Project BRACIS

Overview

The Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Delivery Team (CBRN DT) within the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) has extended a single source Contract with Bruhn Newtech Ltd (BNT Ltd) for the support of Biological, Radiological and Chemical (BRaCIS) Warning and Reporting (W&R) software for a period of 4 years to FY 2030 with 1 x option year until 2031 to provide a continuing requirement to support the In-Service CBRN W&R software including training for UK Defence. A VTN was published for transparency purposes. It is considered that this extension to contract can be awarded using the negotiated procedure without prior publication of a contract notice, pursuant to Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the UK Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011 (No 1848), for technical reasons. BRaCIS software is owned, designed and maintained by BNT Ltd, the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Despite the W&R software being a Commercial of The Shelf (COTS) item used by additional NATO countries, this software with BNT Ltd has been modified to meet the UK bespoke requirements defined by the UK MOD. These modifications are essential to make it compatible with the UK Defence BOWMAN ComBAT Information Platform (BCiP), operating on the BCiP networking platform. BRaCIS has been tested and verified by Dstl making this a bespoke capability for UK Defence which meets the UK CBRN W&R requirements and only BNT Ltd are able to provide BRaCIS and the in-service support. BRaCIS is essential to provide command and control where CBRN is an aspect of operations. NATO sets common standards for CBRN W&R software and BNT Ltd is the only provider who is also a member of the committee that manage updates to the NATO standards ATP - 45 (F). The use of a CBRN W&R software if not compliant with the NATO standards, would result in delays in receiving warning of a CBRN attack, which would result in a risk to life.