Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
Abbey Wood
Bristol
BS34 8JH
Contact
Stephen Cooper/Jordan Jones
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS 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
WECDIS
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 63724000 - Navigation services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Installation of fleet 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: £6,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- CA - Canada
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Software installation
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
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 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 (the Contract) to OSI Maritime Systems Ltd (“the Contractor”) for the combined support of WECDIS Type Approval Upgrade ROYAL NAVY WARSHIP ELECTRONIC CHART DISPLAY AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (RN-WECDIS) AND WARSHIP AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (WAIS) OBSOLESCENCE RECOVERY. In accordance with Regulation 4 of the Defence and Security Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) 2019 Regulations (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (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 (as required by 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. The value of the requirement is approximately £10 million.
Navigation capability on RN ships is a critical component of a ship’s ability to operate and fight, hence any failure or degradation of these systems will place significant risk on the RN’s ability to fulfil the Authority’s required defence outcomes in accordance with the Authority’s Defence Strategy and RN Command Plan. Both WECDIS and WAIS capabilities also require significant upgrades fleet-wide to overcome obsolescence and deliver regulatory compliance to new IMO standards being introduced by end-2028 whist utilising the common software provided by the Contractor
.
Only the Contractor can achieve ECPINS software integration of any obsolescence solution as they own the IPR imbedded in the software within the WECDIS and WAIS equipment, own all supporting documentation/manuals needed to maintain it and possess the SQEP technical expertise to carry out all activities of the work required and bespoke SQEP with capacity to provide training where necessary. The Authority does not have the necessary rights in the IPR to provide to a third party
It is considered that only the Contractor can achieve delivery of this requirement within the timeframe available on all ships within scope, without considerable risk to the continued operation of the fleet. In addition, any approval for hardware to host OSI ECPINS software must be delivered with OSI support. As OEM for ECPINS software, OSI maintains the hardware Type Approved list. Any new hardware solution that isn’t already on OSI’s Type Approval list will incur at least 12 months additional integration, testing and certification activity before it can commence platform integration activity. Time is a huge consideration here as its imperative to re-gain IMO Safety of Life at Sea Accreditation. Any new hardware must be approved (IMO Compliant) and they sit in the ECPINS Type Approval register with OSI which they maintain.
Furthermore, utilisation of and training on a single fleet-wide WECDIS/WAIS hardware and software solution will remove incompatibility and interoperability risk in two possible solutions and will remove disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance going forward.
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
SANSC2/04038
Title
WECDIS
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
6 October 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
OSI Maritime Systems
Burnaby
Country
Canada
NUTS code
- CA - Canada
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Lowest offer: £5,900,000 / Highest offer: £6,000,000 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
MOD
Bristol
Country
United Kingdom