine Threat Identification and classification. The contract shall be for an initial period of 36-months, with Options to extend the contract duration by a further two 12-month periods, giving a maximum possible contract duration of 60-months. The maximum total value of the contract is not estimated to exceed £2m for the entire 60-month period.
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 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 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 DSPCR 2011 (as amended) for Technical Reasons. This requirement is for the continued support and development of Seebyte’s suite of proprietary software which was privately developed by Seebyte. This software is widely used in different applications by the Royal Navy and works collectively and collaboratively to optimise the operation and effectiveness of its autonomous underwater vehicles. This requirement is a direct continuation of the same services previously procured by the MoD under the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory’s Science & Technology (S&T) programme. Ensuring contractual cover to facilitate the continuing support and evolutionary development of this software is critical to maintaining the Royal Navy’s existing capability. Given the history to the development of this software by Seebyte Limited for the Royal Navy there is no other reasonable alternative software in the market that would meet the MoD’s continuing requirements.
For operational reasons the Royal Navy systems which incorporates the Seebyte Limited software need to be able to interoperate with similar systems used by UK Allies, all of whom use the Seebyte Limited software. Royal Navy systems with third party software would not meet these requirements and would create significant interoperability issues which would result in a degraded capability.
Only Seebyte Limited have the technical knowledge, expertise and underlying source code necessary to meet this continuing support and development requirement. This technical knowledge and expertise has been gained in part through the previous role Seebyte has undertaken in developing the software for the Royal Navy’s purposes.
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
30 September 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
Seebyte Limited
Orchard Brae House, 30 Queensferry Road
Edinburgh
EH4 2HS
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
National registration number
SC194014
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: £2,000,000
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
Ministry of Defence
Bristol
Country
United Kingdom