The Düsseldorf Higher Regional Court has made a final decision that awarding the procurement of radio equipment to Rohde & Schwarz for the “Digitization of Land-Based Operation” (D-LBO) project is permissible. Thales' immediate complaint against the award was rejected as inadmissible for formal reasons. This emerges from a press release from the court on December 1st.
In its further justification, the Procurement Senate stated that the immediate complaint would have had no chance of success even if it had been admissible. The Federal Republic of Germany rightly affirmed the requirements of the area exemption from antitrust procurement law regulated in Section 107 Paragraph 3 Sentence 2 GWB after the overall situation for the procurement of a digital command radio system for the Bundeswehr had changed as a result of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine. It was therefore entitled to commission Rohde & Schwarz GmbH & Co. KG directly to supply digital radio equipment without conducting a competitive procurement procedure in order to protect the essential security interests of the Federal Republic of Germany.
After the budget committee of the German Bundestag made the funding available at the end of 2022, the Bundeswehr ordered command radio equipment from Rohde & Schwarz. For this purpose, a framework agreement from 2017 was changed and the delivery and implementation of a radio transmission system that was fully interoperable with the armed forces' common interconnected radio equipment (SVFuA) was agreed (ESuTreported).
The command radio system consists of handheld radios, vehicle radios, backpack radios and base station radios. The contract also includes services for the integration of the radio devices and the delivery of the accessories required for operation.
Rohde & Schwarz has combined the radio devices in the Soveron product group. Soveron are software-defined radios (SDR) that can transmit encrypted data and voice in high bandwidth using different waveforms. According to the manufacturer, the devices share a common, secure communication architecture based on the internationally recognized SCA standard.
For the first lot, which is to be delivered by 2028, 1.4 billion euros have been earmarked in the special fund. The services should be accessed immediately. The delivery of around ten percent of the scope of services is planned in a start-up phase of two years. The delivery focus will be reached in 2026.
Gerhard Heiming
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