C17CSAE/701556406 - Medium Weight Aerial Delivery (MWAD)

The Army requires the ability to airdrop equipment and vehicles to an all-up mass of 16,000kg from the Airbus A400M Atlas aircraft (A400M) to enable Air Manoeuvre, Theatre Entry, Land Force Sustainment and Humanitarian Operations. This requirement will be delivered by platforms (onto which combat supplies and vehicles can be restrained), incorporating parachutes and ancillary equipment to enable their extraction from the A400M and safe delivery into drop zones.

Requirements also include (but not limited to) spares provisioning, level 4 contractor repairs, Design Organisation (DO) and/or Coordinating Design Organisation (CDO) responsibilities, initial training, technical documentation management, and Post Design Services (PDS). Quantity or scope: The requirement is to deliver an estimated 40 (forty) initial, complete MWAD platforms up to 32 feet in length along with associated parachutes and ancillary equipment, capable of delivering payloads between 3000kgs to 12,000kgs, for dispatch from the A400M. The MWAD 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 duration of the contract shall include a manufacture and transition phase followed by a 7 (seven) year support phase from Initial Operating Capability (IOC) (plus Options to extend by an additional 3 years).

As the MWAD procurement relates to the provision of goods and services used for military purposes, the Authority will comply with the Defence & Security Public Contract Regulations (DSPCR 2011). The procurement will operate under the Competitive Negotiated Procedure (CNP).

The Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) will be used to manage the DPQQ and Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) process, including evaluation. Access to the DSP is required to complete the DPQQ and it is recommended that access is requested via Supplier Registration Page.

Following DPQQ evaluation, the Authority intends to invite a maximum of 4 (four) respondents to the initial ITN phase. Wherein, following submission and assessment of the tender submissions, all technically and Commercially compliant bidders will be invited to a a ground trial phase. Subject to the Authority’s trials assessment decision, a negotiation phase may follow.

The Authority reserves the right to award the Contract to the Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) in accordance with the scoring criteria following evaluation of the tenders and ground trials without undertaking a negotiation phase.

In preparation for the ground trials phase, down-selected tenderers will be required to loan the MOD a complete system (including all associated parachutes, assemblies and ancillary equipment) on a free of charge basis, to undertake ground trials at RAF Brize Norton. The outcome of the ground trials will contribute to the determination of a Preferred Bidder. Contract award will then be dependent on the approval of an Authority led business case that will take into account the results of the trials and the preferred bidders’ tender. Post contract award, the contractor will be required to support air trials and achieve system acceptance. The placement of the order for the MWAD platforms will follow this system acceptance.

The Authority anticipates issuing the ITN in November 2021 followed by a bidders’ conference to be held in the UK in December 2021. Ground trials conducted by ATEC at RAF Brize Norton are forecast for Q4 2022 – Q1 2023, FBC approval and contract award are forecast for mid 2023 followed by declaration of Initial Operating Capability (IOC) in 2024.

The Authority trades using the electronic ‘Contracting, Purchasing & Finance’ system (CP&F). 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.

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: 310664309.

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 20/11/2020.