Multi-Mode Radio Post Design Support Contract

Location

United Kingdom:

Description

The Tactical Systems (TacSys) Service Executive (SE) within Defence Digital, part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD), intends to place with L3Harris Communications Systems UK Limited a 5 year contract for the provision of Post Design Services (PDS) for the different variants of Multi Mode Radios that were procured. These radio types are the Harris PRC-152 and PRC-152A Handheld radios and the Harris PRC-117F and PRC-117G Manpack radios.

Total Quantity or Scope

The MMR PDS contract is being placed to sustain the integrity, safety and security of the MMR. The top-level tasks met by the PDS Contract are: Controlled Firmware releases, Obsolescence management (hardware and software), Maintenance of the MMR Safety and Environmental documentation, Incident and problem management, Ad Hoc PDS Tasking, Release and re-certification management, System level documentation and technical publications, advice, guidance and Help Desk, Technical assurance, Product, interface and system design, and the provision of System level knowledge and engineering expertise.

Award Detail

Award Criteria

CPV Codes

• 64227000 - Integrated telecommunications services

Legal Justification

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. To address obsolescence impacting tactical communications the MMR project was initiated in 2022 to replace legacy systems with modern radios for man-portable Tactical Satellite (TacSat) and Ground-to-Air (G2A) capabilities. Awarded to L3Harris Communication Systems UK, the contract delivered MMR systems. However, the contract, set to expire in June 2025, did not include the provisions for post-design service support, which is now required to maintain the safety, operability, and availability of the MMR capability beyond the contract's expiration. L3Harris are the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) and have the specific technical skills, know-how and experience in providing the necessary Contractor Technical Support and Services to support, maintain and upgrade the equipment when required. They are also the only supplier who has access to the product design information to enable them to undertake any support and design modifications to the MMR fleet. Choosing to compete this requirement would introduce the possibility of contravention of the Defence Safety Authority (DSA) regulations as it would not be possible to ensure that another contractor could be sufficiently qualified within the requisite time frames to undertake design and manufacture activities without including an associated unacceptable level of risk. This would result in the Authority not being able to fulfil safety requirements which are required to ensure the safe functioning of the User community. Due to the above reasons the requirement will continue as a single source requirement.

Other Information

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