RE: news coming on £300m contract24 Oct 2022 17:34
Long read but worth reading!!
With the award of the M55 contract, the Company is building its credentials within the defence market and is in negotiations with Prime Contractors for larger sub-contract programmes and, further, with the Ministry of Defence as Prime Contractor, in its own right, for smaller defence programmes. The ongoing geo-political upheaval in the Ukraine (and globally) has focussed Government's attention on boosting the country's defence capabilities and there is a growing cross-party desire to boost the country's sovereign capabilities for shipbuilding, ship repairs and ship refurbishments. In addition to defence spending, the Government has also committed to the build of the next generation of research, border patrol and other commercial vessels per the refreshed National Shipbuilding Strategy under the aegis of the National Shipbuilding Office. The Company believes that with the twin political agendas of shipbuilding and levelling-up, it is well positioned to bid for defence and government-related contracts as invitations to tender arise. .
The Company is formally engaged in the Fleet Solid Support Programme (FSS) under the Team Resolute umbrella with Navantia as the Prime Contractor and the Company as its sub-contractor. The final set of bid documents was delivered to the Ministry of Defence in July, with the preferred bidder being announced in Q4 2022. Whilst the Company remains optimistic that the preferred bidder status will be awarded to Team Resolute, the Company believes that there will be significant subcontract opportunities with other Primes should they be awarded preferred bidder status given the lack of capacity in other UK yards. The Company will make an announcement on the outcome of the FSS decision when known.