Fire Control Battlefield Information System Application(FC BISA) In Service Support Contract

Description

Command and Control, Targeting, Navigation and Communications (C2TNC) lies within the new Sense Decide Communicate (SDC) Operating Centre of Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S) which is an arm’s length body of the Ministry of Defence, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State for Defence (“The Authority”). The Command and Control, Targeting, Navigation and Communications team intends to place a single source contract with CGI IT Ltd estimated at £42.7m for the In-Service Support for the Fire Control Battlefield Information System (FC BISA) and ensure the capability is sustained.

This requirement is subject to the Procurement Act 2023.

Total Quantity & Scope

FC BISA is the Command, Control, Communications, Computation and Information (C4I) application that generates firing data for artillery and mortars. It currently operates on the Bowman ComBAT Infrastructure and Platform (BCIP) system. FC BISA was brought into service with the Royal Artillery in 2008 and was designed to be a fully networked digital fires capability. It has had many iterations since 2008 the most recent in development is FC BISA v4.3.2.

FC BISA v4.3 has been developed to achieve an operational and safety-assured capability supporting coalition operations and extending the reach of digital fire missions to the dismounted user.

Three releases have been developed 4.0, 4.2 & 4.3 each of which increased capability, in line with the Customer’s priority. FC BISA v4.0 was released on BCIP 5.6 and currently has an Out of Service Date (OSD) of March 2027 in line with the BCIP 5.6 OSD.

This procurement is for the In-Service Support contract for FC BISA. This Support contract will be needed to meet the new requirement set down by BCIP 5.7 and future fires Sensor to Shooter doctrine. The contract will provide support to the main software upgrades contract that will require an extensive rebuild of the FC BISA software and increase its capability and interoperability with current high priority capability such as Mobile Fires Platform, SERPENS, 155mm Mortar and many other projects.

Direct Award Justification

Schedule 5 paragraph 6 of the Procurement Act 2023 (technical reasons)

a.) the grounds for direct award;

The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator for the following reason:

Competition is absent for technical reasons

b.) why the direct award is justified;

The Sense Decide & Communicate project team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (‘MoD’), intends to award a Contract to CGI IT UK Limited (the ‘Contractor’) estimated at £42.7m to deliver the support contract to the Fire Control Battlefield Information System Application. The Authority considers that an In-service support Contract can placed with CGI via Direct Award pursuant to Schedule 5 paragraph 6 of the Procurement Act 2023 (technical reasons). CGI owns the intellectual property and is the only supplier with the necessary technical understanding, expertise and know-how to provide the support required on the upgrade contract to the necessary standard.

In addition, the Authority considers it can also rely on Schedule 5 para. 7 of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023); Additional or repeat goods, services or works.

A change in supplier would require the provision of different software which would lead to significant technical difficulties in compatibility, interoperability, operation of the system and maintenance because CGI IT UK Ltd have been the prime contractor for the entirety of the FC BISA programme from its initial deployment in 2008 up to its latest version.

Achieving compatibility of fire control software with the BOWMAN BCIP network requires a very deep understanding of integration process needed to obtain the safety and security standards for accreditation on the BCIP network. This process takes anything from 12 to 18 months. This time is achievable only with the experience of CGI IT UK Ltd. To go through this process with a new contractor would give rise to risk and delay which would result in unacceptable operational impacts. CGI IT UK Ltd are also the UK leaders in the Artillery Systems Co-Operation Activities (ASCA) a coalition of friendly nations using ASCA software to communicate between friendly nations Fire Control systems. ASCA allows true sensor to shooter interoperability across international network boundaries. Currently, the UK is a lead nation in this coalition and CGI IT UK Ltd are a key element of this leadership.

Technically CGI IT UK Ltd have developed the software contract which this support contract is meant to for, it was developed in line with the required Safety Integrity Level 2 (SIL 2) as well as the complex security requirements. This is knowledge unique to CGI IT UK Ltd. FC BISA has been tested and used operationally by the customer and has proven to be essential to delivery of timely, accurate and robust Fire Control. The ASCA interface utilised through FC BISA is both reliable and an example to other nations on how to interface with ASCA networks. Changing the support contract provider would have a significant impact on operational coherence and training as there would be a requirement for all Royal Artillery FC BISA users to retrain on a new system. Therefore, the FC BISA upgrade is necessary to sustain this critical UK defence capability.

This is a Transparency Notice. No contract has yet been awarded and no commitment made. Subject to receiving no notice during the standstill period of any intention to challenge legally the award process, C2TNC intends to execute an Invitation to Negotiation to CGI IT UK Ltd which will constitute award of a contract to initiate the design and development of the support contract for FC BISA v5.

The Authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information, the Authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions to reflect any changes in national law or government policy, whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies or otherwise.

CGI IT UK LIMITED (CGI)

20 Fenchurch Street,

14th Floor,

London,

United Kingdom,

EC3M 3BY

Contract Value & Duration: £42.7m over 8 years