Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability

Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability The Capability The Military Afloat Reach and Sustainability programme will provide afloat logistic support to UK and allied maritime task groups at sea and their amphibious components operating ashore. Although not strictly a one- for-one replacement programme, new vessels will incrementally replace much of the existing Royal Fleet Auxiliary flotilla, as ships enter and leave service, respectively.
Summary of Project Progress
		Approved	Forecast/Actual		Variation	IY Variation
Assessment Phase		£44m	***		***	***
The Assessment Phase
Date	Milestone
May 2008	4 bidders selected for Fleet Tanker competition: Navantia of Spain, Fincantieri of Italy, a BVT lead consortium with BMT and DSME (of Korea), and HHI of Korea.
December 2008	Department's Equipment Examination announcement states that there is scope for considering alternative approaches to procurement of the Fleet Tanker. Competition put on hold pending review.
March 2009	Competition for Fleet Tanker formally closed.
October 2009	Advert placed in Official Journal of the European Union for up to six Tankers.
March - September 2010	Competitive Dialogue Process Stage 1 - Invitation to Submit Outline Solutions.
October 2010	Competitive Dialogue Process Stage 1 - Invitation to Submit Detailed Solutions commenced.
Following Ministerial approval a new competition was launched in October 2009. Following assessment of initial Pre-Qualification Questionnaires six companies were invited to proceed to the next stage of the competition which is being conducted over three stages using Competitive Dialogue process. Stage 1 - Invitation to Submit Outline Solutions took place over March to September 2010. Stage 2 - Invitation to Submit Detailed Solutions commenced in October 2010 and is expected to continue through to Invitation to Submit Final Bids. There are currently five companies included in the process				following the withdrawal from the competition in 2010 of one company, Flensburger Schiffbau-Gesellschaft (Germany); the fives bidders are: A&P Group Limited (UK), Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering (Republic of Korea), Fincantieri (Italy), Hyundai Heavy Industries (Republic of Korea) and Knutsen OAS(UK) Limited. Since the 31 March two of these companies, Knutsen OAS Ltd in June 2011 and A&P Group Ltd in August 2011 have withdrawn, meaning that the competition is now reduced from five to three bidders. This will be examined in MPR 2012.