7.62mm L94A1 Hughes Chain Gun Post Design Services Contract

CPV: Repair and maintenance services of military vehicles

Procedure method

Negotiated without publication of a contract notice

Legal basis

CELEX · 32009L0081 Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (Directive 2009/81/EC)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Stand-alone contract (no framework)

Competition type

Competitive procedure

GPA / WTO covered

Yes (GPA)

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

28 Feb 2023, 16:13 GMT

Last source update

11 Jul 2023, 12:40 BST

FTS notice number

2023/S 000-019765

Classification (CPV)

Repair and maintenance services of military vehicles

Delivery area

UK

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-03ad02 Find a Tender

Why no open competition

The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the directive; The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons

Published justification

The Turret Weapons Systems (TWS) team within the DE&S Ajax Portfolio Project Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), intends to award a Contract for 5 years to Heckler & Koch NSAF Ltd to cover Post Design Services Technical Support for the 7.62mm L94A1 Hughes Chain Gun currently fitted to various Armoured Vehicle platforms. This Contract will replace the existing Chain Gun PDS Contract No. SSP/00210 with Heckler & Koch NSAF Ltd which is due to expire on 06-May-23.

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 UK Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011), due to absence of competition for technical reasons.

This is because only Heckler & Koch NSAF Ltd as the current longstanding support contractor has the extensive in-depth knowledge and specific know-how, proprietary information (such as up to date drawings), gun specific tooling and safety approvals to carry out the required services. NSAF have stated they will not provide any drawing or technical detail to anyone else and therefore another contractor would be required to demonstrate access to safety critical technical information not presently available to MoD, and also be able to provide technical support based on data that cannot be corroborated by any authority and present an intolerable risk that would undermine the Safety ALARP claim for the weapon. Because of this, it is considered that no other contractor can provide these services.

• NSAF LtdAwarded supplier Nottingham, East Midlands

No document links were published on the notice.