Military vehicles and associated parts. The UK MoD has a UOR requirement for a Transparent Armour Protection System (TAPS). The system solution shall afford protection against the Stone Threat in Afghanistan for various military vehicles. Any proposed solutions shall be robustly scored against the following KURs:

- The system shall not prevent safe operation of the vehicle through reduced visibility.

- The system shall protect the windscreen from 3 separate attacks across the primary vision area.

- The system shall have a working life of no less than 12 months and shall not degrade the ballistic protection of the Transparent Armour (TA) to which it is fitted.

- The system shall be capable of being initially installed at second line facilities.

- The user shall be able to restore situational awareness post attack whilst on patrol with the aim of the system still providing protection against the threats.

Expressions of Interest are now invited from companies who are able to provide a compliant proven solution within the timescales outlined in this advert. The MoD are willing to accept the receipt of promotional material, details of previous experience, qualifications of standards achieved and any relevant testing data within your expression of interest, but are requested to limit these to two A4 pages and no more than 2MB where sending via email.

Subsequent to the issue of this advert, the MoD intends to issue a Pre-Qualification Questionnaire (PQQ) to all companies registering an interest and only those companies that can demonstrate a sufficient level of compliance against the MoD's PQQ criteria will be invited to tender for the requirement. There will be a maximum of 6 Tenderers invited to tender.

As part of the Tender evaluation process, the Tenderers will be required to design and provide a prototype representative fit (Platform to be identified) in order for the MoD to undertake trials.

All Tenderers will be given the opportunity to survey the platforms covered by the TAPS requirement, locations and dates of the surveys will be provided within the ITT. The Design Authority (DA) for each platform will provide support at the survey day event and the Tenderers must ensure that any disclosure agreements necessary for discussions are in place prior to the survey.

A Reverse Auction, conducted using electronic means, may be used as part of the procurement process for this requirement. Specific relevant information in relation to the use of a Reverse Auction will be given in the Invitation to Tender.

Following a period of evaluation the MoD will down-select to the preferred bidder.

It should be noted at this stage that the MoD does not have a fully endorsed Business Case; this will be submitted for approval following satisfactory outcome of the trials. Whilst this advert has been issued in good faith with the aim of fulfilling the MoD's requirement, needs, priorities or applications may subsequently change. Thus the issue of this advert is not to be construed as a commitment by the MoD to place any subsequent order as a result of the Tendering exercise.

The MoD is unable to consider late or incomplete expressions of interest.

Companies wishing to express an interest in the requirement should submit their details by no later than 11.4.2013, to the address in Section 1 of this document.