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The procurement contact named on the official notice.

The UK Armed Forces require the ability to airdrop a range of rigid hulled boats with tailgating parachutists into maritime environments, by day or night, worldwide from the Atlas C Mk1 aircraft (A400M).

Requirements also include (but are not limited to) spares provisioning, level 4 contractor repairs, Design Organisation (DO) and/or Coordinating Design Organisation (CDO) responsibilities, technical documentation management, and Post Design Services (PDS).

Details will be set out in the procurement documentation.

Quantity or scope: Total quantity or scope: (including all lots, renewals and options, if applicable) The requirement is to deliver an estimated 25 (Twenty-Five) initial, complete LBAD systems including associated parachutes and ancillary equipment, capable of delivering payloads for despatch from the A400M.

The LBAD system must be compatible with the A400M.

The contractor shall hold DO/CDO status for the entire system, including all associated assemblies (parachutes and ancillary equipment).

The requirement includes provision of an in-service support solution including Level 4 repair activities (level 1-3 repairs and maintenance will be carried out by the Authority), initial ground training, technical documentation management, System Safety Management, Post Design Services (PDS) and provision of spares.

The contract shall include manufacture, transition and in-service support phases and shall be for a term of 7 (seven) years [from Contract Award] (plus Options to extend by an additional 3 years).

Details are set out in the procurement documentation.

This contract is being procured under Regulation 18 (Negotiated Procedure) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011.

The Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) will be used to manage the procurement process, including evaluation.

Access to the DSP is required to complete the DPQQ and access should be requested via the Supplier Registration Page on the DSP.

Following DPQQ evaluation, the Authority intends to invite the 4 (four) highest scoring respondents to the ITN phase.

Following submission and assessment of the written Initial Tender submissions, all technically and commercially compliant bidders will be required to demonstrate their LBAD solution as part of a ground trials assessment phase (which will form part of the Tender evaluation).

After the Authority's evaluation of the ground trials, a negotiation phase may follow.

The Authority, however, reserves the right to award the Contract on the basis of the Initial Tenders and ground trials evaluation, without undertaking a negotiation phase.

In preparation for the ground trials assessment phase, tenderers will be required to loan the MOD a complete system (including all associated parachutes, assemblies and ancillary equipment, plus contractor support), via a loan agreement on a free of charge basis, to undertake ground assessment.

Contract award will be subject to an approvals process.

Post contract award, the contractor will be required to support air trials and achieve system acceptance.

Further details are set out in the procurement documentation.

The Authority anticipates issuing the ITN in March 2023 followed by a bidders' conference to be held in the UK.

Ground assessment shall be conducted by the Authority at RAF Brize Norton and is forecast for September 2023 and contract award is forecast for early 2024.

However, the Authority reserves the right to amend the timetable from time to time.

The Authority trades using the electronic 'Contracting, Purchasing & Finance' system (CP&F) and use of CP&F will be a requirement in the contract.

Before completing the DPQQ, any interested parties should ensure that they have the ability to trade electronically, and the willingness connect to the CP&F System in the event of being successful.

The Authority is running an industry engagement event on week commencing 06/02/2023 (with a current placeholder date of 07/02/2023).

Interested parties should contract for further information: Luke Alderson Luke.Alderson106@mod.gov.uk / Jamie.malone417@mod.gov.uk The Event shall be held on online, on Microsoft Teams with details shared closer to the time.

A Cyber Risk Assessment has been conducted for this requirement to ascertain the level of Cyber Risk present.

The result of this assessment is that a Cyber Risk level of 'Very Low' exists and therefore successful respondents invited to ITN will need to hold a Cyber Essentials [Plus] certificate and undertake a Cyber Risk Assessment on their proposed supply chain.

Respondents can verify their readiness to comply with opportunities bearing this Cyber Risk Level by completing a Cyber Risk Assessment using RAR code: (677845980). [Further details will be set out in the procurement documentation].

To note: The issue of this Contract Notice (CN) or any future ITN or ITN material is not a commitment by the Authority to place a contract as a result of this competition or at a later stage.

Any expenditure, work or effort undertaken prior to any offer and subsequent acceptance of contract, is a matter solely for your commercial judgement.

The Authority has conducted previous industry engagement using Defence Contracts Online (DCO), with a Request for Information (RFI) published July 2021.