MAMBA MLE

The Artillery Systems Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (“MOD”), intends to award SAAB AB the Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar (MAMBA) Mid Life Extension (MLE) Contract commencing April 2018 addressing end of life equipment/components via technical re-design and re-configuring the Radar equipment within a standardized 12ft container so that the system is vehicle agnostic, this includes obsolescence rectification, equipment modification/re-design, post MLE includes obsolescence management, maintenance, repair and configuration management of the Mobile Artillery Monitoring Battlefield Radar (MAMBA) MLE for a total period of 8 years which includes 5 years in-service support . The estimated value of the contract is £38M including in-service support.

It is considered that this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication as permitted by Article 28(1)(e) of Directive 2009/81/EC (Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011) for technical reasons because only SAAB AB have the specific technological expertise and knowledge , tools and specialist test equipment to carry out the modification work to deliver the required outputs of the MLE project.

The MAMBA system is a Weapon Locating Radar (WLR) designed, developed and supported soley by SAAB AB. Only SAAB AB have the necessary and specific technological skills and knowledge of MAMBA to be able to provide the re-design and obsolescence support services required by the MOD to deliver the required outputs of the MLE project through-life. As the Design Authority (DA), SAAB AB have ownership of essential drawings, designs, and associated technical data. They have the underlying knowledge, skills and expertise, particularly in the area of ballistic algorithms, required for design and modification elements of the contract. SAAB AB are the only company that has the detailed understanding of the design of MAMBA.

SAAB AB are the only company that can combine technical re-design with maintenance and repair activities with the requirement for supporting the equipment through-life. Current Out of Service Date is 2016 including obsolescence management and solutions. No other party has the necessary technical expertise and knowledge required to modify the equipment as the modifications cannot be undertaken without access to proprietary design information.

As the contracted DA, any modifications developed by a third party would have to be underwritten by SAAB AB resulting in disproportionate technical and safety difficulties for the MOD along with a disproportionate impact on time and cost in order to provide MOD with the necessary assurances the system safety and performance had not been compromised.

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