AERIAL DISPERSANT SPRAY (ADS) SERVICE - Market Engagement

With the MCAs Aerial Dispersant Spray Service due to expire in the next two years, it is our intention to carry out a competition to replace this service and to ensure the broadest possible participation in the process by the market.

Under consideration is the possible extension of incumbent services to facilitate this if required. In addition, the MCA will:

• Make the MCA owned 737 400 Oil Dispersant Spray Kit used to deliver the current service available at no cost to any successful bidder, meaning it can feature in any bid solution to the MCAs requirement;
• Enable any successful bidder to purchase an incumbent owned 737 400 Oil Dispersant Spray Kit, currently under development, at fair market value, so that it can feature in any bid solution for the MCAs requirement;
• Provide any successful bidder with access to and a license to use the intellectual property, in the form of Subject Type Certificates, for the Oil Dispersant Spray Kit, so bidders can include the use, maintenance and modification of the existing Oil Dispersant Spray Kits, or the manufacture of new Kits, in their bid solution;
• Provide bidders with access to knowledge and information on the incumbent service and how it is delivered;
• Notwithstanding the above, be solution agnostic and open to any alternative aircraft and delivery systems which meet the requirement.

Please note that the 737 400 aircraft used to deliver the current contract are not transferrable. Alternative 737 400s would need to be modified to take the kit.

737 400 Oil Dispersant Spray Kit:

• Palletised kit which can be rolled on and off the aircraft. Installation takes approximately three hours for a trained crew.
• Refill takes ~45 minutes and can be done simultaneously with refuel.
• Carries 15,900 litres of dispersant.
• Effective swath of ~25m.
• Variable pump speed to achieve 1:20 dosage rate up to 1:10 dosage rate.
• Cruise speed of 250 knots (300 knots true airspeed).
• Sprays at a height of 200ft, at 200 knot speed.
• The MCA owns the intellectual property and STC certificates for this system.

These can be made available to any operator for the purpose of delivering aerial dispersant spray services on behalf of MCA to enable operators to use and maintain the existing kit, modify aircraft to take the kit and manufacture new kits.

This market engagement /questionnaire is intended to furnish the MCA with the key information it requires to plan a fair and open procurement for this service.

Interested party's in this engagement must register on the Department for Transport (DfT) procurement portal (Jaggaer) in order to access the documents.

https://dft.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html

*** Once logged into Jaggaer, please navigate to pqq_258 ***

Additional information:

Further access to information and to submit/input to the MCAs Market Questionnaire can achieved via the DFT Procurement and Contract Management system "Jaggaer".

Interested suppliers will need to register on the system, but this is completely free of charge and can be found at the following link - https://dft.app.jaggaer.com/web/login.html