Provision of Aerial Surveillance for HMCG

Descriptions

HM Coastguard (HMCG) helicopters and planes, provided under the UKSAR2G contract, have a primary role to provide search and rescue. However, they undertake a range of other missions in support of wider MCA objectives and those of other government departments. In addition the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) require an Aerial Surveillance service to provide near real time situational awareness in support of specialised SAR operations. Therefore the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) is planning to undertake a procurement for this additional Aerial Surveillance service. HMCG will procure for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance assets that can supply the information required. This service will not require national coverage. Potentially, during a high-risk times, a Coastguard surveillance asset could be operating for a full 24-hour period extending into consecutive days and sometimes weeks. Respondents should bear in mind that the MCA will take a solution agnostic approach to the procurement and is open to different technological approaches, providing they can demonstrably meet the requirement to provide persistent maritime situational awareness in areas of need. This initial market questionnaire aims to, at a high level, understand the scale, knowledge and capability of the market along with what appetite there is for delivering this service. The MCA would like to understand a broad overview of how you would deliver the service and what costs that would entail over what is an anticipated 5 year contract.