Planning

UKRI-5244 Next National Supercomputing Service

UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Planning

07 Oct 2025 at 13:51

UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Summary of the contracting process

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), a central government public authority based in Swindon, is in the planning stage of procuring hardware for the Next National Supercomputing Service, which will be located at the University of Edinburgh. The contract, valued between £300 million and £330 million, is set to begin on 1st September 2026 and potentially extend until 31st August 2033. This initiative, following the UK Compute Roadmap, is a significant step toward establishing a world-class compute ecosystem. Pre-market engagement meetings with vendors will be held during the SC25 conference in St. Louis from 17th to 20th November 2025, and expressions of interest are to be sent by email. Potential vendors are encouraged to engage prior to the market engagement event, and a market engagement questionnaire will be issued in October 2025.

This procurement process represents a substantial opportunity for businesses involved in the manufacturing of large-scale supercomputers, high-performance storage systems, and specialized components like CPUs and GPUs. Companies equipped with the necessary technical capabilities and a commitment to UKRI's Responsible Procurement Charter, focusing on social, economic, and environmental benefits, would be ideal candidates. The advancement of the national supercomputing capabilities aligns with the UK's broader innovation and growth priorities, presenting an invaluable platform for businesses seeking to contribute to and benefit from cutting-edge technological development. Engaging with UKRI for this tender could bolster a vendor's reputation and open up further collaboration opportunities within the UK's research and innovation landscape.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

UKRI-5244 Next National Supercomputing Service

Notice Description

The purpose of this Preliminary Market Engagement Notice is to inform the market that UKRI will soon be tendering the Supercomputing hardware for the Next National Supercomputing Service based at the University of Edinburgh and to also arrange pre-market engagement meetings with vendors attending SC25. The UK Compute Roadmap (July 2025) https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/uk-compute-roadmap/uk-compute-roadmap sets out the vision for "a world-class compute ecosystem that provides a platform for innovation, growth and opportunity across the economy." This includes the investment of "up to PS750 million for a new national supercomputer service in Edinburgh" as announced by government at the June 2025 spending review. The Next National Supercomputing Service (NNSS) will provide a compute infrastructure for the UK's research and innovation communities to utilise cutting-edge modelling, simulation and AI workflows: a key component of the UK government's ambition. The current estimated budget for the Supercomputing System is in the range of PS300m - PS330m(including VAT). The supercomputer will be an owned asset of UKRI with the hosting service provision responsibilities undertaken by Edinburgh Parallel Computing Centre (wholly owned by Edinburgh University). The applicability of the Social Value Act (SVA), tackling wider social, economic, and environmental benefits is considered for procurements, and as such, vendors will be expected to comply with UKRI's Responsible Procurement Charter (https://www.ukri.org/publications/responsible-procurement-charter/). UKRI intends to conduct pre-market engagement events during November 2025. UKRI's market engagement plan will comprise of the following steps, which are intending to run sequentially with vendors participating in each step as applicable: Step 1 - Respond to this Notice UKRI would like to hear from the following vendors: * Large scale supercomputer manufacturers * High performance storage providers * Supercomputer CPU and GPU manufacturers Please email supercomputer@ukri.org to express an interest in this requirement. Step 2 - Arranging meetings at SC25 and the Market Engagement Questionnaire UKRI will arrange meetings at SC25 with relevant suppliers and we will also issue a market engagement questionnaire to these suppliers w/c 20th October 2025. Step 3 - In-Person Engagement (SC25 Nov 16-21, 2025 - St Louis) UKRI wishes to arrange face to face pre-market engagement meetings with vendors that are in attendance at SC25 during Nov 17-20, 2025 at St. Louis. UKRI, DSIT and the Supercomputer Procurement Group members will be present at the meetings. Please email to supercomputer@ukri.org using the following title 'UKRI-5244 - SC25 In-person Engagement' to register your interest and provide available meeting options between the 17th -19th November. The duration of these meetings would be up to 2 hours at UKRI's discretion. Please note that the date relating to the publication of the contract notice is tentative and is subject to approval of the Business Case by the relevant UK Government departments (including Department for Science Innovation and Technology and HM Treasury) All future tender documentation will be made available via UKRI's e-sourcing portal and potential bidders should register on this portal to ensure they have access to all tender documentation when the tender is published.

Planning Information

Please see the section "Procurement description" for the full details on engagement. UKRI will be meeting with vendors at SC25 in St. Louis. In order to book a slot with UKRI, you will need to express an interest in reply to this notice. Expressions of interest must be sent to supercomputer@ukri.org

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-05a9ab
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062921-2025
Current Stage
Planning
All Stages
Planning

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Goods
Procurement Method
Not Specified
Procurement Method Details
Not specified
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Not specified

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

30 - Office and computing machinery, equipment and supplies except furniture and software packages

CPV Codes

30211100 - Super computer

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£275,000,000 £100M-£1B
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
Not specified
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
7 Oct 20254 months ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
4 Feb 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
31 Aug 2026 - 31 Aug 2031 Over 5 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Planning
Lots Status
Planning
Awards Status
Not Specified
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
UK RESEARCH AND INNOVATION
Contact Name
Not specified
Contact Email
commercial@ukri.org
Contact Phone
Not specified

Buyer Location

Locality
SWINDON
Postcode
SN2 1FL
Post Town
Swindon
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK7 Gloucestershire and Wiltshire
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK71 Swindon
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Swindon
Electoral Ward
Rodbourne Cheney
Westminster Constituency
Swindon North

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

View full OCDS Record for this contracting process

Download

The Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS) is a framework designed to increase transparency and access to public procurement data in the public sector. It is widely used by governments and organisations worldwide to report on procurement processes and contracts. 

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