WECDIS VTN

Software Installation

Additional information:

The Communications & Situational Awareness (CSA) Project Team within Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), part of the UK Ministry of Defence, ("the Authority") intends to award a contract (the Contract) to OSI Maritime Systems Ltd ("the Contractor") for the combined support of WECDIS Type Approval Upgrade ROYAL NAVY WARSHIP ELECTRONIC CHART DISPLAY AND INFORMATION SYSTEM (RN-WECDIS) AND WARSHIP AUTOMATIC IDENTIFICATION SYSTEM (WAIS) OBSOLESCENCE RECOVERY. In accordance with Regulation 4 of the Defence and Security Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) 2019 Regulations (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (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 (as required by the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 for technical reasons. The value of the requirement is approximately £10 million.

Navigation capability on RN ships is a critical component of a ship's ability to operate and fight, hence any failure or degradation of these systems will place significant risk on the RN's ability to fulfil the Authority's required defence outcomes in accordance with the Authority's Defence Strategy and RN Command Plan. Both WECDIS and WAIS capabilities also require significant upgrades fleet-wide to overcome obsolescence and deliver regulatory compliance to new IMO standards being introduced by end-2028 whist utilising the common software provided by the Contractor

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Only the Contractor can achieve ECPINS software integration of any obsolescence solution as they own the IPR imbedded in the software within the WECDIS and WAIS equipment, own all supporting documentation/manuals needed to maintain it and possess the SQEP technical expertise to carry out all activities of the work required and bespoke SQEP with capacity to provide training where necessary. The Authority does not have the necessary rights in the IPR to provide to a third party

It is considered that only the Contractor can achieve delivery of this requirement within the timeframe available on all ships within scope, without considerable risk to the continued operation of the fleet. In addition, any approval for hardware to host OSI ECPINS software must be delivered with OSI support. As OEM for ECPINS software, OSI maintains the hardware Type Approved list. Any new hardware solution that isn't already on OSI's Type Approval list will incur at least 12 months additional integration, testing and certification activity before it can commence platform integration activity. Time is a huge consideration here as its imperative to re-gain IMO Safety of Life at Sea Accreditation.