Find a TenderPast planning notice
Published 20 Apr 2022, 12:03 BST

Official UK procurement notice

DEFENCE DISCOUNT SCHEME · UK public procurement notice

Official notice

Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)

Services
Planned pipeline valueValue not publishedpipeline notice, not a live tender
Tender notice expected 31 May 2022from the planned procurement notice

What is being bought

Published requirement description

MOD’s current provision of Defence Discount Scheme (DDS) for Service Personnel, Veterans and Civilians is provided by Bluelight Card Company and expires on 31st May 2022.

The purpose of this PIN is to establish whether there are any alternative suppliers capable of and willing to, supply this service after this date.

The Authority’s intention is to re-let a further four year contract lasting until May 2026 and if there is potential for competition, to conduct that competition and if there is not, to award the new contract to Bluelight Card Company.

Continued provision of this service will be on the basis that there is a NIL cost to MoD for the DDS Service. Currently DDS returns a % of profits to MoD in the form of a gainshare payment which is passed on to the four Service Welfare Central Funds.

Any alternative provider would have to ensure that they could provide retail and online discounts to:

Serving armed forces (regular and reservist)

HM armed forces Veterans

MOD Civilians (except contractors)

Spouse/Partner of Serving Personnel

Cadet Forces

Bereaved Family Member

War/service widow(er)

NATO Personnel

CPV: Administration, defence and social security services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Bluelight Card Company own the current membership details, the contracts with high…Planned

Bluelight Card Company own the current membership details, the contracts with high street retail providers and the ‘Defence Discount Service’ name. Other providers could build and operate a similar discount card service, but the Authority would require this to be built up rapidly so as to ensure that there would be no immediate drop in the service provided to the Defence community from an MOD contracted provider as a result of reduced range of discounts available. The Authority would also not be willing to experience in drop in the gainshare which is linked to the size of membership and retail and service companies offering discounts.

Current membership of the Scheme is 568,828 with active members (clicked an offer in last 6 months) standing at 225,094. The Total active retail offers (online and High Street retailers) is 9,819. Any alternative supplier would have to be able to reach theses membership figures very quickly and be prepared to offer MoD a gainshare minimum of 15% of the DDS contract profits each year..

Any alternative Supplier will have to hold Cyber security and comply with the Authority’s IR35 Assessment and any Authority’s decision on Limiting the Supplier’s Liabilities. It is unlikely that any current contractor staff would be willing to transfer to any alternative supplier under TUPE.

Delivery: UK

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record · publisher note attached
Legal basis
CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Past planning notice
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
20 Apr 2022, 12:03 BST
Last source update
20 Apr 2022, 12:03 BST
FTS notice number
2022/S 000-010278
Classification (CPV)
Administration, defence and social security services
Delivery area
UK
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-032ec2 Find a Tender

Publisher note: Any Supplier wishing to express interest in this requirement for the period 1st June 2022 to 31st May 2026 should express interest through the Defence Sourcing Portal by 23rd May 2022. They should include a short summary of how they would be able to reach the current membership totals and retailer number very quickly and what kind of gainshare % could be offered to the Authority.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

20 Apr 2022 → 31 May 2022 · 2 dates
  1. Notice published
    20 Apr 2022, 12:03 BST
  2. Tender notice expected
    31 May 2022, 00:00 BST

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Pipeline notice
Awards (0)
No award published
Contracts (0)
No contract published
Bid statistics
No aggregate bid statistics published

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Ministry of Defence

Contracting authorityCentral GovernmentMinistry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisionsDefence 65 BROWN STREET, GLASGOW, UK, G2 8EXContact email

Official documents & specifications

Official links; attachments are not copied

No document links were published on the notice.