712746450 - Provision of Army Orienteering Services

Section 43 (Switching to Direct Award) of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA2023) permits a

contracting authority to switch from a competitive tendering procedure to the direct award

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of a public contract in circumstances where no, or no suitable, tenders or requests to

participate have been received during the competitive tendering procedure. This is

applicable when the contracting authority determines that awarding a contract through a

competitive tendering procedure under Section 19 is not feasible in the given

circumstances.

The contracting authority previously conducted an open competitive procurement process

for this orienteering requirement in May 2025 but did not receive any suitable tenders or

requests to participate. This was likely due to the niche nature of the requirement, the

limited number of suppliers in this specialised field, and the logistical challenges of the

specified location. Only one bid was submitted, and the competition attracted limited

interest, with no other suppliers confirming interest or submitting clarification questions,

resulting in no suitable tenders. Consequently, it is not possible to proceed under section

19, and a direct award under section 43 has been deemed necessary to meet the

requirement.