Diligence still on the cutting block
The UK Royal Fleet Auxiliary’s (RFA) former support vessel Diligence, put up for sale in 2016, appears to be struggling to find suitors after an update to the original notice of sale was published by the UK MoD on 4 February.
According to documentation interested parties will be invited for a walk-around of the vessel, currently moored at Portsmouth naval base. An Invitation to Tender (ITT) will be sent out in the April/May timeframe, ahead of an ‘in-depth viewing’ of the vessel in May/June.
Contract award to the winning bidders is stated as being in the November/December 2019 timeframe.
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