The Provision of In Barrack Engineering Support (IBES) to Watchkeeper

The Authority intends to award a contract to MPI Limited for the Provision of In Barrack Engineering Support (IBES) to Watchkeeper Remotely Piloted Air System (RPAS). The contract will cover the deployment at specific working locations of technicians as workforce enhancement, to provide maintenance services on Watchkeeper RPAS. The Contract is intended to be for a duration of 9 months commencing on 1 July 2025, with 1 x 6-month option period (or part thereof). The duration of the Contract aligns with the estimated out of service date of Watchkeeper, 31 March 2026. The Watchkeeper capability is required to remain at readiness level until a suitable replacement reaches its initial operating capability. The value of the Contract (including option year) is estimated to be £911,536.95 exclusive of VAT.

It is considered that this contract can be awarded in accordance with paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 to the Procurement Act 2023, where competition is absent for technical reasons.

MPI Limited is the only supplier with the requisite skills, knowledge and experience to provide the requisite engineering support to the Watchkeeper platform. The time taken to recruit and train technicians to the requisite standard would cause an unacceptable capability gap in the provision of the services resulting in an unacceptable risk to readiness levels of the platform and, therefore, operations.