The Australian Maritime Safety Authority (AMSA) will hold an industry information day in Canberra this week on the release of the request for tenders for the provision of search and rescue (SAR) support services.
The government authority, which is responsible for maritime and aviation search and rescue, is seeking a single contractor to provide logistics support, SAR equipment maintenance support and SAR field support from 1 July 2007 for five years, with options to extend up to a further three years. AMSA previously conducted its own SAR maintenance and logistics support from bases in Perth and Brisbane, but the work has been outsourced since April 2001.
AMSA deploys a wide-ranging fleet of aircraft and helicopters throughout the country provided by a number of different operators.
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The contract will include support for a new fleet of Dornier 328s |
The maintenance and logistics contract will include support for a new fleet of Dornier 328s, which are entering service this year and next on SAR operations. The new aircraft were part of a A$74 million ($55 million) funding package for AMSA’s SAR services in the 2004-5 budget. The aircraft, which are operated by AeroRescue, will be based at Brisbane, Cairns, Darwin, Essendon and Perth.
The first aircraft started operations from Darwin last December and a second aircraft recently came on line in Perth. A third is due to start service this month in Cairns, with a fourth to be added at Essendon (Melbourne) in December and the last aircraft to be based in Brisbane from next February.
The aircraft are fitted with the latest SAR equipment, including forward looking infra-red (FLIR) camera system, satellite communications and direction- finding equipment.
Source: Flight International