GENFLY Refresh

Tender description

The Flight Simulation and Synthetic Training (FsAST) Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a contract for the refresh of the hardware and software on the Generic Flying Controls Trainer (GENFLY) Rigs at RAF Cosford to remove obsolescence impacting functionality and training to the Original Equipment Manufacturer. Lot 1: The Flight Simulation and Synthetic Training Team, part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (“the Authority”) intends to place a new contract with Pennant International Ltd (“Pennant”) for the refurbishment and renewal of the Generic Flying Controls Trainer (GENFLY). The Authority intends to place a new contract with Pennant for a value of up to c£6,000,000 for a period of up to 5 years. In accordance with Regulation 4 of The Defence and Security Public Contracts (Amendment) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 (SI No.2019/697) this procurement shall be regulated under the provisions of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (DSPCR 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 this contract can be placed using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice pursuant to Reg 16 (1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 on the basis that no economic operator aside from Pennant is capable of meeting the Authority’s requirements for technical and exclusive rights reasons, as the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Pennant has specific proprietary know how that would be required to meet the user needs including but not limited to, Software design, Human machine interface design, Scale mechanical and hydraulic components and the sending and sequencing of software commands to physical hardware. The high level faults from the control system need to replicate aircraft, and if reverse engineered incorrectly, any mistakes or inaccuracies on the ground training system could cause risk to life when this training is applied in an operational environment. In addition, the intellectual property including the design and interface data necessitated to complete the works required to meet the User need is not held or owned by the Authority and such is not transferable to a third party.