CONTRACT AWARD NOTICE FOR CONTRACTS IN THE FIELD OF DEFENCE AND SECURITY

Section I: Contracting Authority

I.1)

Name, Address and Contact Point(s)

I.2)

Type of contracting Authority and Main Activity or Activities

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local sub-divisions National or federal agency/Office Regional or local Authority Regional or local Agency/Office Body governed by public law European Institution/Agency or International Organisation

General public services Defence Public order and safety Environment Economic and financial affairs Health Housing and community amenities Social protection Recreation, culture and religion Education

Section II: Object of the Contract

II.1)

Description

II.1.1)

Title attributed to the contract by the contracting authority

ASSERT Technical Support, Hosting and Development.

II.1.2(a))

Type of works contract

II.1.2(b))

Type of supplies contract

II.1.2(c))

Type of service contract

II.1.2)

Main site or location of works, place of delivery or performance

II.1.3)

This notice involves a framework agreement

II.1.4)

Short description of the contract or purchase(s)

Software support services. Software support services. The Authority has a requirement for integrated Hosting, Technical Support and Development of the ASSERT tool, for 3 years with Options for a further 2 years.

ASSERT is a web-based safety and environmental performance reporting tool. ASSERT was intitally provided for the Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S) Air Support, Combat Air, Helicopters & Ships Operating Centres (OCs). It is now used in all DE&S OCs.

The ASSERT tool is endorsed by the DE&S Quality Safety & Environmental Protection team (QSEP) for reporting safety data across DE&S.This includes the ASEMS, OHSE, SQEP & OC specific safety reporting plus the Incident Logging functions. ASSERT is also used by the DSEA for its SEFIT database, the Diving Records database and the Fuel & Gas Regulator. It is also being developed as a workforce planning tool.

The QSEP team provides ASSERT which is used to support safety and risk management reporting for the DE&S user community,including contractors supporting DE&S projects. It also provides the ability to produce critical,non-sensitive evidence to support OC equipment safety case requirements. No data contained within it raises the classification above Official Sensitive-Personal.

Project Teams (PTs) require both technical support and guidance. Additionally, QSEP require expert technical support when visiting OCs & holding Steering Groups. This ensures;

a. Effective gathering of user requirements.

b. Development of corporate safety and environmental products that meet business needs and satisfy our customers.

c. Tools comply with safety and environmental legislation and policy.

d. The experts are able to recognise opportunities as well as constraints.

e. Identify workable solutions to suggested improvements and thus gain us valuable credibility with our customers.

Technical Support includes: providing a facility for creating and disseminating user accounts, being the first POC for capturing, collating and reporting user login difficulties, error messages and faults (including software faults).Resolving of issues affecting or impacting usability of the tool, or providing a suitable alternative workaround. Collecting and recording user generated change requests to be passed on to the relevant Steering Groups for assessment.

Integrated Hosting of the ASSERT tool to allow for both MOD & industry partners through the RLI network.

ASSERT is in development. Over the next three to five years there may be up to 3 000 000 GBP spent on further enhancements to the tool. Because of the nature of technical support and error management the requirement for Hosting & Support also includes provision for development. An ad hoc tasking facility will cover individual developments. There is no commitment to spend the full amount or any part of it.

Development includes provision of business analysis to define user requirements & translate them into functional requirements working closely with the OCs, PTs & QSEP to manage the requirements,provision of an acceptable technical solution & firm price for the development & project managing the development through to User Acceptance & sign off of the delivered functionality.

Other required activities will include providing user manuals and training materials and executing training at DE&S locations in the UK as well as providing the secretariat for Steering & User Groups, hosted regularly throughout the year.

The successful provider will have technical competence in the architecture, the ability to provide support from Level 1 (initial contact) through to engineering and detailed functional knowledge.

The successful provider will be competent to develop multiple projects of 200 plus person days simultaneously with typical end to end delivery of 3 months or less using agile (such as SCRUM) or other rapid application methodologies. The successful provider will be certified to the quality/security processes such as ISO 9001 & ISO 27001 (or equivalent).

The successful provider will have a competent working knowledge of Acquisition Systems, Environmental Protection & Occupational Safety in order to interact with a complex user base of Safety & Environmental Experts.

All providing staff interacting with ASSERT must have UK MOD Security Clearance at SC level or above.

II.1.5)

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

II.2)

Total final value of the contract(s)

II.2.1)

Total final value of the contract(s)

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)

Type of procedure

IV.1.1)

Type of procedure

IV.2)

Award criteria

IV.2.1)

Award criteria

IV.2.2)

An electronic auction has been used

IV.3)

Administrative information

IV.3.1)

File reference number attributed by the contracting authority

DTEC/174

IV.3.2)

Previous publication(s) concerning the same contract

Other previous publications

Section V: Award of contract

Contract No:

Title:

Lot No:

V.1)

Date of contract award:

V.2)

Numbers of offers received:

Number of offers received by electronic means:

V.3)

Name and address of economic operator to whom the contract has been awarded

V.4)

Information on value of contract

V.5)

The contract is likely to be subcontracted

Short description of the value/proportion of the contract to be subcontracted

Section VI: Complementary Information

VI.1)

Contract related to a project and/or programme financed by community funds?

VI.2)

Additional Information

Suppliers interested in working with the Ministry of Defence should register on the MOD Supplier Information Database (SID) Register, available at www.contracts.mod.uk

The MOD SID is a database of active and potential suppliers available to all MOD and UK Defence procurement personnel, and is the main supplier database of MOD Procurement organisations. Please note: the registration and publication of a company profile on the MOD SID does not mean or imply that the supplier has in any way been vetted or approved by the MOD. Suppliers wishing to compete for advertised MOD contracts must respond to any specific call for competition by submitting a separate expression of interest in accordance with the instructions of the purchasing organisation.

From 2.4.2014 the Government is introducing its new Government Security Classifications Policy (GSC) to replace the current Government Protective Marking Scheme. A key aspect of this is the reduction in the number of security classifications used. All suppliers to the Department are encouraged to make themselves aware of the changes as it may impact on this Requirement. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the new GSC.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications

The Authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information (e.g. a Security Aspects Letter), the Authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions to reflect any changes in national law or government policy, whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies, or otherwise.

Advertising Regime OJEU: This contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk

GO Reference: GO-2016113-DCB-7570153.

VI.3)

Procedures for appeal

VI.3.1)

Body responsible for appeal procedures

Body responsible for mediation procedures

VI.3.2)

Lodging of appeals

VI.3.3)

Service from which information about the lodging of appeals may be obtained

VI.4)

Dispatch date of this Notice