Firm submits unsolicited tender

Press, 7 December 1988, Page 9

Firm submits unsolicited tender

By

DAVE WILSON

The Lyttelton engineering firm of Sinclair Melbourne and Company, Ltd, has submitted an unsolicited tender with the Ministry of Defence for the essential maintenance work needed for the frigate Southland. Sinclair Melbourne’s tender proposes that the maintenance package, centred on the Southland’s boilers, be done at Lyttelton. The tender price has not been disclosed but is less than half the $35

million being' estimated for the full refit of the ship, a project cancelled by the Government in August. Sinclair Melbourne was one of two New Zealand and three British firms bidding for that tender. The Government instead directed the Navy to do only maintenance es-' sential to the ship’s safety, at Devonport Naval dockyard. The Southland is booked into Devonport from January, but the Navy has not yet identified the work needed to

ensure ship’s safety, or the likely cost. The assessment is being done by one naval person in Auckland and he has not been given a reporting deadline. The managing director of Sinclair Melbourne, Mr Bill Dolan, said yesterday that his staff began preparing its revised maintenance tender in August, as soon as the Government announced the cancellation of the refit. It was an unsolicited attempt by the company to win the modified refit. Mr Dolan said Sinclair

Melbourne’s offer would give the Government what ; it sought — essential maintenance on the i Southland necessary to ; keep the ship operational and safe. The service life of key parts of the ship’s propulsion system — notably the boiler tubes —- officially expires in January, and the ship cannot sail unrepaired after that date. Mr Dolan said the bulk of the original refit tender cost was in the overseas component, notably electronic and warfare systems.

“This maintenance package tender is defined using purely New Zealand resources.” The director of Marine Engineering and acting Chief of Naval Technical Services, Commander Mike Prior, confirmed the Ministry of Defence had received and was evaluating Sinclair Melbourne’s new tender. The Navy was still deciding details of the maintenance package which Commander Prior said was intended to keep the ship operational for three or four years.