Challenger 2 Life Extension Project

For the avoidance of doubt, this Contract Notice and Dynamic Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (DPQQ) are being released in advance of a formal approval of available funding to initiate a competition. This approach is intended to accelerate the subsequent release of an Invitation to Negotiate (ITN) to the pre-selected field of bidders once approval to proceed to competition has been confirmed. For planning purposes only the Authority is assuming that formal approval will be achieved in late January 2016.

The UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) Armoured Vehicles Programmes (The Authority) has a possible future requirement to deliver a Challenger 2 Life Extension Project (CR2 LEP). The user requires the CR2 Main Battle Tank (MBT) Out of Service Date to be extended from 2025 to 2035, in order to continue to provide precision direct fire manoeuvre capability across a broad spectrum of operations. CR2 LEP seeks to address obsolescence issues to maintain main battle tank capability until 2035. This is a Category A Military Project (up to £700M inclusive of VAT, including initial logistic support).

Subject to internal approvals, the Authority intends to conduct a Competitive Negotiated Competition under the Defence Security and Public Contracts Regulations 2011 with the intention of inviting a minimum of three tenderers. From these tenders the Authority intends to utilise Most Economically Advantageous Tender (MEAT) principles to down select to two Prime Contractors, with each being invited to independently undertake a 2 year Assessment Phase (AP) under contracts not to exceed the Authority's total AP budget of £42M inclusive of UK VAT. The ultimate aim of the competition will be to award a Demonstration, Manufacture and In-service Support (DMI) contract to the bidder which at the conclusion of the AP provides the most economically advantageous tender for the DMI contract.

During the AP the Authority will negotiate with the AP contractors under the Competitive Negotiated Procedure to refine their specific DMI proposals which will be evaluated at the conclusion of the AP. The Authority will then select a winner who, subject to a Main Gate investment decision, will deliver their proposed DMI solution in accordance with the terms included in the ITN and resolved during the AP. The ultimately successful DMI contractor will be required to formally undertake the role of Design Authority (DA) for the whole Platform. The timing for establishing formal DA status would be co-incident with the successful achievement of Critical Design Review during the D&M Phase.

Industry should note that the Invitation To Negotiate (ITN) will require the AP contractors to consider support options for any new to service items in conjunction with the Authority's primary Support provider (Babcock DSG Ltd), which is the existing provider of support to the Platform (and its common based platform variants) via existing Inventory and Repair Contracts. AP bidders will be expecte

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