Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Police Service of Northern Ireland - Transport Services Branch
151 Belfast Road
Carrickfergus
BT38 8PL
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UKN0F - Mid and East Antrim
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
Internet address(es)
Main address
Buyer's address
https://www.finance-ni.gov.uk/topics/procurement
one.4) Type of the contracting authority
Body governed by public law
one.5) Main activity
General public services
Section two: Object
two.1) Scope of the procurement
two.1.1) Title
Helicopter Maintenance & Role Equipment
Reference number
PSNI DAC 18/22
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 50212000 - Repair and maintenance services of helicopters
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
Provision of maintenance services, specialist role equipment upgrades and fitment for PSNI's helicopter fleet.
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: £14,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UKN0D - Antrim and Newtownabbey
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Provision of maintenance services, specialist role equipment upgrades and fitment for PSNI's helicopter fleet.
two.2.5) Award criteria
Price
two.2.11) Information about options
Options: No
Section four. Procedure
four.1) Description
four.1.1) Type of procedure
Negotiated without a prior call for competition
- 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:
PSNI currently have 3 Eurocopter Helicopters operating from a location in Northern Ireland. Provision of aerial support is a province wide asset managed by Crime Operations Air Support Unit. Historically these aircraft have been maintained through the establishment of a number of Direct Award Contracts (DACs) approved accordingly within PSNI and DoJ.
The direction of the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) states that an operator (PSNI) of an aircraft must have a maintenance agreement in place with suitability licensed contractors to provide continuing airworthiness and the respective maintenance services, without these formal arrangements in place the aircraft would have to be grounded.
The contractor is the original and sole equipment manufacturer of the PSNI aircraft types; the design is their Intellectual Property and shall not be delegated or licensed to a 3rd party. The contractor is the Type Certificate Holder for the core aircraft design and it is responsible for defining the aircraft's "build standard, safe operation and maintenance of airworthiness policy". The platform design, qualification data and safety case empowers the contractor to specify the requirements and mandate modifications for all components (includes specialist role equipment) fitted to the core aircraft and mission systems. The contractor is an CAA-approved continuing airworthiness management organisation and a BCAR A8-23 authorised helicopter maintenance organisation. They have intellectual proprietary rights to the equipment fitted on the aircraft. The aircraft is used for national security type specific duties and is fitted with specialist survelliance equipment. They have the unique competency to manage mature, high flying rate fleets as the OEM and they are the sole source for providing a single integrated solution, they offer an integrated logistics support utilising their supply chain, access to national stock levels and availability of all specialist tooling. They have existing infrastructure in place for the delivery of this service and have unique knowledge and experience in working with PSNI and their specific operational needs since aircraft entry into service.
The provision of this complete maintenance service ensures that the aircraft are maintained to the highest standards ensuring officer safety in their respective operational deployment.
The value of this DAC is above the threshold and therefore the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (as amended) apply. There are derogations under the regulations to award a contract to a single supplier where the supplies or services can only be supplied by a particular supplier for any of the following reasons:-
i)Where competition is absent for technical reasons (regulation 32(2)(b)(ii); or
ii)For reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights, including intellectual property rights (reg32(2)(b) iii) but only where no reasonable alternative or substitute exists and the absence of competition is not the result of an artificial narrowing down of the parameters of the procurement.
four.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)
The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: Yes
Section five. Award of contract/concession
Contract No
PSNI DAC 18/22
Title
Helicopter Maintenance & Role Equipment
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract/concession
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
20 December 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
Information withheld for security reasons
Information withheld for security reasons
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Not on any register
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £14,000,000
Section six. Complementary information
six.3) Additional information
This VEAT is to give notice of the award decision and to commence a standstill period prior to award of contract. The contract award will not be entered into 31st December 2022 at the earliest.
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
See VI.4.3 / Review procedure
See VI.4.3 / Review procedure
Country
United Kingdom
six.4.3) Review procedure
Precise information on deadline(s) for review procedures
The UK does not have any special review body with responsibility for appeal/mediation procedures in public procurement competitions. Instead, any challenges are dealt with by the High Court, Commercial Division, to. which proceedings may be issued regarding alleged breaches of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015.
Please contact CPD with any queries / issues.