The Provision of a Defence Air Passenger Services System (DAPSS) **Prior Information Notice**

1. Title: 701575803 - The Provision of a Defence Air Passenger Services System (DAPSS)

2. Object of the Prior Information Notice: The purpose of this Prior Information Notice (PIN) is to inform potential suppliers of the intended procurement for an Air Passenger Logistics Support requirement with a focus on COTS applications coupled with in-service support.

3.a. Background and Description: The Authority provides air transportation around the world to various destinations and carry in the region of 200,000 passengers and crew each year. These passengers include personnel deploying to operations worldwide, VIPs and their associates, Civil Servants, civilian contractors, families and other concessionary travellers and on occasion, fare paying passengers. The Defence Air Passenger Systems Service (DAPSS) capability shall provide a flight scheduling, reservation processing, and aircraft despatch capability to manage air passengers and their baggage to ensure the sustainable, safe and efficient operation of the Air Transport Force and Authority passenger charter aircraft worldwide. The DAPSS capability will be used by 1000-2000 users in (but not limited to) RAF airheads in the UK and worldwide as well as Command Headquarters and major military establishments.

The DAPSS capability will utilise three modular elements from the standard airline industry Passenger Services Systems technology: 1. Scheduling - to support the scheduling of RAF air transport flights and the Authority charter air passenger flights. 2. Airline Reservation System - to allow air passengers to be allocated to a specific flight. 3. Departure Control Systems - to support the air terminal functions of checking-in air passengers and their baggage.

The capability will need to be able to:

connect to the Authority network and therefore will require security accreditation

protect the DAPSS data with a Privacy Marking not exceeding OFFICIAL SENSITIVE.

connect to UK Borderforce

provide a conversion training package for the users

connect to peripherals (boarding card scanner, printer and baggage weighing scales - these may be procured separately or part of the service)

provide a Management Information report writing capability

provide a backup and disaster recovery capability

provide up to 24hr software support

ensure that digitisation and automation are to be utilised as much as is practicable to simplify and expedite air passenger processing and the capability will be interoperable with existing systems and home base infrastructure.

DUE TO THE CHARACTER LIMIT PLEASE REFER TO SECTIONS 3B - 6 WITHIN 'ADDITIONAL TEXT' OF THIS NOTICE.

Additional information:

3.b. The requirement for the capability to comply with Authority, Government and International Air Transport Regulations, as detailed in (but not limited to), International Air Transport Association (IATA), Military and Civilian Aviation Authorities (MAA/CAA) and International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) manuals. Covering the movement of air passengers and their baggage. It is expected that the DAPSS capability should have Advance Passenger Information System (APIS) functionality.

4. Procurement Timescales/Contract Value: The Authority anticipates issue of Contract Notice and Supplier Selection in February 2022 with the issue of an Invitation to Tender in May 2022. The current estimated value range of the Contract is between £1 - £11M (Within Cat D Range)

5. Provision of Further Information: Prior to initiating the procurement, the Authority seeks to gather information from the market to engage and understand the capabilities of suppliers within the market in relation to the objective either as a whole or in component elements. This will help inform the Authority's procurement strategy for the programme.

The Authority would like to identify what services and equipment are currently available from suppliers in order meet this outline capability. In order to inform our options and plan appropriately DE&S would welcome the receipt of the following information from potential suppliers.

• a.Provide details of products that could fulfil part, or all the basic capability outlined above. This must be limited to a maximum of 6 A4 pages (including any embedded documentation and links), or equivalent, and can come in the form of promotional material.

If suppliers would like to provide information in accordance with 5. a. Provision of Further Information, you must do so by the following time and date and shall submit this information to the named contact point at Section 1 of this PIN:

• 17:00pm on the 25th October 2021.

Please note that non-participation in the provision of further information shall not prevent any supplier from subsequently expressing an interest to respond to the Contract Notice and PQQ.

6. Additional Information:

You must not take this Prior Information Notice to mean confirmation that the Authority shall award a contract for this requirement. The Authority is publishing this announcement without any commitment to issue a tender or place a contract. Accordingly, any expenditure, work or effort undertaken before contract award is a matter solely for the commercial judgement of potential suppliers.

The Contracting Authority intends to use an e-Tendering system in this procurement exercise, please visit www.contracts.mod.uk for full details and to register your interest in this procurement.

Any questions related to the DAPSS project should be directed to the SCIS Delivery Team via the Defence Sourcing Portal opportunity Listing. Link here - https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=51830