MRH contract seals the deal
Volume 11, No. 47, 13 July, 2006
By Barry Rollings

Done deal: AVM Clive Rossiter, Joseph Saporito and Brig Mark Patch with the contract. Photo by Robert Thomspon

THE contract signing for 34 more MRH 90 helicopters marks the culmination of a high-tempo project, according to the Head of the Aerospace Systems Division, AVM Clive Rossiter.
The contract-signing ceremony for Phases 4 and 6 of the Project Air 9000 program occurred in Canberra on June 30. The contract provides for 34 additional MRH 90s to the 12 ordered under Phase 2. The helicopters will replace the Sea King and Black Hawk fleets.

“Twelve months ago we signed Phase 2. Twelve months later we are here signing a more significant acquisition contract,” AVM Rossiter told the audience at the signing ceremony.
“We received an unsolicited bid on February 10. We put that through the Defence Capability Investment Committee on March 21, then through the National Security Committee of Cabinet in May.”

Negotiations were finalised after the Prime Minister’s announcement on June 19 which lead to the signing.

AVM Rossiter said the work of the past five months had been an incredible achievement for the people involved in the “tough and demanding” project. He paid particular tribute to the inspired energy and leadership of DG MRH Brig Mark Patch.

The new contract established a much more robust support system and a long-term support contract that provided for the first 13 years of support under an innovative performance-based contracting arrangement, AVM Rossiter said.

“It is several times larger than the original contract. We are moving from a $900m contract to a $2.6 billion contract. The sustainment contract has effectively doubled and is now in the order of $1.2 billion,” he said.
“On top of that we have also added a more robust software support facility. We have added instrumented aircraft and we have also provided more robust spare provisioning for this fleet of 46.”

Australian Aerospace CEO Joseph Saporito thanked the Commonwealth for its confidence in its product.

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