Launch Agreement

Tender description

The Secretary of State for Defence intends to enter into a supply contract with Lockheed Martin for the provision of a UK Launch integration service agreement for the 6U cubesat Space Mission which includes launch within the 22/23 financial year. In accordance with the provisions of The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 SI No. 2020/1319, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended (in particular by SI 2020/1319). 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 (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 32(b)(ii) of the PCR 2015 because competition is absent for technical reasons. Lockheed Martin are the only UK launch service provider that meet both the schedule and technical requirements. Specifically the technical solution needs to include the end to end service from launch to orbital insertion and the equipment and engineering solution necessary to achieve this with a 6U Cubesat. In addition, the launch environment and interface for the satellite must be within and conform to the Cal poly 6U CubeSat Design Specification Revision 1.0 (CP-6UCDS-1.0) and GSFC-STD-7000A. Lockheed Martin are also the only supplier who can provide the launch integration onto this specific launch service. Specifically they are the only launch integration supplier that have access to the Launch ICD. This contains parameters such as mechanical, electrical, testing, interface and safety requirements . Therefore no other supplier could provide launch integration without this document. Lot 1: The Secretary of State for Defence intends to enter into a supply contract with Lockheed Martin for the provision of a UK Launch integration service agreement for the 6U cubesat Space Mission which includes launch within the 22/23 financial year. In accordance with the provisions of The Public Procurement (Amendment etc.) (EU Exit) Regulations 2020 SI No. 2020/1319, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 as amended (in particular by SI 2020/1319). 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 (in accordance with the relevant legislation) is lawful in accordance with regulation 32(b)(ii) of the PCR 2015 because competition is absent for technical reasons. Lockheed Martin are the only UK launch service provider that meet both the schedule and technical requirements. Specifically the technical solution needs to include the end to end service from launch to orbital insertion and the equipment and engineering solution necessary to achieve this with a 6U Cubesat. In addition, the launch environment and interface for the satellite must be within and conform to the Cal poly 6U CubeSat Design Specification Revision 1.0 (CP-6UCDS-1.0) and GSFC-STD-7000A. Lockheed Martin are also the only supplier who can provide the launch integration onto this specific launch service. Specifically they are the only launch integration supplier that have access to the Launch ICD. This contains parameters such as mechanical, electrical, testing, interface and safety requirements . Therefore no other supplier could provide launch integration without this document.