PRIOR INFORMATION NOTICE FOR CONTRACT IN THE FIELD OF DEFENCE AND SECURITY - OFFICIAL JOURNAL

Section I: Contracting Authority / Entity

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority/entity

Submarine Main Batteries Batch 9

II.2)

Type of contract and location of works, place of delivery or of performance

II.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.4)

Short description of nature and scope of works or nature and quantity or value of supplies or services

Procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8800 main battery cells, associated support equipment and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute and Trafalgar Class submarines.

II.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.6)

Scheduled date for start of award procedures and duration of the contract

II.7)

Additional information

(i) The purpose of this prior information notice (PIN) is to alert the market of the intention of InService Submarines, which forms part of the Submarine Delivery Agency (SDA), to enter into a contract on a single source basis with PMB Defence.

(ii) The contract shall be for the procurement, maintenance, support and disposal of Royal Navy Submarine Type 8 800 main battery cells, associated support equipment and spares which are required to support the fleet of Vanguard, Astute and Trafalgar Class submarines.

(iii) Enersys’ exit from the submarine main batteries market and their transfer of all related assets to PMB Defence has resulted in PMB Defence becoming the only supplier capable of providing InService Submarines with the requirement.

(iv) The contract shall be subject to the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice under DSPCR 2011 Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) where for technical reasons the contract may only be awarded to a particular economic operator. This is due to the technical need to utilise the Enersys cell design 8 800 main battery cells to ensure operability with multiple systems such as agitation system, ventilation system, shock, electrical protection, endurance and to ensure nuclear safety.

(v) These systems have been designed and validated against the 8 800 Ahr Enersys cell parameters and onboard battery configuration. The main battery compartment is sized around an exact multiple of the width and length of the cell. Furthermore, all support equipment is sized both electrically and spatially around the 8 800 Ahr Enersys cell. Any replacement battery would require a complete redesign and validation of the relevant systems within the battery compartment. As such, using any other cell would present significant interoperability and incompatibility issues. PMB Defence are the only contractor able to supply the required configuration of cell.

(vi) Furthermore, Regulation 16(1)(b)(i) part (bb) applies. That is because additional Royal Navy Submarine Type 8 800 Main battery cells are required as a partial replacement for the existing cells and to obtain cells from any economic operator other than PMB Defence would oblige SDA to acquire goods having different technical characteristics which would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and maintenance.

(vii) It is anticipated that the contract award date will be Autumn 2022 with an estimated value of GBP 20 million. Please note that the dates provided are provided for indicative purposes only.

Section III: Legal, Economic, Financial and Technical Information

III.1)

Conditions relating to the contract

III.1.1)

Main financing conditions and payment arrangements and/or reference to the relevant provisions regulating them

III.2)

Conditions for participation

III.2.1)

Reserved contracts

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by European Union funds

VI.2)

Additional information

The authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information (e.g. a Security Aspects Letter), the authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions to reflect any changes in national law or government policy, whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies or otherwise. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the Government Security Classification.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications

Advertising regime OJEU: this contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk

Suppliers must read through this set of instructions and follow the process to respond to this opportunity.

The information and/or documents for this opportunity are available on http://www.contracts.mod.uk

You must register on this site to respond, if you are already registered you will not need to register again, simply use your existing username and password. Please note there is a password reminder link on the homepage.

Suppliers must log in, go to your response manager and add the following access code: F4SC82YQ36.

Please ensure you follow any instruction provided to you here.

The deadline for submitting your response(s) is detailed within this contract notice, you will also have visibility of the deadline date, once you have added the access code via DCO as the opening and closing date is visible within the opportunity.

Please ensure that you allow yourself plenty of time when responding to this opportunity prior to the closing date and time, especially if you have been asked to upload documents.

If you experience any difficulties please refer to the online frequently asked questions (FAQ's) or the User Guides or contact the MOD DCO Helpdesk by emailing support@contracts.mod.uk or Telephone 0800282324.

Go reference: GO-2020521-DCB-16598080

VI.3)

Information on general regulatory framework

VI.4)

Date of dispatch of this notice