Section one: Contracting authority
one.1) Name and addresses
Ministry of Defence
Westwells Rd, Corsham SN13 9GB
Corsham
SN13 9GB
Country
United Kingdom
Region code
UK - United Kingdom
Internet address(es)
Main address
one.2) Information about joint procurement
The contract is awarded by a central purchasing body
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
4,969,433.16
two.1.2) Main CPV code
- 64220000 - Telecommunication services except telephone and data transmission services
two.1.3) Type of contract
Services
two.1.4) Short description
The requirement is to provide a business broadband service with Wi-Fi distribution and
interconnects for BFSAI across the Falkland Islands to 1052 users across 85 sites.
Welfare broadband is excluded from this requirement.
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: £4,969,433.16
two.2) Description
two.2.2) Additional CPV code(s)
- 32412100 - Telecommunications network
two.2.3) Place of performance
NUTS codes
- FK - Falkland Islands
two.2.4) Description of the procurement
the requirement is to provide a Business Broadband Service to BFSAI – Falkland
Islands using both wired and wireless access
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:
Where the proposed contract is below threshold
At £407,629.74 (in effect inc of VAT as there is no VAT in the FIs) your proposed 2-year new contract award is below the PA23 financial thresholds for a Defence and Security Contract (as defined by s. 7 which you have confirmed this contract will fall within). As such you are not a “covered procurement” for the purposes of the Act. This means, as far as the Act is concerned, you have significantly greater freedoms in terms of your Route to Market where you are looking to make a direct award – in effect your obligations under the Act including notice requirements are switched off.
That said, I believe that MoD Policy still requires you to advertise and compete these below threshold procurements where viable. You would still have UK Public Law legal duties to act reasonably and a breach of MoD Policy could be relied on by an aggrieved supplier to challenge the award on the grounds that MoD had not acted reasonably. As a result, the fact your proposed contract is below threshold does not in and of itself give you the right to make a direct award.
However, here you have also put forward a quasi - technical reasons ground for a direct award to SURE on the basis that competition is not viable. Had you been above the PA23 threshold and a covered procurement, meaning the full Act regime would have applied, then this would have given you direct award grounds under para. 6 schd 5 and so you can use this fact to demonstrate that MoD is acting reasonably here iaw UK public law where the PA23 doesn’t apply.
You should also look to publish a “MoD VTN or informal Transparency Notice” to meet your MoD Policy transparency obligations and we can look at the wording of this in due course. (In other words, you wouldn’t publish a formal Transparency Notice in the new PA23 platform but you could publish an informal one iaw with MoD Policy.)
Looking at your SSJ rationale I think this needs tweaking a bit to ensure your audit trail is robust. I do wonder whether the rationale you have sent me is an earlier draft and has been since improved when looking at the previous award? For example, it states that: “ …it is considered that the award of a single source contract is lawful for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights on technical grounds” – however you are not relying on protection of ER (which is a different ground under DSPCR and PA23) and are just relying on TR.
If the total contract value creeps up and reaches the PA23 threshold
The potential fly in the ointment is if the total value of the negotiated contract creeps up and exceeds the Defence & Security contract threshold under PA23 of £426, 955 (inc VAT). In such circumstances the PA23 will deem it a “covered procurement” and the full PA23 regime will apply (absent an exemption ground).
You are considering whether an exemption switching off PA23 might apply pursuant to para. 28 schd 2 of the Act. However, I think there would be problems with trying to rely on this exemption (and in fact para 27 which is quite similar). This is because the factual position with your proposed contract does not really fit with the criteria you must meet in order to rely on para 28 – as strictly speaking the FI government is not requiring MoD to procure these connectivity services with SURE. In fact, my understanding is that the FI govt only has an exclusivity agreement with SURE for civilian connectivity and so the real reason why you have to contract with this supplier for military connectivity is because indirectly only SURE have the necessary infrastructure on Island to deliver this requirement.
As a result, my advice would be to not try to rely on this exemption here and simply rely on Technical Reasons – para. 6 schd 5 PA23 – to make the direct award. You would also need to comply with the PA23 notice provisions including the requirement to publish a Transparency Notice.
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
Contract No
715632450
Title
715632450 - BFSAI Enhanced Business Broadband
A contract/lot is awarded: Yes
five.2) Award of contract
five.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract
1 October 2025
five.2.2) Information about tenders
Number of tenders received: 1
Number of tenders received from SMEs: 1
The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No
five.2.3) Name and address of the contractor
Sure South Atlantic Ltd
Ross Road, Stanley
Stanley
Country
Falkland Islands
NUTS code
- FK - Falkland Islands
Justification for not providing organisation identifier
Sole trader
The contractor is an SME
Yes
five.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot (excluding VAT)
Total value of the contract/lot: £4,969,433.16
Section six. Complementary information
six.4) Procedures for review
six.4.1) Review body
ministry of defence
Corsham
Country
United Kingdom