Construction Contract Leads

Section I: Contracting authority/entity

I.1) Name and addresses

Ministry of Defence

Bristol

Email

Alex.fox117 [at] mod.gov.uk

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

UK - United Kingdom

Internet address(es)

Main address

https://contracts.mod.uk

I.4) Type of the contracting authority

Ministry or any other national or federal authority

I.5) Main activity

Defence

Section II: Object

II.1) Scope of the procurement

II.1.1) Title

Procurement of Ajax Drill Rounds

II.1.2) Main CPV code

• 35300000 - Weapons, ammunition and associated parts

II.1.3) Type of contract

Supplies

II.1.4) Short description

Procurement of Drill Rounds for the Ajax Programme

II.1.6) Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: No

II.1.7) Total value of the procurement (excluding VAT)

Value excluding VAT: £4,000,000

II.2) Description

II.2.3) Place of performance

NUTS codes

• UK - United Kingdom

II.2.4) Description of the procurement

Procurement of Drill Rounds for the Ajax Programme

II.2.5) Award criteria

Price

II.2.11) Information about options

Options: No

II.2.13) Information about European Union Funds

The procurement is related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds: No

Section IV. Procedure

IV.1) Description

IV.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:

The Defence Equipment & Support Land Equipment Ajax Portfolio Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (the Authority), intends to award a single source contract for a total of 3 years to Lockheed Martin United Kingdom (LMUK) for the purchase of 2700Drill Rounds for Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems.

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. This is for the following reasons.

LMUK have previously provided Drill Rounds to the Authority’s Ajax Programme. The current LMUK Drill Rounds have been designed, tested and qualified to work in line with the required Ajax specification. Previous testing on alternative Drill Rounds has been conducted and various options have been deemed non-compliant to the Ajax specification. There are no other Drill Rounds available from alternative suppliers in the market that meet the Authority’s requirements and are qualified for use.

The requirement for Drill Rounds is on the Ajax Critical Path and is essential to the programme. Now that additional Ajax vehicles and Training Systems are in service the need for compliant Drill Rounds is critical. To adhere to requirements set out by the Authority’s Future Soldier Integrated Review, Drill Rounds must be procured to ensure Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems are supported to maintain the schedule. The current LMUK Drill Rounds will allow the Authority to maintain the current specification reducing technical and operational risk, risk to the programme timeline and damage to equipment. It would also prevent additional delays and impacts on essential Ajax training requirements.

Delays have already caused significant impacts to the Ajax programme historically. To design, test and qualify a new Drill Round now, even if this was possible, will introduce further delays to the Ajax programme which will not be tolerable. Consequently, even if an alternative supplier had the technical capability to produce a Drill Round suitable for use with the Ajax Vehicles & Training Systems and then have it successfully qualified for use, this would cause unacceptable and disproportionate time and cost impacts on the Ajax programme.

IV.1.8) Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: No

Section V. Award of contract/concession

A contract/lot is awarded: Yes

V.2) Award of contract/concession

V.2.1) Date of conclusion of the contract

15 November 2024

V.2.2) Information about tenders

The contract has been awarded to a group of economic operators: No

V.2.3) Name and address of the contractor/concessionaire

LMUK

Amptill

Country

United Kingdom

NUTS code

• UK - United Kingdom

The contractor/concessionaire is an SME

No

V.2.4) Information on value of contract/lot/concession (excluding VAT)

Total value of the contract/lot/concession: £4,000,000

V.2.5) Information about subcontracting

The contract/lot/concession is likely to be subcontracted

Section VI. Complementary information

VI.4) Procedures for review

VI.4.1) Review body

Ministry of Defence

Bristol

Country

United Kingdom

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