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STF JULES Code Migration

Met Office

This public procurement record has 1 release in its history.

Award

17 Aug 2026 at 12:03

UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The Met Office commissioned research and experimental development services to migrate its Surface Transport Forecasting JULES (STF-JULES) capability into the latest supported version of the Joint UK Land Environment Simulator. The work covers porting existing code changes for road and rail surfaces, including hydrology, drainage, thermal properties and snowmelt, together with associated namelists, Rose suites and configuration files. The supplier must investigate differences in output behaviour, carry out regression testing, update technical documentation and complete the code-review process through to a successful merge into the main JULES master branch. Deliverables include a migration plan, updated implementation, technical comparison and validation report, and integration activities. The work is classified as research and experimental development services and is delivered for the Met Office in the United Kingdom.

This procurement is complete and was awarded to Oxidian Ltd on 17 August 2026. It was a competitive selective procedure using an award under a framework, with one completed lot. The award value is £40,837 excluding VAT, or £49,004 including VAT. The contract period runs from 1 September 2026 to 31 March 2027, with signature scheduled by 31 August 2026. The requirement was evaluated through a competitive framework call-off; the published data identifies the procurement as services and the award as active. The contract must deliver the migrated STF-JULES implementation, updated configuration, comparison and validation reporting, documentation, formal code review and successful integration into the JULES master branch. Oxidian Ltd, an SME, was selected as the supplier.

This award indicates demand for specialist scientific software engineering at the intersection of environmental modelling, transport forecasting and high-performance research code. Suppliers well placed for comparable work would understand Fortran-based scientific codebases, version migration and maintenance of legacy forks, and be able to assess changes in hydrology, surface energy and snow processes. Credible competitors would also need experience managing associated namelists, Rose suites and configuration files, designing regression tests, investigating differences in model behaviour or performance, and producing technically defensible comparison reports. The requirement demonstrates that the Met Office values suppliers able to work within an established open-source-style development process, coordinate formal code review, respond to review findings and maintain technical documentation through to integration into a main software branch. Research and development capability and evidence of delivering complex scientific software changes would be relevant.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

STF JULES Code Migration

Notice Description

The Met Office is developing a surface transport forecasting capability based on JULES (Joint UK Land Environment Simulator) to support operational road and rail forecasting applications. JULES was originally developed as a land-surface model for representing natural surfaces such as vegetation and soil. In its native form, it does not adequately represent key physical processes associated with road and rail surfaces, including impermeable surface behaviour, rapid water drainage and realistic snowmelt. To address this, the Met Office has already developed and scientifically evaluated an STF-JULES ("Surface Transport Forecasting JULES") capability based off a forked older version (v5.9) of the JULES codebase This includes: configuration and parameter tuning for road and rail surfaces; modifications to surface hydrology behaviour to represent impermeable transport surfaces; modifications to thermal conductivity and heat capacity handling; implementation of a road drainage/run-off scheme; modifications to snow handling to retain meltwater within the road surface water store . The existing source code modifications are contained within a small number of JULES routines: heat_con_jls_mod.F90 soil_htc_jls_mod.F90 road_drain_jls_mod.F90 surf_hyd_jls_mod.F90 The supplier is required to migrate the existing STF-JULES developments into the latest JULES version and complete the work through to successful merge into the main JULES master branch. In addition to porting these routines, the supplier shall: identify and migrate all associated namelist, Rose suite and configuration file changes; identify differences in output behaviour with the existing STF-JULES implementation; deliver the changes through to successful integration into the JULES master branch. The work shall be considered complete when: all agreed STF-JULES science developments have been successfully migrated into the latest supported JULES version; all required namelists, Rose suites and configuration files have been updated; regression testing demonstrates no major unexplained changes relative to the existing STF-JULES implementation; a technical comparison report has been delivered describing: differences between the original STF-JULES v5.9 implementation and the migrated implementation; any changes in behaviour or performance; any known limitations or unresolved issues; all required technical documentation has been updated; and the changes have been successfully merged into the main JULES master branch. The supplier shall provide the following deliverables: 1. A one-page delivery and migration plan within one week of contract award. 2. Updated STF-JULES implementation within the latest supported JULES version by [DATE PROPOSED BY SUPPLIER], including: migrated source code changes; updated namelists, and configuration files 3. A technical comparison and validation report by [DATE PROPOSED BY SUPPLIER], containing: comparison between the original STF-JULES v5.9 implementation and the migrated implementation; investigation into, and description of, any differences in behaviour or performance; explanation of expected differences arising from JULES version changes; summary of any known limitations or unresolved issues. 4. Completion of all activities required to integrate the migrated STF-JULES capability into the main JULES master branch including: arranging and coordinating formal code review through the JULES development process; implementing required revisions; updating technical and code documentation as required by the JULES review process; and successful merge into the JULES master branch.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06e584
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/078066-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK6 - Contract Award Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Selective
Procurement Method Details
Award under framework
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
SME

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

CPV Codes

73100000 - Research and experimental development services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
Not specified
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£40,837 Under £100K
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
17 Aug 20261 weeks ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
Not specified
Award Date
17 Aug 20261 weeks ago
Contract Period
1 Sep 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 6-12 months
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

Tender Status
Complete
Lots Status
Complete
Awards Status
Active
Contracts Status
Not Specified

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
Met Office
Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
EXETER
Postcode
EX1 3PB
Postcode Area
Exeter
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK4 Devon
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK43 Devon CC
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
Exeter
Electoral Ward
Pinhoe
Westminster Constituency
Exmouth and Exeter East

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Oxidian Ltd

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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