The Slovak Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced on 15 June plans to procure 17 3D air defence radar systems for EUR155 million (USD179 million) on a government-to-government basis to accelerate the acquisition of the new systems and ensure maximum transparency.
The announcement was made following the MoD’s cancellation in April of a EUR72 million international tender to procure four systems, which was announced in 2015 by a previous government.
P. Gajdoš: Procurement of 3D radars via a Gov-to-Gov sales agreement is the most effective solution after the unsuccessful international tender
The aim of the MOD is to procure 3D radars in order to cater for the SVK Armed Forces’specific requirements in a timely manner. Even 3 years on, the international tender has never reached a successful conclusion. Based on available analyses, the Government-to-Government (G2G) sales have proved to be the most effective and transparent method of purchasing defence equipment, insofar that deliveries and prices are guaranteed by the selling government. Most importantly, this method of procurement rules out any form of corruption.
On the rationale to scrap the tender, SVK Minister of Defence Peter Gajdoš explained: “Having not succeeded in signing the Agreement on Transfer of Classified Information for three years, we decided to terminate the tender. Moreover, one of the requirements was to deliver the first 3D radar no later than the end of 2016. The failure to meet the date of delivery could be considered as discriminatory to other potential bidders, and this could be vulnerable to legal challenge. He went on to stress that even if the MOD were to announce a new tender, it could take years without a clear outcome. “We strictly proceed in accordance with valid legislation and the Government-to-Government transactions are absolutely transparent,” he added.
Neben der Auswahl der F-16 Block 70/72 hat die slowakische Regierung heute die Beschaffungsvariante für die neuen Luftraumüberwachungsradars beschlossen. Es soll ein Government-to-Government-Deal für 17 Radaranlagen unterschiedlicher Reichweite abgeschlossen werden. 6 3D-Radars mittlerer Reichweite, 5 3D-Radars kurzer Reichweite und 6 3D-Radars kürzester Reichweite, für die von 2018 bis 2025 insgesamt 155 090 000 EUR (inkl. MWSt) veranschlagt sind:
Rezort obrany obstará 3D rádiolokátory formou vláda - vláda
Ministerstvo obrany oslovilo v súvislosti s obstaraním 3D rádiolokátorov 12 krajín
The Ministry of Defence addressed the procurement of 3D radars of 12 countries
Ministerstvo obrany SR oslovilo v súvislosti s obstaraním 3D rádiolokátorov stredného, malého a blízkeho dosahu vlády 12 krajín. Žiadosť o predloženie ponuky poslal rezort obrany vláde Francúzskej republiky, Holandského kráľovstva, Izraelského štátu, Nemeckej spolkovej republiky, Poľskej republiky, Spojeného kráľovstva Veľkej Británie a Severného Írska, Spojených štátov amerických, Španielskeho kráľovstva, Švédskeho kráľovstva, Talianskej republiky, Českej republiky a Tureckej republiky.
The Ministry of Defence of the Slovak Republic addressed the governments of 12 countries for the procurement of 3D radars of medium, small and close range. The request to submit an offer was sent by the Ministry of Defence to the governments of France, the Netherlands, Israel, Germany, Poland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the Kingdom of Spain, the Kingdom of Sweden, Italy, the Czech Republic and Turkey.
Das slowakische Verteidigungsministerium hat zehn Angebote für neue Radarsysteme erhalten (Unter den 13 Staaten, die das RfQ erhielten, waren u.a. Frankreich, die Niederlande, Israel, Ungarn, Polen, die USA, Spanien, Italien, die Türkei und Großbritannien.). Die neuen Geräte sollen bis 2025 als Government-to-Government-Deal beschafft werden. Die Angebote werden nun von einer Expertenkommission bewertet und der Bestbieter soll bis 30. Juni 2019 an die slowakische Regierung übermittelt werden.
MOD will enter into negotiations with France, Israel and USA on procurement of 3D radar systems
Based on the RGPs, the MOD received offers from 10 countries: France, Hungary, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America.
A project team, consisting of subject matter specialists from the SVK Ministry of Defence, the SVK General Staff, and the SVK Air Force with responsibility for frequency bands, operation of radar systems, surface-based air defence (SBAD), logistics, legislation, procurement, and finance, have evaluated all aspects of the submitted offers in terms of technical and operational specifications, price offers, delivery schedules, NATO interoperability, training, logistics, and the SVK defence industryʼs role in the modernization programme. Of the submitted offers, the G2G proposals from the Governments of the French Republic, the State of Israel, and the United States of America have been evaluated as the most advantageous solutions.
As part of the next phase of the procedure, the SVK MOD will enter into bilateral negotiations with representatives of the countries on the 3D radar systems replacement shortlist. At the same time, consultations will be held with respective NATO agencies on the integration of the 3D radars into Alliance systems, as well as with the Value of Money Unit, of the SVK Ministry of Finance, to make sure that financial resources are invested to the best effect.
MOD presents new requirements for 3D radar systems with quality, transparency and domestic defence industry involvement as conditions (24. Juli 2020)
The Ministry of Defence has made progress on the inherited alarming situation with the 3D RL radar systems after Defence Minister Jaroslav Naď changed the conditions of the tender originally announced by the former MOD leadership. This was mainly because of the questions raised over the transparency of the bidding process, due to which the Defence Minister received several official international complaints. Therefore, the acting MOD leadership has published new competitive bidding conditions that are more transparent and beneficial for Slovakia, whilst being fully consistent with the current requirements of the Slovak Armed Forces.
