The Royal Australian Navy has recently signed a five-year contract for the lease of inflatable life rafts with improved servicing requirements.
Under the contract with Survitec, a marine safety solutions provider, the existing fleet of inflatable life rafts will be replaced with leased commercial inflatable life rafts.
The servicing interval was increased to 30 months – 2.5 times the current requirement, RAN said.
Director General Maritime Support, Commodore Stephanie Moles said the leasing of life rafts ensured Navy had the flexibility to select the best product on the market at any time so as to maintain cutting edge capability while ensuring appropriate competitiveness in the market place.
“This contract is the way of the future for Maritime Cross-Platform Systems Program Office managed assets and items of supply,” she said.
“The contracts being developed will deliver more effective and efficient sustainment through incentivised relationships with our industry partners.”
According to the Navy, the deal also delivered more than $3 million in savings.
Commodore Moles said the contract had been the result of a new approach which signaled a shift in the culture of the Program Office from transactions into performance based in-service support contracts, designed around systems rather than inventory.
This strategic sourcing approach would also be applied to arrangements for maintenance and supply support of equipment required for the delivery of Navy capability.