Ground Mission Support System (GMSS) Support

Concepts

Location

Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Bristol/Bath Area:

Geochart for 1 buyers and 1 suppliers

Description

The Authority has placed a contract with Thales UK Ltd with a duration of 4 years for the ongoing support of the extant GMSS hardware and software, including laptops and servers. Thales UK Ltd will further provide under the terms of the contract technical support and support management services in relation to the GMSS.

Total Quantity or Scope

In-service support services for the hardware and software for the Ground Mission Support System (GMSS) on the Chinook aircraft.

Award Detail

Renewal Options

The Contract includes Options for recommendations to resolve an obsolescence issue and training courses to front line users. The Contract includes a Post Design Service tasking mechanism.

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 71356300 – Technical support services
• 34711500 – Helicopters
• 35612400 – Military transport helicopters
• 72250000 – System and support services
• 72253000 – Helpdesk and support services

Indicators

• Options are available.

Legal Justification

As per previous Voluntary Transparency Notice (prior to contract award), the justification for the non-competitive decision was as follows: “It is considered that this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC and Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011 (SI 2011/No.1848) on the basis that for reasons connected with the protection of exclusive rights the contract may be awarded only to Thales UK Ltd. Thales UK Ltd is the original equipment manufacturer and design authority of the GMSS and alone holds all relevant technical rights (including rights in the system’s source code), data and information (including in relation to the Chinook Mission Avionics System, with which the GMSS must be interoperable) required for the performance of services under the contract. There is no available and lawful equivalent right that another economic operator could offer, which could support the contract services: Thales UK Ltd has not licensed its rights’ exploitation to any other economic operator nor does the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence have a licence to use such exclusive rights which would enable it to procure the subject matter of the contract from another supplier. Accordingly, a third party would be unable to carry out the essential support activities required (such as software upgrades and modifications) under the contract.”

Other Information

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