S&MOCB/8007: Provision of UUV System Midlife Capability Upgrade (701551797)

Tender description

Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO), part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD), awarded a Contract to Kongsberg Maritime AS (‘Kongsberg’) for the Midlife Capability Upgrade of the in-service KM9 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV). Previous publication reference: 2021/S 000-012734. Lot 1: Salvage and Marine Operations (SALMO), part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MOD), intends to award a contract (S&MOCB/8007) to Kongsberg Maritime Ltd (‘Kongsberg’) for the midlife capability upgrade of the in-service KM9 Unmanned Underwater Vehicle (UUV) capability. It is considered that this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Regulation 16(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulation (DSPCR) 2011 for technical reasons. The KM9 UUV capability was originally procured from Kongsberg in 2015/16 and Kongsberg has supported it in-service to date. Only Kongsberg holds all the available technical information and equipment (drawings, interfaces, test and calibration specifications/procedures, jigs and tools etc.) necessary to undertake the full mid-life refit of the capability. The KM9 capability has complex internal workings and bespoke hardware and software interfaces. Due to the technical complexity, the MOD considers that another entity would be unable to undertake the refit element without integration difficulties or impact on function due to the technical knowledge required.