ATLAS AC Loader Voluntary Transparency Notice

This contract involves the maintenance and repair, calibration, in-service support, spares, post design activities, on-call technical support and technical documentation maintenance for the UK MOD ATLAS Loader fleet. The Air Commodities Delivery Team, part of the UK Ministry of Defence ("the Authority") intends to contract with JBT Aerotech Ltd. on a single source basis for the provision of in-service support for the JBT ATLAS Loader vehicle from 09 Sept 23 to 09 Sept 25, with the inclusion of options to extend the contract by up to 24 months until 09 Sept 2027. The contract involves the maintenance and repair, calibration, in-service support, spares, post design activities, on-call technical support and technical documentation maintenance for the UK MOD ATLAS Loader fleet.

It is considered that the award of the contract without prior publication of a contract notice in the UK e-notification service is lawful in accordance with Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 due to technical reasons.

This is because JBT Aerotech Ltd. is the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) for this vehicle and provides both proprietary software and spares designs that are considered critical to the safe operation of the vehicle. The existing contract for the in-service support of this range of equipment does not cover the release of any proprietary information to 3rd parties and hence the Authority does not have access to the data-packs associated with the equipment and JBT Aerotech Ltd. have confirmed they are not prepared to grant any such licences. The OEM also maintains the complementary Safety Cases, and there is a significant risk that if a third party took over the contract for in-service support without the data-packs, these Safety Cases would over time deteriorate, as the functionality of the equipment declines in line with the loss of proprietary information in the form of firmware and software upgrades. This would result in an unacceptable level of risk to human life and accelerate the equipment's removal from service. A Single Source solution is the only means of maintaining the integrity of the equipment through to its natural Out of Service Date.