715979511 - Provision of Lease re-newel for Hosting of Bridge Navigation Training Simulators

The Royal Navy, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (The Authority), intends to award a contract to Metaverse VR Ltd (The Contractor) for the hosting of two (2) Bridge Navigation Trainers (the Trainers) at Portsdown Technology Park. The Authority requires the two Trainers to be hosted together at the same premises to support their continued operation and physical maintenance. Under the existing maintenance contract, at least one Trainer must remain at Contractor’s premises as a Test and Reference unit, enabling Metaverse VR to meet its contracted maintenance obligations. The contract will be for a term of five years and three months and has an estimated total value of £1,571,097.00 (inclusive of VAT).

It is considered that this contract can be awarded under section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 because the direct award justification specified in paragraphs 6 of Schedule 5 (single supplier – technical reasons) applies.

There is an absence of competition for technical reasons as no other supplier is able to host the Trainers in a way that meets the Authority’s requirements. The Trainers are currently housed at the supplier’s premises. There is an existing ongoing contract for service/maintenance of the Trainers that is critical to the operational capability of the Trainers. This contract provides that the Authority must keep at least one (1) of the Trainers at the supplier’s premises as a “Test and Reference” unit to allow the supplier to meet their contracted obligations under the maintenance contract. Further, it would not be feasible for Trainers to be at separate premises. Hosting the Trainers at separate premises would not meet the Authority’s requirement. Moving the Trainers to alternative premises would also involve significant relocation costs. Therefore, no other supplier can meet the requirement, and there is no reasonable alternative.