Section one: Contracting authority/entity
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
Bristol
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
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
Procurement of Ajax Drill Rounds
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 35300000 - Weapons, ammunition and associated parts
two.1.3) Type of contract
Supplies
two.1.4) Short description
Procurement of Ajax Drill Rounds
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: £4,000,000
two.2) Description
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- UK - United Kingdom
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
Procurement of Ajax Drill Rounds
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
Award of a contract without prior publication of a call for competition in the cases listed below
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the regulations
Explanation:
The Defence Equipment & Support Land Equipment Ajax Portfolio Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (the Authority), intends to award a single source contract for a total of 3 years to Lockheed Martin United Kingdom (LMUK) for the purchase of 2700 Drill Rounds for Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems.
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 (as required by the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 for Technical Reasons. This is for the following reasons.
LMUK have previously provided Drill Rounds to the Authority’s Ajax Programme. The current LMUK Drill Rounds have been designed, tested and qualified to work in line with the required Ajax specification. Previous testing on alternative Drill Rounds has been conducted and various options have been deemed non-compliant to the Ajax specification. There are no other Drill Rounds available from alternative suppliers in the market that meet the Authority’s requirements and are qualified for use.
The requirement for Drill Rounds is on the Ajax Critical Path and is essential to the programme. Now that additional Ajax vehicles and Training Systems are in service the need for compliant Drill Rounds is critical. To adhere to requirements set out by the Authority’s Future Soldier Integrated Review, Drill Rounds must be procured to ensure Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems are supported to maintain the schedule. The current LMUK Drill Rounds will allow the Authority to maintain the current specification reducing technical and operational risk, risk to the programme timeline and damage to equipment. It would also prevent additional delays and impacts on essential Ajax training requirements.
Delays have already caused significant impacts to the Ajax programme historically. To design, test and qualify a new Drill Round now, even if this was possible, will introduce further delays to the Ajax programme which will not be tolerable. Consequently, even if an alternative supplier had the technical capability to produce a Drill Round suitable for use with the Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems and then have it successfully qualified for use, this would cause unacceptable and disproportionate time and cost impacts on the Ajax programme.
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
14 November 2024
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
LMUK
Ampthill
Country
United Kingdom
NUTS code
- UK - United Kingdom
The contractor/concessionaire is an SME
No
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)
Initial estimated total value of the contract/lot/concession: £4,000,000
Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £4,000,000
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