The Norwegian Police Helicopter Service (NPHS) was established in 2003, following a request by the Norwegian Parliament in 2002, cf. Innst. S. nr. 155 (2001 – 2002). Norway currently has two EC135T2+ helicopters in service. One of the helicopters is owned by the police and one is leased. Maintenance is performed by an external contractor (Part 145).
The NPHS is affiliated with the Oslo Police District, but it also assists other police districts and special units as required.
In section 4 the current police helicopter service is comprehensively described.
The police, represented by the National Police Directorate, is now considering how to most appropriately address the future needs of helicopter services to the police forces. This RFI is issued to assist the police in this process.
1.2OBJECTIVES AND GUIDING PRINCIPLES FOR THE RFI
The procurement of future police helicopter materiel and services shall comply with the general regulations stated in the applicable Norwegian and EEA public procurement regulations. This will ensure an open and fair competition based on transparent and non-discriminatory criteria that reflect future demands for police helicopter services.
This Request for Information (RFI) is not directly regulated by the procurement regulations, but will irrespectively abide by the same principles, e.g. related to fair and equal treatment.
The objectives of this RFI are as follows:
•To gather technical and commercial information about potentially suitable police helicopters, mission equipment and installations (including their implementation time).
•To gather operational and commercial information about the maintenance burden, logistical support capabilities, and training programs.
•To gather information to strike the right balance of risk-sharing for the term of the contract.
•To determine the acquisition budget.
•To determine conceptually whether to seek a solution where the helicopters (and associated services) are leased or owned by the police.
A secondary purpose with this RFI, recognising the suppliers‘ need to manage their resources, is to guide the market on the time and scope that should be expected for the NPHS acquisition.
The feedback from the market on how best to structure the tender process to achieve effective competition on the key elements of the procurement, will be taken into consideration when deciding the scope, specifications, and procurement strategy.