Official UK procurement notice
Spare and Replacement Parts including Provision of Support for Cummins Engines
Authority: DfI Transport and Road Asset Management (TRAM) (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Department directly operates the Strangford Lough Ferry Service. The service involves the operation of two large passenger vessels. Both vessels must undergo an annual inspection by Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) prior to the issue of a Passenger Ship Safety Certificate (PSSC) granting permission for the operation to continue. Part of this inspection focuses on the vessel machinery and compliance with manufacturer maintenance schedule. The two roll-on roll-off (ro-ro) ferries in use are as follows:
- MV Portaferry II (2002) which has five Cummins engines, three QSK 19 (two in service and one spare) and two Cummins 4BT generators.
- MV Strangford II (2017) which has five Cummins engines, three QSK 19M (two in service and one spare) and two Cummins 6BT generators.
Parts are required to undertake one large refit on each ferry per year and approximately six to eight smaller and more urgent maintenance jobs per year.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 25 Jun 2025, 12:12 BST
- Last source update
- 21 Jul 2025, 10:55 BST
- Authority reference
DAC-0189- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-041546- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-055348Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
Section 41 and paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 provides justification of a Direct Award when the following conditions are met in relation to the public contract -
(a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and
(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.
The manufacturer of the ferry engines has confirmed they are the only authorised dealer and supplier of all genuine Cummins engine parts for Northern Ireland.
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
8 Jul 2025 → 21 Jul 2025 · 2 dates- Standstill ends8 Jul 2025, 23:59 BST
- Notice published21 Jul 2025, 10:55 BST
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 25 Jun 2025- Transparency notice published25 Jun 2025, 12:12 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published27 Jun 2025, 07:13 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected11 Jul 2025, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published21 Jul 2025, 10:55 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cummins LTD11 Jul 2025 – 1 May 2028 | £420,000 | 25 Jun 2025 | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 1 · Cummins LTD
- Signed
- 11 Jul 2025
- Value
- £420,000
- Period
- 11 Jul 2025 – 10 Jul 2028
- Status
- active
No agreed KPIs: The contract value is below £5 million including VAT. There are robust Conditions of Contract in place to address any performance issues.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- CUMMINS LTD.Awarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender