Technical support of New Rolling Stock and Associated Services

CPV: Transport systems consultancy services

Procedure method

Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition

Legal basis

CELEX · 32014L0025 Utilities Contracts Regulations 2016 (Directive 2014/25/EU)

Procurement category

Services

Notice status

Awarded without competition

Procurement threshold

Unspecified in notice

Regulatory regime

Standard

Commercial structure

Framework agreement

Who may use this agreement

Not stated in the notice; call-off rights may be limited to the establishing authority

Competition type

Direct award (no call for competition)

GPA / WTO covered

Unspecified in notice

Recurring procurement

Unspecified in notice

First published

16 Jul 2021, 12:07 BST

Last source update

16 Jul 2021, 12:07 BST

FTS notice number

2021/S 000-016751

Classification (CPV)

Transport systems consultancy services

Delivery area

North East (UKC)

Official registry OCID

ocds-h6vhtk-02c8e1 Find a Tender

Why no open competition

The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive

Published justification

Nexus relies of Regulation 50 (c) (ii) of the Utilities Regulations 2016 to enter into a services contract with MML using the negotiated procedure without prior call to competition. The services under this contract can only by supplied by MML as competition is absent for technical reasons and no reasonable alternative or substitute exists.

Nexus has entered into agreements with one supplier for all the elements of the delivery of its Metro Fleet Replacement Programme (the Programme) for the design, manufacture and supply of the new trains, the construction of a new depot, the maintenance of the existing fleet and the maintenance of the new fleet.

MML was first appointed to consult on this complex Programme in 2016 and has been involved in the development of the contacting and procurement strategies, the development of technical specifications, modelling and analysis, the procurement process and the initial and final design phases of the new fleet. MML therefore holds intrinsic knowledge of the technical proposals, designs and plans which will be delivered as part of the manufacturing, testing and commissioning phases of the Programme.

MML's knowledge extends beyond familiarity with the programme deliverables to the reasons why Nexus' requirements have been drafted in the way they have in the contracts and technical documents. This work has been carried out with a relatively small number of individuals in the MML project team who hold this overarching knowledge and understanding.

If the existing MML team was not available, the Programme could not be delivered within the timeframes set out in the contractual documentation or the programme documents agreed as part of the suite of contract agreements with Nexus' supplier.

Further, a slower delivery of the Programme would expose Nexus to significant financial and reputational risk. Strategically Nexus need to remove the existing fleet and replace it with its new trains as soon as possible on the basis the existing fleet is life expired, it is vulnerable to endemic and epidemic component failures and it has the worst performance of any comparable fleet in the UK.

There are large financial risks associated with a slower delivery of the Programme which would lead to Nexus failing to fulfil its obligations for time bound acceptance and certification of contractual documents and milestones. A delay to one agreement will also have an impact on the other agreements due to the way that this Programme is timed.

1 suppliers are admitted to this framework without individual award values or dates; the JSON mirror lists them.

No document links were published on the notice.