Published date: 28 October 2021

Last edited date: 17 November 2021

Closed opportunity - This means that the contract is currently closed. The buying department may be considering suppliers that have already applied, or no suitable offers were made.


Closing: 29 November 2021, 5pm

Contract summary

Industry

  • Nuclear, biological, chemical and radiological protection equipment - 35113200

Location of contract

South West

Value of contract

£94,000,000

Procurement reference

tender_287448/1008704

Published date

28 October 2021

Closing date

29 November 2021

Closing time

5pm

Contract start date

31 March 2023

Contract end date

31 March 2032

Contract type

Supply contract

Procedure type

Other: Competitive Negotiated - Exempt from DSPCR

Contract is suitable for SMEs?

Yes

Contract is suitable for VCSEs?

No

Description

The Authority has a requirement for industry to design/enhance, develop & manufacture the Next Generation Chemical Detection Chemical Sense capability for airborne hazards, (including vapour and aerosol) & deposited hazards (including liquids and solids) known as 'Project BOSKER'.
This procurement is exempt from the Defence & Security Public Contract Regulations on Grounds of National Security & is 'Secret 5 Eyes Only'. Only Suppliers from within UK, US, Canada, Australia & New Zealand may apply. However this does not stop companies with foreign ownership from applying if they have a UK registered business or subsidiary.
Suppliers should have the ability & technology to meet the following high-level user needs:
- Timely indication of toxic chemicals airborne in vapour & aerosol physical states, & then alert personnel to chemical threats within local areas.
- Develop person worn capability for Hazard Warning (HW) & Residual Hazard Warning (RHW) for military personnel and potentially through modularisation of the person worn capability provide a hand-held capability to provide Hazard Location (HL) & Contamination of Assessment to military personnel.
- Develop a base sense capability for HW & RHW to military personnel.
- Provide chemical threat presumptive identification & the amount of hazard present allowing this data to report the event to Commaders. This information will support integrated warning, increase situational awareness, and improve battlefield management.
- Obtain both a high level of chemical sensitivity & minimise the potential for false alarms (both false positive & false negative) to provide the user with confidence.
- Deliver an integrated aerosol & vapour sense capability.
- Both equipments are required to be network enabled.

Suppliers need to hold, or be willing to obtain, List X status prior to contract award.

The contract period is expected to be 5 yrs +1 +1 +1 +1 option yrs & include:

a. Demonstration Phase to develop a prototype to be approved by the Authority, in conjunction with DSTL testing that meets the requirement prior to Y1 of the contract.
b. Manufacture, supply, & delivery of specified chemical sensing equipment expected during Y2, Y3 & maybe Y4 of the contract.
c. Repair & Spares support covering procurement of the full systems, part piece spares & component level spares.
d. Technical support including updates to tech documentation, responding to technical queries from the users via DE&S Operations Manager.
e. Provision of training equipment/training packages.

Please refer to the additional text section for more information.

More information

Additional text

Support will be fully defined in the ITN but is likely to be a range of specialised DIM & sense equipment likely to require consumable items & may have servicing, repair & calibration requirements.The Authority is seeking to procure a total of 8-9k units, consisting of 2.5-3k units for Lot 2 and 5.5-6k units for Lot 1.Scaling is estimated & to be confirmed at ITN.

The Cyber Risk Profile for this requirement identified by the Cyber Risk Assessment is low (Ref No:657512766).

Any questions related to Project BOSKER must be directed to the delivery team via the Defence Sourcing Portal. Please also reference to the Opportunities Listing on the DSP.
https://contracts.mod.uk/esop/guest/go/opportunity/detail?opportunityId=52603

The Authority will accept data relevant to the tender being shared with companies within the 5 EYES community (UK, US, AUS, CAN & NZ) but this is only subject to the Authority's prior approval being sought which will be issued on a case by case basis. The tenderer must specify the company name, individual(s) name, role, security clearance and justification as to why the data is being shared. The Authority will consider the request and grant approval where deemed acceptable.

About the buyer

Address

CBRN, Yew 3a, Abbey Wood
Bristol
BS34 8JH
England

Email

carly.williams713@mod.gov.uk