Project TAMPA - Additive Manufacturing as a Service Challenge

Additive Manufacturing (AdM), also known as 3D printing, is a range of manufacturing technologies that enable the creation of lighter, stronger parts and systems. It has the potential to address significant issues within Defence such as excessive lead times for Defence inventory and manufacture of obsolete/obsolescent parts to improve platform availability. A Prior Information Notice (PIN) was published on 11/04/2022 to inform the market of an upcoming Framework Agreement opportunity under the Reference Number 703280451, titled ‘Metal Additive Manufacturing as a Service Challenge’. This Project will now be known as ‘Project TAMPA –Additive Manufacturing as a Service Challenge’ under the new Reference Number of this Opportunity Listing.

The Authority wishes to enter into a multi-supplier Framework Arrangement for accelerating the maturity of Additive Manufacturing technology to better exploit the technology within the end-to-end support chain, deliver a more agile response to demand for parts, and begin to generate the inherent efficiencies that this technology promises. The Authority intends to seek bids for limited innovation funding to conduct spiral development tasks under the new Framework; spiral tasks will be awarded via mini-competition between Framework participants (the Authority may choose to include the first task with the Framework Invitation to Tender). The Authority currently estimates the Framework value between £3M - 5M, duration of 2 - 7 years (further funding in the later Option years (up to the max 7 yrs) may be considered). It is recognised that the funding available from the Authority needs to be underpinned by a level of investment from suppliers in order to realise the advantages of this technology.

The Authority also requires that suppliers wishing to apply for this Opportunity must already have one or more extant equipment/platform support contracts in place with the Ministry of Defence to provide military spares under NSN; the supply of spare parts must be capable of benefitting from Metal Additive Manufacturing technology. The support contracts already in place with potential suppliers for this Opportunity must be extant for a minimum period of 2 years following the intended award date of the Framework. If these extant support contracts expire without replacement then the supplier may stay on the Framework but may not be invited to take part in any mini-competitions where the existence of the support contract is a pre-requisite: they may however still take part in other Framework activities, eg working groups.

The rationale for restricting award of a Framework place to those Suppliers who already have an equipment/ platform support contract in place is that these Suppliers will:

• understand the challenges associated with part provision for these equipment/platform(s);
• will be familiar with the underlying processes and procedures associated with certification, quality control and inventory management
• will be familiar with the MOD community associated with the equipment/platform(s)
• have access to the design rights with the equipment/platform(s)
• already have channels set up to supply and install spares on military platforms
• either have in-house additive manufacturing facilities, have established relationships with additive manufacturing technology suppliers, or be willing to enter into such collaborative arrangements.
• be security cleared for involvement with the supply of spares for particular equipments/platform(s)

The Cyber Risk Profile for this requirement identified by the Cyber Risk Assessment is NOT APPLICABLE.

Additional Information:

It is intended that the multi-supplier Framework benefits/outcomes will include, but may not be limited to:

• Initially produce certified metallic parts for the Defence Inventory, for which the print files are transmissible over the Defence infrastructure;
• Collect and share learning with the Authority and collaborative MOD/ industry working groups regarding the process to fit the parts onto In-Service platform/equipments (conducted under extant support contracts with the Authority);
• Facilitate collaborative working to generate the underlying processes that will enable rapid scaling across further ranges of inventory and materials;
• Achieve Industry, DE&S and FLC engagement, increased interest and commitment regarding the use of Additive Manufacturing within the UK Defence Supply Chain.

The rationale for focusing initially on metallic parts is two-fold:

• It is the lack of availability of metallic parts of the inventory that is currently affecting equipment/ platform availability;
• It reduces the needs associated with certification.

The Authority anticipates that an initial task (Spiral 1) under the new Framework will produce a non-safety critical metallic NSN. This will be followed by a series of further spirals that will seek to incrementally address increasing degrees of complexity.

The spiral tasks envisaged by the Authority are set out below (these will be subject to individual approvals and are indicative only at this stage):

• Spiral 2 - a safety critical metallic NSN, produced in the Industrial base, certified by the producer (OEM or under licence).
• Spiral 3 - a non-safety critical metallic (or polymer) NSN, produced in a location remote from the Industrial base, certified by the producer
• Spiral 4a - a safety critical metallic (or polymer) NSN, produced in a location remote from the industrial base, certified by the producer
• Spiral 4b - a non-safety critical metallic (or polymer) NSN, produced in a location remote from the Industrial base, certified by the producer and where access to Design Rights is required.

This competition is subject to the DSPCR 2011 Restricted Procedure. To establish a list of suppliers to be taken forward to ITT, it is the Authority’s intention, through this PQQ and Contract Notice, to source interest from and screen the capability of the industrial supply base. Participation at the next stage (Invitation to Tender (ITT)) will be subject to successfully passing the Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) released with this Contract Notice. There is no intention to limit by number the suppliers who can be taken forward to the Invitation to Tender stage as this will be for joining a multi-supplier Framework; however potential applicants are advised that their PQQ responses will be evaluated on the basis of their ability to meet all the technical criteria and those not meeting the minimum criteria will not be taken forward to receive an Invitation to Tender.

The Authority intends to re-open the Framework on a maximum twice-yearly basis for additional suppliers to join, via the same competitive process and under the same Framework terms and conditions. Quantity or scope: The Framework will last for initially 2 years and will be subject to further Options for years 3 up to 7. The Framework is intended to be re-opened on a maximum twice-yearly basis for other suppliers to join, via the same competitive process and under the same Framework terms and conditions..