The Ministry of Defence and Department for Transport (DfT) said they will not proceed with the preferred bid or the current procurement process for the potential $11 billion Search and Rescue Helicopter (SAR-H) project.
In a written ministerial statement to Parliament, the Secretary of State for Transport Philip Hammond said: “In mid-December, the preferred bidder in the SAR-H competition, Soteria, voluntarily came forward to inform the government of irregularities regarding the conduct of their bid team, which had only then recently come to light. The irregularities included access by one of the consortium members, CHC Helicopter, to commercially sensitive information regarding the joint MoD/DfT project team’s evaluations of industry bids and evidence that a former member of that project team had assisted the consortium in its bid preparation, contrary to explicit assurances given to the project team at the time.”
The Soteria consortium includes CHC Helicopter, Royal Bank of Scotland, Thales and Sikorsky [UTX].
In a statement posted on its website, Soteria said it was “disappointed” in the U.K. decision. The consortium is evaluating the decision and said “if given the opportunity,” is confident it is capable of delivering the program.
Soteria was selected in September 2010 to provide a 25-year private finance initiative beginning in 2012.
MoD and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) provide a 24-hour military and civil helicopter SAR service for the U.K. SAR Region from 12 bases around the United Kingdom. The SAR helicopter service is provided by Royal Air Force and Royal Navy Sea Kings and a civilian helicopter service under contract to the MCA.
Hammond also said the Ministry of Defence Police are investigating how commercially sensitive information came to be in the possession of the bidder.
“However, even without the outcome of that investigation, the government has sufficient information to enable it to conclude that the irregularities that have been identified were such that it would not be appropriate to proceed with either the preferred bid or with the current procurement process,” Hammond said in his statement.
The MoD and DfT now are considering potential procurement options to meet future requirements for U.K. SAR helicopters, including options to maintain continuity of SAR helicopter cover until new arrangements can be made.