Project Corvus - Army Land Tactical Deep Find

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    "date": "2025-07-31T16:16:06+01:00",
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        {
            "id": "GB-PPON-PVRL-5831-GLMM",
            "name": "Defence Equipment and Support",
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                "country": "GB",
                "countryName": "United Kingdom",
                "region": "UKK12"
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            "contactPoint": {
                "email": "rachel.barnes852@mod.gov.uk",
                "name": "Rachel Barnes"
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                "url": "https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-equipment-and-support",
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    "buyer": {
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                "description": "Project Corvus Clarification Questions (CQs) Procurement Act 2023 Issue 001 In the interests of transparency, please find below a list of fifteen (15) clarification questions relating to Project Corvus and, where known, answers to these questions. Further notices will be published in due course on the 'Find a Tender Service' and 'DSP.' The current anticipated timeline for full ITT to be published is by Quarter 3 (three) Tax Year 2025/26. All KURs are being reviewed and final requirements will be shared within the Tender documents. The Authority envisage that the single Contract will be let to an Original Equipment Manufacturer / Prime Contractor who will be required to provide the equipment and support to meet the Army's requirements. The solution must be of a high readiness level, be technologically agile, and capable of undergoing spiral development in future years to meet continuously evolving requirements. Interested parties are encouraged to be working towards Cyber Essentials + accreditation prior to the launch of the full Tender. Defence Equipment and Support are the Contracting Authority, and the information contained within this notice is subject to contract and subject to change at the Authority's sole discretion. Question 1: Is there an upper weight limit or anything that caps the size of the platform being offered? Answer 1: We are not specifying an upper size limit; however, survivability and tactical mobility are key considerations that will be balanced against the size of any platform. Question 2: We would like to raise a CQ to ask if it is permissible to share content relating to the CORVUS requirements with a third party subcontractor, who is non UK based? Answer 2: All information available on 'Find a Tender Service' is able to be shared. However, during future phases of the procurement, information classifications may change. Handling instructions for higher classifications of information will be shared as appropriate in advance utilising a Security Aspects Letter (SAL) and guidance as appropriate. Question 3: How are you planning to procure the security assurance required to validate that the UAS' you procure are suitable from a security perspective and do in fact meet your requirements? We noted that you expected the procured UAS' to be secure by design. Will the supplier need to provide evidence of this, or do you require independent third party assurance that this is the case? If the latter, what route to market will you use to procure those professional services? Answer 3: We would expect the supplier to have done this testing, providing appropriate evidence for Requirement Acceptance. Where additional assurance is required (for example in support of the Air System Safety Case or the Secure by Design requirement) independent assurance may be needed. This will be secured via the DE&S Single Front Door to determine whether the service is provided by Expert Services or a Delivery Partner. Question 4: Will there be a new Industry Engagement event? Answer 4: We are unable to provide any additional details at this time. All future notices will be published on 'Find a Tender Service' and within 'DSP'. Question 5: Please can you confirm if this opportunity is being procured through the HMT Framework, or if it is open to all suppliers? Answer 5: The project will be run under the Procurement Act 2023 regime and is therefore open to all suppliers. All future notices will be published on 'Find a Tender Service' and within 'DSP'. Question 6: Please can you confirm whether the intent is to require the embodiment of an approved Detect and Avoid capability? Answer 6: There is no threshold requirement for detect and avoid, but a detect and avoid system will be considered as part of the Air System Safety Case as part of the Layered Safety approach. Question 7: KUR 2. Sense (ISTAR and Targeting). What NIIRS levels and accuracies of detection ranges and geolocation are required for DRI? This is likely to determine the size of payload and thus the type/size of the AV. Is COMINT/ELINT required? Answer 7: Following feedback from Industry, KUR performance guidance is being reviewed. Updated KUR details will be published later in the year. Question 8: KUR 4. Survivability. What is the definition of a denied environment? Is it from take-off to landing or only over the target area? What is the definition of \"Contested airspace\"? What is defined as GNSS denial - GPS denial or Spoofing? What is the level of interference on EMS? Answer 8: Following feedback from Industry, KUR performance guidance is being reviewed. Updated KUR details will be published later in the year. Question 9: KUR 5. Deploy and Sustain Operations. Can the definition of \"Specific environments\" be clearly defined in terms of meteorological and environmental. Answer 9: Following feedback from Industry, KUR performance guidance is being reviewed. Updated KUR details will be published later in the year. Question 10: KUR 8. Capability Development. What is the MOD's Spiral Development priorities? What are the update cycles envisaged? Answer 10: Following feedback from Industry, KUR performance guidance is being reviewed. Updated KUR details will be published later in the year. Question 11: KUR 9. Policy Compliance. Clarification requested on standards to be applied. KUR 9 clearly states MAA, but the RFI also refers to \"... the Authority believes that there will need to be CAA/MAA/EASA or equivalent approvals...