BLC0174 The Provision of Rotary Wing Aircraft Maintenance and Continuing Airworthiness Management

This tender opportunity has been issued by BlueLight Commercial who are seeking to award a Contract for the provision of Rotary Wing Aircraft Maintenance and Continuing Airworthiness Management.

This contract is being tendered on behalf of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) who are the contracting authority responsible for the National Police Air Service (NPAS) (i.e. NPAS is not a separate, incorporated entity and therefore WYCA currently enters into contractual arrangements on behalf of NPAS). BlueLight Commercial provides commercial support services to police forces and blue light organisations across England and Wales and has been appointed by WYCA to administer the Procurement.

NPAS is operated by West Yorkshire Police on behalf of the 43 police forces of England and Wales together with British Transport Police in those areas. NPAS have a national network of bases across England and Wales and a fleet of 20 rotary-wing aircraft and 4 fixed-wing aircraft. NPAS therefore require a supplier to provide maintenance and continuing airworthiness management for their rotary-wing aircraft fleet. This will include the provision of:

• Maintenance Services
• Continuing Airworthiness Management
• Supply Chain, Spare Parts and Obsolescence
• Modifications, Design and Installation
• Warranty and Third-Party Contract Management
• Compliance and Safety Management
• Change Management, Mobilisation and transition
• Contract Management, Management Information, Service Continuity and Payments

The requirement will be tendered as a single supplier contract.

The anticipated service commencement date of the Contract is 1st October 2027. Any changes to this commencement date will be communicated to all Bidders through the ‘BlueLight’ e-tendering portal.

The length of the Contract Term shall be discussed as part of the negotiation stage and will be confirmed at Final Tenders. Bidders are requested to submit a tender response at Initial Tenders for a minimum 5-year contract term with the possibility of an extension for a further 2-year contract term (5 + 2 years).

For clarity, the Contract Notice is published to allow for a contract term that is longer than 5 + 2 years. Accordingly, the Contract Notice is for a 7-year contract term with the possibility of an extension for a further 2-year term (7 + 2 years). The Contract Value is set at £275m which is based on the spend during a 9-year contract term. This value is used to provide the maximum flexibility to allow for any potential volatility in pricing and potential modifications to existing aircraft that may take place.

Please note the Contract Commencement is planned for 07/08/2026 with a Service Commencement Date of 01/10/2027 to allow for the mobilisation period.

BlueLight Commercial reserves the right to refine the award criteria at Stage 3 of this procurement process, in accordance with Section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023. The final award criteria and associated weightings will be published prior to the invitation of final tenders at Stage 3 of the procurement. Refinements to the award criteria may include, but are not limited to:

a. adding sub-criteria to those set out in the tender notice/associated tender documents;

b. adding more detail to existing main criteria set out in tender notice/associated tender documents;

c. adding more detail to existing sub-criteria set out in the tender notice/associated tender documents;

d. changing weightings within the pre-existing range as indicated in the table above.

The potential range of the Award Criteria weightings are detailed as follows:

Price: 40% - 50%

Quality: 40% - 50%

Social Value: 10%