708706450 LOCATOR In-Service Support VTN

The Specialist EOD&S, Exploitation and Countermeasures Project Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a contract to Foerster UK Ltd. for the provision of In-Service Support to LOCATOR for a period of 5 years with 2 option years with an estimated contract value of £3.4M (Ex. VAT).

In accordance with regulation 4 of the Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI 2019/697) this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 as amended (in particular 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 DSPCR 2011 for technical reasons. This is because the in-service support required under the contract can only be provided by the Foerster UK Ltd. because only Foerster UK Ltd. has the know-how and technical expertise to calibrate these detectors safely. To contract with a different supplier would create an unacceptable level of safety risk for the operators.