153,000,000

DRAFT Transparency Notice

Fleet Wide Platform Management Systems

The Ministry of Defence (the “Authority”) intends to award a contract to L3 Harris MAPPS Ltd (“the Supplier”) for the provision of Platform Management System’s (“PMS”) in service support (“ISS”).

This contract will be to provide ISS to the PMS equipment onboard eight (“8”) T26 frigates, five (“5”) T31 frigates, and two (“2”) QEC aircraft carriers. The contract shall mobilise the ISS solution in preparation for the T26, and T31, transition into service and enhance current ISS to the QECs’ PMS.

The contract has an estimated value of £153,000,000 excluding VAT. The contract will be for eight (“8”) years with two additional one (“1”) year options.

In accordance with Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 (the “Act”), the Authority intends to rely on the Single Supplier direct award justification, as set out in Paragraph 6 and Paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Act, to award a public contract directly to the Supplier not being an excluded Supplier.

It is considered that a direct award is permissible under the Act on the basis that, due to an absence of competition for technical reasons and the incompatibility of services by alternative suppliers, only the Supplier can carry out the services and there are no alternatives to those goods, services or works for the following reasons:

The Supplier is the OEM and Design Authority of the PMS installed on the T26, T31, and QEC, and is the only provider with the appropriate level of system design and configuration knowledge to meet the requirement;

The Supplier is the only operator that has the technical expertise and know-how of the PMS equipment to carry out defect rectifications, capability evolution and obsolescence management; and

The interoperability and integration issues created through the introduction of a new supplier would result in services incompatible with the existing goods, services or works and would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and/or maintenance of the PMS equipment.

Accordingly, the Supplier is considered as the only supplier that can provide the services and there are no alternatives to those services as required by the Authority.

The contract will not be awarded to an excluded supplier. A Contract Award Notice and Contract Details Notice will follow in accordance with Procurement Act 2023.