Composite Repair Equipment

The Air Commodities Team, in the Defence, Equipment and Support Department of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is seeking to place a contract for the continued support and purchase of Composite Repair Equipment for 36 Heatcon HCS9200B Dual Zone Hot Bonders.

The intended length of the contract is five years, with three one-year options. This contract has an estimated value of £850,000 over the eight years. It is the intention of the Authority (the MoD) to place a contract with Heatcon Ltd under regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) Public Contracts Regulations ("PCR") 2015.

The MoD own an existing fleet of Composite Repair Equipment which fulfils the requirement for a portable system that provides the facility to precisely apply, control and document the heat and vacuum required to repair a range of composite materials and adhesive bonding on aircraft structures. The system must have a dual zone capability, with each zone being independent from the other allowing for separate repairs to be achieved simultaneously or to compensate for large areas of heat sink. The system must have the capacity to support various forms of heating devices, i.e. standard heater mat, hot air generators, infrared lamps or ceramic radiant plaques, and must be capable of supporting a minimum of 3 repair heating devices per zone simultaneously.

The requirement for this contract is for maintaining the support of this equipment. This is both through replacing kit as well as repairing and replacing parts as required.

Heatcon are the original designer and manufacturer of both the Hot Bonder and the consumables for that equipment, with consumables being bespoke to the Heatcon bonder. Accordingly, while there are other Composite Repair Equipment providers, their products and consumables are not compatible with and cannot be adapted to the products owned by the Authority. Therefore, Heatcon Ltd are the only provider that can provide the parts or consumables required for the Authority's current Hot Bonder fleet. Furthermore, repairs to any of the equipment must be sent to Heatcon as the repairs will require Heatcon parts which are only available through Heatcon. Consequently, we intend to enter into a negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice for technical reasons under regulation 32(2)(b)(ii) PCR 2015.