U.K. Seeks Bids for Military Air Traffic Services

30 Mar 2011 By ANDREW CHUTER DefenseNews

LONDON - A near freeze in the launch of major program competitions at the British Ministry of Defence thawed a little March 28, with a move to begin bidding for a contract to provide military air traffic services, equipment and support. The deal could be worth up to 1.5 billion pounds ($2.4 billion). Project Marshall, a public-private partnership previously known as the Joint Military Air Traffic Services program, is expected to attract bids involving at least 10 major defense companies and service providers. It's the first major service provision contract released by the Conservative-led coalition government since it came to power last May. For the moment, the MoD has asked only for expressions of interest. That will be followed later this year by a prequalification questionnaire and then an invitation to tender to at least three down-selected contractors at the end of September. The goal is to have a contractor in place for the 22-year deal by late 2013 - eight years after the program originally got underway.

Thales UK, together with Babcock and NATS, the partially government-owned civil air traffic services provider here, declared their intention to bid last year in a consortium known at Team Aquila. Similarly, Raytheon and Serco announced last year they were teaming up. Other companies, or consortia, expected to throw their hats into the ring when expressions of interest are returned next month include a team involving Lockheed Martin, Cobham and Selex. BAE Systems said it is talking to potential partners, and Boeing said it is looking at returning an expression of interest. EADS is not expected to bid.

The winning service provider will equip and support communications, surveillance and navigation systems at British bases in the U.K., Cyprus, Gibraltar, the Falklands and on deployed operations. The contract does not include the provision of air traffic control itself. That will still be predominantly performed by the military. More than 100 sites are served by air traffic control equipment. That number will likely fall as the MoD pushes through a number of Royal Air Force base closures caused by capability losses and severe budget cuts. Britain's defense procurement has been in a state of near paralysis for months, as first a 2010 strategic defense and security review and now the MoD's 2011 planning round have cut or delayed programs. The 2011 equipment planning round is still incomplete, even though the start of the new financial year is just days away. Although some of Britain's military air traffic management systems have been replaced in the last few years, much of the equipment, particularly key surveillance and communication enablers, dates from the 1980s and is obsolete, the MoD said in requesting expressions of interest.