\". Answer 11: An approval (e.g. CAA. MAA, EASA) will be required for any demonstrations held as part of the tender process. Full MAA approval will be required for the selected system before entry into service and will be achieved as part of the project delivery. Question 12: We recently became aware of Project CORVUS, however, by the time we did the RFI deadline had passed Answer 12: The RFI is not a pre-requisite to engaging in future phases of the procurement. Please keep watch for future notices and publications which will be made within 'DSP' and 'Find a Tender service'. Question 13: As part of the system solution is the requirement to supply all the vehicles to support the 2 x TL's, i.e. REME vehicles/ G4 logs vehicles or will these be current in-service vehicles such as LR, EPLS or MAN SV trucks? Answer 13: The transport solution is for the CORVUS specific element only (i.e. GCS and Air Vehicles). 47 Regt RA will maintain their current Basic User Fleet (BUF) for the transportation of personnel and non-CORVUS specific equipment. Question 14: We would like to understand if the training requirement is mainly focused on the flying crews, L&R and maintainers, or will Op's staff also form part of the requirement? Answer 14: The minimum training requirement will be for the conversion of flying crews, launch and recovery (L&R) personnel and maintainers only. However, if there are any specific communications systems or software that will be used by the Signallers or Operations staff then training should be provided for that as well. It is also recognised that wider training will be required for the full delivery of the Land Tactical Deep Find capability that may be delivered by CORVUS. This will be informed by a full Training Needs Analysis that will be conducted to support the delivery of the project. Question 15: If a full new vehicle type / fleet for the system and support elements is required, does driving and maintainer training on the new vehicle variant also form part of the requirement? Answer 15: Depending on the vehicle type, driver training / familiarisation and maintainer training would be required, unless it is already available through the military (e.g. driving licence training / examination would not be required if the vehicle requires a C licence). - End -",
                "dueDate": "2025-09-30T23:59:59+01:00",
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        "id": "Project Reference",
        "legalBasis": {
            "id": "2023/54",
            "scheme": "UKPGA",
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        "title": "Project Corvus - Army Land Tactical Deep Find",
        "description": "Project Corvus - Procurement of an Uncrewed Air System capabiity to support the Army Land Tactical Deep Find 24-hr Persistent Surveillance Requirement",
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                "hasOptions": true,
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                "awardCriteria": {
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        "communication": {
            "futureNoticeDate": "2025-10-31T23:59:59+00:00"
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        "procurementMethod": "selective",
        "procurementMethodDetails": "Competitive flexible procedure",
        "procedure": {
            "features": "The Project Corvus Competitive Flexible procurement will include a Participation Phase, with a Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) being released concurrently with this advert via the AWARD link as advertised below. The PSQ purpose is to identify potential tenderers who can Participate in the competition, and also to provide and gather further information from the market. Responses to questions asked will be assessed by the Authority, therefore potential PSQ responses will need to include as much evidence as possible (within the word limits stated) to provide a level of confidence to enable Authority decisions on Participation, including any Authority decision not to invite tenderers to Participate and submit tender proposals. The PSQ participation period shall commence from issue of this Tender Notice and the PSQ (both being released concurrently) to the Participation end date stated in this notice which is 29 August 2025. Potential tenderers wishing to participate in Corvus should submit their PSQ responses by this date in order to proceed to the next stage of the Corvus competition. Any PSQ responses not received by the deadline will not be assessed, and as such will NOT be invited to tender. The Authority reserves the right to not invite Tenders from suppliers who have been judged by the Authority to have FAILED the PSQ. The Authority will accept clarification questions (from the date the feature is available in AWARD), until the 18th August 2025. The Authority will seek to reply to any clarification questions no later than 15:00 on Friday 22nd August 2025. IMPORTANT: In order to participate, suppliers will need to be registered to receive the PSQ and Tender documentation via the Commerce Decisions AWARD tool. All potential tenderers can register in preparation for the relevant information being available soon. https://award.commercedecisions.com/corvus/web/project/c258ac4d-9685-43a9-b3ca-6679af094b28/register Current Planned Step Process (noting this may be subject to change): STEP 1 HMT PRE-MARKET ENGAGEMENT (PME) (Preliminary Engagement Notice UK 2) (COMPLETE) STEP 2 PME QUESTIONNAIRE EVALUATION AND RESPONSES (COMPLETE) STEP 3 PME NOTICE 2 (COMPLETE) STEP 3A PLANNED PROCUREMENT NOTICE (COMPLETE) STEP 4 TENDER NOTICE AND PROCUREMENT SPECIFIC QUESTIONNAIRE (PSQ) STEP 5 PSQ RESPONSES ASSESSMENT AND MODERATION STEP 6 IDENTIFY PARTICIPATING TENDERERS AND INFORM SUPPLIERS NOT INVITED TO PARTICIPATE STEP 7 INVITATION TO TENDER (ITT) RELEASE STEP 8 ITT CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS OPEN (ICQ) STEP 9 POTENTIAL VIRTUAL BIDDERS CONFERENCE STEP 10 FINAL ICQ RESPONSES ISSUED BY AUTHORITY STEP 11 TENDERS SUBMITTED STEP 12 AUTHORITY CLARIFICATION QUESTIONS (ACQ) STEP 13 INITIAL TENDER ASSESSMENT (WITH PASS FAIL ON KEY REQUIREMENTS) STEP 14 NOTIFY TENDERERS NOT PROCEEDING TO FULL TENDER ASSESSMENT (OPTIONAL) STEP 15 FULL TENDER ASSESSMENT AND ACQ FREEZE STEP 16 IDENTIFY PREFERRED SUPPLIER STEP 17 CONTRACT AWARD AND STANDSTILL"
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