Procurement of Marine Data Products

The Marine Digital Elevation Model (DEM) is a dataset providing a representation of the estimated depth of the sea across the UK continental shelf. Some of the specific uses of this technology include habitat modelling, sediment mapping and determining the adequacy of the UK’s Marine Protected Area network. The Oceanwise Marine DEM uses the best available marine data sources to ensure data coverage and quality. This dataset is owned by the Supplier within their Intellectual Property and therefore this can only be made available by Oceanwise. Access to this dataset is key in helping Defra meet marine sustainability goals and policies and it will be used by marine analysts across Defra group, Natural England, JNCC, the MMO and CEFAS. In line with the Procurement Act 2023, this complies with the thresholds for a Direct Award due to the following justification: “6. (a) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required and (b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.” This is because Oceanwise have the expertise and knowledge, along with ownership of the best available marine data sources, to produce a dataset that will replace legacy, poor-quality data that has been used previously. Additionally, given the nature of this procurement (i.e. below the Procurement Act threshold of £139,688), this is a below threshold Direct Award and therefore is compliant with the Below Threshold rules within the Procurement Act 2023.