714923453 BBMF Lancaster Aircraft PDS

There is a requirement to contract for the Post Design Services (PDS) of the BBMF Lancaster aircraft.

The BBMF Delivery team, part of DE&S in the UK Ministry of Defence (“the Authority”), intends to award a 5-year contract to BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd for the PDS of the BBMF Lancaster aircraft, with further options for extension. The estimated contract value is 3.5M

It is considered that this contract can be awarded under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 because the direct award justification specified in paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 (Technical reasons) applies, which reads:-

(6) The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract—

(a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and

(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

The Authority submits that this justification applies because, due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, and there being no alternatives, only BAE Systems are able to provide the services required. The BBMF Lancaster is the sole flying Lancaster aircraft in Europe, and as such BAE Systems has the required technical expertise necessary to fulfil the Authority’s requirement and owns the relevant technical information relating to the Lancaster, without which the PDS activities cannot be conducted. BAE Systems operates as the original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and as the MAA Design Approved Organisation (DAOS) for the Lancaster, which is a critical requirement from the MAA for any Company completing design activities on the Lancaster. There would also be a serious risk to airworthiness of a single legacy platform with significant importance to the history of the RAF and Britain.