Description
The Ministry of Defence (the Authority) intends to enter into a service contract with Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) for the Repair, Maintenance and Modification of Various Line Replacement Units (LRUs) and Frame Electrical Layouts (FELs), for a period of 7 years.
The contract will support the following platforms from the outset: Bulldog, Challenger 2, CRARRV, Panther, Titan, Trojan, Terrier, Warrior.
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.
RBSL are the Design Authority for each of the platforms listed above who own the design drawing/information, technical specifications and technical expertise required to repair and undertake proof testing of these articles to the acceptable specification.
Furthermore, the services to be provided under the contract can only be supplied by Rheinmetall BAE Systems Land (RBSL) because only RBSL has significant niche expertise, knowledge, and acquired specific experience in order to:
a) Provide services where significant safety and quality risks are associated with repairing items with which the Authority hold no technical information or repair specifications. RBSL are the only supplier who has access to the technical information or repair specifications to mitigate the safety and quality risks of the repair;
b) Undertake the repair and refurbishment which due to the interoperability requirements of the equipment; cannot be undertaken without access to the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and Design Authority technical documentation, which is not available to third parties Accordingly no other party at this current time would be able to fully support this requirement; and
c) Undertake repair and maintenance activity for several specific safety critical items which RBSL are understood to have been nominated by the OEM as the only UK agent able to carry out such work.
In addition RBSL hold the proprietary data in relation to the maintenance of the FELs, including source-code and all related software. Further
Please note, Babcock Land Defence Limited is acting as agent on behalf of the Ministry of Defence, in the first instance interested parties may contact Babcock with queries relating to this procurement.
In the first instance interested parties who have queries regarding the above procurement should contact IRMProcurementRepairTeam@babcockinternational.com.