Award

Procurement of Mannequins for Vehicle Noise Characterisation and Safe System of Work

MINISTRY OF DEFENCE

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

18 Jul 2025 at 13:02

Award

10 Jan 2025 at 13:31

Summary of the contracting process

The Ministry of Defence has recently awarded a contract for the procurement of mannequins essential for vehicle noise characterisation and the safe system of work. This procurement falls under the command, control, and communication systems category, focusing on goods within the UK. This procurement process is classified as a limited tender, executed through negotiation without prior publication, due to the unique technical requirements that only the supplier GRAS Sound and Vibration UK Ltd can fulfil without affecting the data consistency. The contract, valued at £52,989, was signed on 11 February 2025 and is active, with a resolution in place by October 2024 to support the Hurn Vehicle Trials.

This tender presents considerable opportunities for businesses involved in the production and supply of highly specialised acoustic and vehicle noise characterisation equipment. Companies with capabilities in maintaining consistent technical characteristics across their instrumentation are particularly well-suited for such contracts. The emphasis on standardisation and the need for technical compatibility underscores the importance of expertise in producing bespoke equipment that adheres to stringent defence specifications. Businesses aligned with continuous innovation in technical instrumentation, especially those seeking to deepen their engagement with government contracts, will find this procurement a promising opportunity to grow their business footprint within the defence sector.

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Notice Title

Procurement of Mannequins for Vehicle Noise Characterisation and Safe System of Work

Notice Description

Procurement of Mannequins for Vehicle Noise Characterisation and Safe System of Work

Lot Information

Lot 1

To meet the requirements of CNAWR 2005 and collect sufficiently convincing evidence for independent acceptance that the 3M Peltor ComTac XPI and the CEP Mk2 CHPHS used with in service personal role radios and BCIP 5.6 are safe and can be fully integrated, a suite of test and trials activity2 is necessary to gather the evidence. This requirement is for procurement of an acoustic test fixture to support ongoing laboratory and live trials to test the performance of the solution under operational conditions for the DCC and AFV crew user.

Procurement Information

There is a requirement for standardisation of Instrumentation to provide an assurance that the data gathered for analysis is unaffected by the instrumentation itself and that the historic and future data in the repository from which analysis takes place has consistent data samples, acquired from the same source of instrumentation. This is a procurement for additional instrumentation where a change of supplier could result in the acquired instrumentation having different hardware and software technical characteristics which could result in the data acquired having differing characteristics from that already acquired. This will present disproportionate technical difficulties in validating and verifying that the noise data acquired for analysis is the same as that acquired using different supplier instrumentation. A single source approach with GRAS Sound and Vibration UK Ltd, who are the sole supplier within the UK for the mannequin which is proprietary equipment from GRAS Sound and Vibration Worldwide, is recommended to ensure that the instrumentation procured is of the same production standard and specification of performance and manufactured to the same quality as instrumentation used on past and other parallel vehicle noise trials. This will ensure that the results are based on the same technical specifications and therefore will have the same baseline. To obtain instrumentation from a supplier other than GRAS Sound and Vibration UK Ltd who are the UK sub division of GRAS Sound and Vibration Worldwide, would oblige the MOD to acquire goods having different System Elements, Physical and Technical Characteristics resulting in an incompatibility between the existing instrumentation employed to gather acoustic data and will introduce into question the viability of the data gathered accompanied with disproportionate technical difficulties in proving the safe integration of the CHPHS with the BCIP 5.6 Communications System. As this is a UCR that concerns the safety and operational effectiveness of personnel and assets, immediate action to resolve it is required. A resolution needs to be in place by Oct 2024 to support Hurn Vehicle Trials.

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-04cf17
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/041323-2025
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Limited
Procurement Method Details
Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

35 - Security, fire-fighting, police and defence equipment


CPV Codes

35711000 - Command, control, communication systems

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
£97,146 Under £100K

Notice Dates

Publication Date
18 Jul 20257 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
27 Nov 20241 years ago
Contract Period
Not specified - Not specified
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Not Specified
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Active

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
MINISTRY OF DEFENCE
Contact Name
Attn: Mark Bartlett
Contact Email
mark.bartlett105@mod.gov.uk
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
BRISTOL
Postcode
BS34 8JH
Post Town
Bristol
Country
England

Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK5 West of England
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK52 Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Delivery Location
TLK11 Bristol, City of

Local Authority
South Gloucestershire
Electoral Ward
Stoke Park & Cheswick
Westminster Constituency
Filton and Bradley Stoke

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
2
Supplier Names

AUDIO PRECISION

PROCUREMENT OF MANNEQUINS FOR VEHICLE NOISE CHARACTERISATION AND SAFE SYSTEM OF WORK

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

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The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts.

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