---
title: "National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service"
ocid: "ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991.json"
source: "Public Contracts Scotland"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE"
published: "2024-08-09"
---

# National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service

Buyer: SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991

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## Summary

The Scottish Ambulance Service has completed the award stage for the procurement of a national air ambulance service, with Gama Aviation (UK) Ltd selected as the supplier. This contract, named "National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service," falls under the health industry category and is intended to serve as a national service across Scotland. The procurement utilized a selective method of competitive dialogue with the contract period beginning from July 26th, 2024. Critical deadlines included the tender period end date of January 19th, 2023, and the supplier selection finalised in July 2024 with an awarded contract value of £241,953,313. The procurement aims to provide a resilient and efficient air ambulance service responsive to Scotland's unique geographical and environmental challenges.

This tender presents significant opportunities for businesses specialising in aviation, medical transport, and associated support services. Large operators capable of providing 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Services (HEMS) and maintaining a fleet ready to meet Scotland's diverse terrain and weather challenges are particularly well-suited to compete for such contracts. Beyond merely offering flight services, the successful contractor must also deliver comprehensive support including aircraft hangarage, maintenance, engineering backup, and base facilities for clinical staff. This contract thus offers considerable business growth potential for firms with expertise in these areas, especially those equipped to handle the specified technical and operational requirements.

## Notice

The procurement of a national air ambulance service for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

The Scottish Ambulance Service ("the Service") provides a national air ambulance service to all of Scotland and its islands. This is the only wholly publicly funded air ambulance service in the United Kingdom and provides an invaluable resource to the public of Scotland. Scotland presents a challenging environment for air ambulance operators. Factors to be considered include: - Varied terrain. - Potentially severe weather conditions. - Longer hours of darkness in winter. - Limited and varying airport capabilities and hours of operation. - Future island transport provisions including ferries and airport developments or changes. - Recognition of the Government targets on sustainability and carbon neutral. - National planning of specialist services for example thrombectomy and major trauma. The aims of the procurement are to deliver an innovative, sustainable, resilient and value for money air ambulance service that can respond to changes in service delivery requirements whilst maintaining a high quality care and experience for the patients and public of Scotland. The future contract is expected to encompass the following elements including but not limited to: 1.The aircraft fleet must be capable of reaching all of Scotland's population. The rotary aircraft must have 24/7 Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) capability and all aircraft must act as a suitable transport platform for the personnel and equipment associated with our adult, paediatric and neonatal critical care transport and retrieval teams (ScotSTAR). 2. Provision of aircraft hangarage in order to ensure 24/7 availability of aircraft during inclement weather. 3. Provision of maintenance & backup. All planned and reactive maintenance must be carried out in Scotland. Backup aircraft to be provided to the same specification as core aircraft. 4. Provision of 24/7 engineering support. 5. Provision of adequate base facilities for clinical staff. e.g., provision of Ops Room space, lockers and parking facilities etc., In addition, meeting room/training room and overnight accommodation (where necessary) for on-call clinical staff. 6. Provision of air crew member training (e.g., Technical Crew Member training for HEMS). 7.Provision of compliant radio communications system. The aircraft must be capable of compliance with the current Airwave communications system (if this is still in operation at contract commencement), and also compliance with the future Emergency Services Network (ESN) system 8. Provision of on-going monitoring of service provision by way of regular contract monitoring meetings. 9. The Service will provide the clinical staffing. The aircraft, flight crew (pilots), estate & facilities and engineering support will be provided by the successful contractor(s) on a managed service basis. 10. The successful contractor(s) shall support a variety of air ambulance missions; ranging from hospital discharges through to pre-hospital helicopter emergency calls and critical care transfers.

Renewal: optional three year extension (7+3)

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Public Contracts Scotland |
| Latest notice | https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG511770 |
| Notice type | OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Selective |
| Procurement method details | Competitive dialogue |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Tender, Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 9 Aug 2024 |
| Submission deadline | 19 Jan 2023 |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 26 Jul 2024 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Contract is for 7 years with a possible 3 years extension. |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £241,953,313 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Complete |
| Awards status | Not specified |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | SCOTTISH AMBULANCE SERVICE |
| Locality | EDINBURGH |
| Post town | Edinburgh |
| Postcode | EH12 9EB |
| Country | Scotland |
| ITL 1 | TLM Scotland |
| ITL 2 | TLM1 East Central Scotland |
| ITL 3 | TLM13 City of Edinburgh |
| Local authority | City of Edinburgh |
| Electoral ward | Drum Brae/Gyle |
| Westminster constituency | Edinburgh South West |
| Delivery location | TLM Scotland |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | GAMA AVIATION (UK |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 34 - Transport equipment and auxiliary products to transportation
- 35 - Security, fire-fighting, police and defence equipment
- 60 - Transport services (excl. Waste transport)

### Codes

- 34700000 - Aircraft and spacecraft
- 34710000 - Helicopters, aeroplanes, spacecraft and other powered aircraft
- 34711110 - Fixed-wing aircrafts
- 34711300 - Piloted aircraft
- 34711400 - Special-purpose aircraft
- 35112000 - Rescue and emergency equipment
- 35612500 - Search and rescue helicopters
- 35613000 - Unmanned aerial vehicles
- 60424110 - Hire of fixed-wing aircraft with crew
- 60424120 - Hire of helicopters with crew
- 60440000 - Aerial and related services
- 60443000 - Air-rescue services

## Release History

- 9 Aug 2024 at 00:00 - Award - OJEU - F3 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG511770
- 16 Dec 2022 at 00:00 - Tender - OJEU - F2 - Contract Notice - https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC467137

## Documents

- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/NoticeDownload/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=DEC467137&idx=4
  17th January 2023 - CQ Response 170123
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/NoticeDownload/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=DEC467137&idx=1
  16th December 2022 - SPD Bidder Instruction Document
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/NoticeDownload/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=DEC467137&idx=2
  16th December 2022 - Appendix A - Outline Statement of Requirements
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/NoticeDownload/DownloadDocument.aspx?id=DEC467137&idx=3
  16th December 2022 - SPD Document to be completed by bidders
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=DEC467137
  National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service - The procurement of a national air ambulance service for the Scottish Ambulance Service.
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/search/show/search_view.aspx?ID=AUG511770
  National Air Ambulance Service for The Scottish Ambulance Service - The procurement of a national air ambulance service for the Scottish Ambulance Service.

## Notice URLs

- http://
- http://www.scottishambulance.com
- https://api.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/v1/Notice?id=ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991
- https://www.publiccontractsscotland.gov.uk/Search/Search_MainPage.aspx

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-r6ebe6-0000716991.json.