Defence State Secretary Marian Majer has today handed over the new Request for Government Proposal (RfGP) to representatives of the Governments of the French Republic, the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the State of Israel, Hungary, the Republic of Poland, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the United States of America, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the Republic of Turkey which have the capacity to deliver the required 3D radar systems and which communicated with the MOD about the procurement project in the past. The MOD expects the listed governments to present their bids no later than 30 September 2020.
On the details of the RfGP documentation, Defence State Secretary Marian Majer explained: "The Ministry of Defence requests individual governments to submit a complex bid for the replacement of all types of the 3D radars – 6 pcs of medium range radars, 5 pcs of short range radars, and 6 pcs of very short range radars, whereas we also want to have a separate offer for each type of the 3D radar." As part of the RfGP, there is a requirement for the SVK defence industry′s participation in the process of producing, supplying and repairing the 3D radar systems. "Although we lack the capacity to produce this type of equipment, we want to see our domestic defence companies involved in this process and thus support them with our deeds, not only words, as with the previous MOD leadership," stated Minister Naď.
The MOD wants to procure a total 17 3D radars worth an estimated €155.090 million, VAT included.
Das slowakische Verteidigungsministerium hat fünf Staaten für die weiteren Verhandlungen ausgewählt und von diesen zusätzliche Informationen eingeholt:
Frankreich
Israel
Ungarn
USA
Großbritannien
Die Angebote sind anhand der technischen Anforderungen der slowakischen Streitkräfte und der NATO bewertet worden. Außerdem spielte eine Rolle, inwiefern die slowakische Rüstungsindustrie vom Hersteller eingebunden werden könne. Binnen 30 Tagen müssen die geforderten Informationen einlangen, darunter die Bedingungen der Beschaffung von Gerät, der geschätzte Preis und der Grad der möglichen Beteiligung der lokalen Industrie.
Daraufhin sollen die Offerte vom Projektteam erneut bewertet und hinsichtlich ihrer Vorzüge gereiht werden. Diese Reihung wird letztlich vom Verteidigungsminister der Regierung vorgelegt, die ein Mandat für Verhandlungen mit einem bestimmten Staat erteilen wird.
Ist eigentlich ein anderes Thema: Das slowakische Verteidigungsministerium hat bei der tschechischen Firma ELDIS Pardubice, s. r. o. neue Flugverkehrskontrollradars für seine Militärflugplätze bestellt, die die aktuell verwendeten veralteten Systeme ersetzen sollen (Deren Nutzungsdauer endete schon vor drei Jahren.). Gestern wurde eine Rahmenvereinbarung für drei Radarsysteme RPL-2000 unterzeichnet, die jeweils aus einem Flugplatzradar RL-2000 (Surveillance Radar Element ... SRE), einem Sekundärradar MSSR-1 (Secondary Surveillance Radar ... SSR) und einem Anflugleitradar PAR-E (Precision Approach Radar ... PAR) bestehen. Die Kosten betragen 23 740 694,40 EUR, inkl. MWSt. (ELDIS gibt die Kosten exkl. MWSt. mit 19,73 Mio. EUR an.). Das erste System soll Ende 2021 an das Transportgeschwader Dopravné krídlo generála Milana Rastislava Štefánika Kuchyňa geliefert werden.
MOD to recommend to Security Council and Government that mobile 3D radar systems should be procured from Israel, UK or France (15. Dezember 2020)
The SVK Ministry of Defence has completed the evaluation process of the bids for mobile 3D radar systems. Based on this, the MOD will recommend to the SVK Security Council and the SVK Government that a contract for delivery of 17 mobile 3D medium, short, and very short range radars should be concluded with one of the proposed countries – the State of Israel, the United Kingdom or the French Republic (ranked according to their total score). Before submitting the proposal to the Security Council and the Government, the Ministry of Defence will make this proposal subject to the interdepartmental consultation procedure, whereas parts of the document are classified.
The radar systems to be procured will be replacing the 24 serving or originally operational radars, which have since long exceeded their service life and some of them have already been phased out of service.
The submitted bids were evaluated by the MOD Tender Evaluation Panel (TEP), composed of 41 subject matter specialists in Defence, who took account of all evaluation criteria. Out of the total score (100%), the highest score of 35% was awarded for technical compliance, whereas each radar type was evaluated for technical elements separately. Pricing was allocated a score of 10%, logistics and maintenance costs during the entire service life of the radars a score of 25%, deliveries and training a score of 5% respectively. And, last but not least, the SVK defence industry’s role in the modernisation programme was given a score of 20%.
Consultations with individual countries were more transparent too. The MOD received a total of 128 clarification questions and sent the answers to them to all participating countries. In the past, however, answers would not be forwarded to all participants, only to the country that sent the clarification question to the MOD, which may have resulted in an inconsistent approach to different bidders.
While the most advantageous price offer was €148,200,000, VAT included, the estimated contract value was €155,090,000, VAT included. Based on the offers made by individual governments, the delivery timeline for the radars is 2022-2026. The SVK Government is expected to announce the winning bidder in January 2021.
