714928467 - AESAS 2026 - Provision of Aircraft Engineering Support and Airfield Services at Royal Naval Air Stations Yeovilton and Culdrose

The Royal Navy, part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a 1 + 1 year contract to Serco for the Air Engineering Support and Airfield Services (AESAS). As a covered procurement, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023. In the circumstances, the authority may award this public contract directly in accordance with section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. The applicable direct award justification is that set out in paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Act. This justification applies because the AESAS contract concerns the supply of services by the existing supplier which are intended as an extension to existing services in circumstances where: a change in supplier would result in the contracting authority receiving services that are different from, or incompatible with, the existing services. Namely, a different supplier would lack Serco’s (i) deeply embedded operational expertise and established relationships at Yeovilton and Culdrose, and (ii) suitably trained and experienced staff. And b. the difference or incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and/or maintenance. In particular, the difference in service provided by a different supplier would result in: i. unacceptable risks to performance and safety resulting from the need to rebuild critical trust and operational knowledge; ii. the contracting authority needing to invest additional resources in order to retrain staff, modify existing systems, and/or purchase additional equipment; iii. a risk to the continued readiness and support to MCT aircraft, which is critical to national defence; iv. significant adjustments to the Contractor’s Quality Management System, resulting in operational inefficiencies and increased costs; v. disruption to coordination and maintenance of ground support and equipment provision at RNAS Yeovilton; and vi. increase in lead times in returning airframes to flying operations at RNAS Culdrose and reduction in overall numbers of available aircraft in the forward fleet.