Helicopters

Tender description

The service is the provision of 1, possibly 2 fire fighting helicopters with pilots. Historically there has only been 1 required on contract but given the current situation the Fire Service have requested that a 2nd is required to be on standby given the intensity and speed of spreading of some of the fires in South Wales. The Fire and Rescue Service rely on the helicopter to fight fires in remote areas on NRW managed land or fires threatening NRW land. It is required when fires have jumped into the crowns of the tree (once a crown fire starts there are very little alternatives to bring it under control). This is a fast moving and emerging incident with no clear timescale for an end date. The current weather forecast shows it remaining largely dry for the next 4 weeks so situation likely to maintain or escalate even further. This is a fast moving and emerging incident with no clear timescale for an end date. The current weather forecast shows it remaining largely dry for the next 4 weeks so situation likely to maintain or escalate even further. Given the unexpected volume of use of this framework we have run out of contract provision. Therefore this contract will run to the end of the financial year to cover the period we are out of contract and while we wait for procurement to establish a competitive process and award a new contract/framework. It will cover immediate and ongoing need for firefighting as this type of incident can continue to flare up for several weeks once the fire has taken hold. The service is the provision of 1, possibly 2 fire fighting helicopters with pilots. Historically there has only been one required on contract but given the current situation the Fire Service have requested that a 2nd is required to be on standby given the intensity and speed of spreading of some of the fires in South WALES. The Fire and Rescue Service rely on the helicopter to fight fires in remote areas on NRW manged land or fires threatening NRW land. It is required when fires have jumped into the crowns of the tree (once a crown fire starts there are very little alternatives to bring it under control). This is an extreme emergency at an unprecedented level and the intensity of the fires are threatening NRW estate.The service provider already has a contract in place with us and providing the service. It would not have been possible to carry out any form of competitive process in the middle of the event, in particular we would not be able to carry out the due diligence required in terms of H and S and capability in such a short period of time with another contractor.