CHC/645 Flat Panel Trainer

Description

The Secretary of State for Defence (the ‘Authority’) intends to enter into a contract with Thales UK Ltd (“Thales”) for the provision of repairs, spares and engineering support in respect of its existing Chinook Flat Panel Trainer (FPT), enabling its continued use at RAF Benson. The proposed contract term is 3 years and the contract value is estimated to be £0.66M. In accordance with regulation 4 of The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (in particular by SI 2019/697 and SI 2020/1450). Prior publication of a contract notice in the Official Journal of the European Union is no longer appropriate. It is considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 due to technical reasons. Thales are the original equipment manufacturers and Design Authority of the Digital Cockpit fitted on the UK Chinook aircraft. As such, the In Service support of the Flat Panel Trainer (including the provision of repairs and spares) together with the related Project Management, can only be carried out by Thales as Thales exclusively own the software rights and holds the relevant skills, technical data, proprietary information (including drawing and design information) and know-how that is needed to meet the requirement. Thales previously confirmed that it is not prepared to share or license the use of that proprietary information outside of the Company and the UK Ministry of Defence does not have a right to obtain the necessary documentation from Thales. The aforementioned skills, technical data, drawing and design information are necessary for the performance of the requirement. Furthermore, only Thales holds the level of certification (under the Authority's Design Approved Organisation (DAOS) and Maintenance Approved Organisation (MAOS) Schemes) necessary to carry out the activities that are required in order to meet the Military Aviation Authority’s Regulatory Articles applicable to the Flat Panel Trainer. It is not possible for another company to obtain the relevant level of certification without access to the skills, knowledge and technical information that only Thales hold. Lot 1: Support and maintenance of the FPT. Additional information: Cyber Risk Assessment rating: 'N/A'.