Telecommunications equipment. Telecommunications equipment. Air-sea rescue services. Defence Equipment and Support is seeking expressions of interest for a possible future Contract for the replacement and ongoing support of the UK Mission Control Centre (MCC). It is intended that this shall be provisioned through a Prime Contractor and utilise a COTS solution where possible.

The MCC will be a suite of hardware, software and communication components which are COSPAS-SARSAT compliant. The MCC will require technical support during installation and subsequent operation. The MCC is to be available 24 hours per day, 365 days per year, and therefore system redundancy is required by design and implementation. The Contractor will be expected to ensure continuity of capability, via an alternate geographically-separated capability, which affords a robust and rapid changeover.

The MCC coordinates the UK response to emergency beacon distress alerts and is an independent sub-element of the Aeronautical Rescue Coordination Centre (ARCC) at Kinloss Barracks. The ARCC's capability and function is planned to be subsumed into a system provided and supported by the Maritime Coastguard Agency (MCA).

The MCA is currently undergoing a modernisation programme, pivotal to which is the establishment of the National Maritime Operating Centre (NMOC) at Fareham, which will coordinate, manage and support all SAR assets nationally. The incorporation of the ARCC's capability by the MCA will involve the ARCC's functionality relocating from Kinloss Barracks to the NMOC. It may be preferential that the MCC will need to operate at both the NMOC and Kinloss Barracks for an initial period.

Useful information pertaining to MCC specifications, and the procedures for integration into the Cospas-Sarsat System, are available on the Cospas-Sarsat website.