Support and Spares Provisions for Installed Engine Test Facility

The Air Commodities Delivery Team (ACDT) in the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Department of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is seeking to place a contract for the provision of spares and repairs for three Installed Engine Test Facilities (IETF) currently at RAF Valley, RNAS Culdrose and RAF Leeming.

The intended length of the contract is 1 year with a further 3 years of options. This contract has an estimated value of £950,000 over the 4 years. It is the intention of the Authority to place a single source contract with Cullum Detuners Ltd under regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations (DSPCR) 2011.

The IETFs provide optimal operation in terms of acoustic attenuation, entrainment, and thermal performance during installed engine testing. Detuners are bespoke in terms of their compatibility with the air platforms they are built to accommodate. This compatibility includes meeting aeroengine thrust parameters, noise suppression, and environmental protection. The Hawk detuners in scope of this contract are designed to expand on a linear plane to ensure maximum aural protection and protection against hot exhaust gas escapement. The contract to support these IETFs will include a repair service and provision of spare parts.

Cullum Detuners Ltd are the Original Equipment Manufacturer and designed and built the IETF to meet the specific requirements of the Hawk platform. Cullum Detuners Ltd have the technical expertise due to their historic knowledge of the facility and access to technical information to ensure the IETFs continue to meet the required performance level and safe use in terms of thermal and acoustic properties. No third party has the technical knowledge or access to the technical information to repair this facility and sourcing parts from an alternative source will require significant reverse engineering and testing to ensure that the same levels of aural protection and protection against hot exhaust gas escapement are met. If the required expertise is not established with the supplier, this would result in a significant gap in capability, which is unacceptable in terms of the health and safety risk and legislative compliance risk.