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715925474 - Defence Support Sustainment Provider (DSSP) UK5 - Transparency Notice

National Armaments Director Group

This public procurement record has 2 releases in its history.

Award

21 Oct 2026 at 15:17

UK5 - Transparency Notice
Planning

01 Sep 2026 at 13:44

UK1 - Pipeline Notice
Summary of the contracting process

The National Armaments Director Group is procuring a sustainment service for the Ministry of Defence’s Bridging the Gap defence logistics information environment. The work covers continued operation, support and maintenance of around 60 interconnected legacy applications, as well as integration, data extraction and migration. These applications support defence logistics, inventory, engineering, munitions, maritime and aviation activities. The service is intended to maintain continuity while the existing environment is progressively transitioned, separated into components and retired. The procurement is for data network management and support services. Delivery is across the United Kingdom.

The procurement is complete and Boeing Defence UK Limited has been selected for the contract; the award is recorded as pending. The award date is not stated. The intended contract runs from 1 July 2027 to 30 June 2030, with two optional one-year extensions, potentially extending the term to 30 June 2032. Its value is £295 million excluding VAT and £354 million including VAT. There is one lot. The buyer used a direct award, relying on the justification that only the incumbent supplier has the technical and operational knowledge needed to support this bespoke, interconnected environment and that changing supplier would create incompatibility and disproportionate technical difficulties. No separate scored evaluation criteria are stated.

This award indicates a substantial requirement for continuity and controlled change across a live, bespoke defence information estate, rather than a standalone IT support service. A credible supplier for a future comparable requirement would need demonstrable knowledge of interconnected legacy applications, interfaces and middleware, and the ability to operate and maintain them while supporting integration, data extraction, migration, disaggregation and retirement. Experience assuring interoperability, data integrity and service continuity during transition would be central, alongside the technical and operational capacity to manage services that support logistics, inventory, engineering, munitions, maritime and aviation functions. The direct-award rationale shows that the buyer placed particular weight on established system knowledge and avoiding the disruption and technical risks of transferring and revalidating operational arrangements.

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Notice Information

Notice Title

715925474 - Defence Support Sustainment Provider (DSSP) UK5 - Transparency Notice

Notice Description

The Authority requires the procurement of the requirement for a Sustainment and Retirement of Legacy Logistics Information Services Provider.

Procurement Information

The Ministry of Defence (the "Authority") intends to award a contract to Boeing Defence UK Limited ("the Supplier") for the provision of a 'Sustainment Provider' service and its support of the Bridging the Gap ("BtG") solution (the "Service"). The BtG estate is a bespoke and interconnected defence information environment comprising approximately sixty remaining legacy applications. The applications exchange information through a complex network of interfaces and middleware and support defence logistics, inventory, engineering, munitions, maritime and aviation activities. The proposed contract concerns the continued operation, support, maintenance, integration, data extraction and migration of the existing BtG services. Its purpose is to preserve essential service continuity while enabling the controlled transition, disaggregation and retirement of the BtG estate, already underway under the existing contract. This proposed contract is an extension to, and partial replacement of, those services while applications and services are progressively migrated, disaggregated and retired. The proposed contract has an initial term of three ("3") years, with two optional one ("1") year extensions, totalling five ("5") years with an estimated maximum value of PS354 million (including VAT). In accordance with Section 41(1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 (the "Act"), the Authority intends to rely on the Single Supplier direct award justification, as set out in Paragraph 6 and Paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Act, to award a public contract directly to the Supplier not being an excluded Supplier. It is considered that a direct award is permissible under the Act on the basis that, due to an absence of competition for technical reasons and the incompatibility of services by alternative suppliers, only the Supplier can carry out the Service and there are no alternatives to those goods, services or works for the reasons set out below. For the purposes of paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the Act, there is no reasonable alternative to the Supplier to deliver the proposed contract's requirement as: Only the Supplier holds the required technical and operational knowledge of this highly bespoke and interconnected defence information ecosystem that the Service comprises of. No alternative supplier has the technical capabilities through skill, knowledge and experience to recreate and assure the existing operational arrangements, maintain continuity of live services while simultaneously supporting migration, disaggregation and retirement of the operations. Therefore, the Supplier is the only supplier able to deliver the Service for the continued operation, support, maintenance, integration, data extraction and migration of the current BtG service. For the purposes of paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Act, a change in supplier would result in services incompatible with the existing Service and would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation and/or maintenance of the Service, as: The proposed contract relates to the provision of services which are intended as an extension to, and partial replacement of existing services currently provided by the Supplier, therefore a change in supplier would lead to incompatible services with the existing goods and services and this incompatibility would result in disproportionate technical difficulties in operation or maintenance arising from the technical discovery, redesign, knowledge transfer, interface and middleware assurance, testing and operational validation required, and would create associated risks to interoperability, data integrity, service continuity and migration. Further, changing supplier from the existing supplier would require these technical, integration and service-management arrangements to be transferred, re-established, tested and assured while the environment remained live and continued to support migration to successor capabilities. This would further create a material risk that the Service and integration arrangements received by the Authority would be different from, or incompatible with, the existing services. Accordingly, the Supplier is considered as the only supplier that can provide the Service and there are no alternatives to this Supplier of the Service as required by the Authority. The Supplier is not an excluded supplier. A Contract Award Notice and Contract Details Notice will follow in accordance with Procurement Act 2023.

Notice Details

Publication & Lifecycle

Open Contracting ID
ocds-h6vhtk-06ef8e
Publication Source
Find A Tender Service
Latest Notice
https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/099594-2026
Current Stage
Award
All Stages
Planning, Award

Procurement Classification

Notice Type
UK5 - Transparency Notice
Procurement Type
Standard
Procurement Category
Services
Procurement Method
Direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Tender Suitability
Not specified
Awardee Scale
Large

Common Procurement Vocabulary (CPV)

CPV Divisions

72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support

CPV Codes

72315000 - Data network management and support services

Notice Value(s)

Tender Value
£295,000,000 £100M-£1B
Lots Value
Not specified
Awards Value
£295,000,000 £100M-£1B
Contracts Value
Not specified

Notice Dates

Publication Date
21 Oct 20265 days ago
Submission Deadline
Not specified
Future Notice Date
30 Sep 2026Expired
Award Date
Not specified
Contract Period
1 Jul 2027 - 30 Jun 2030 3-4 years
Recurrence
Not specified

Notice Status

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

Buyer & Supplier

Contracting Authority (Buyer)

Main Buyer
National Armaments Director Group
Additional Buyers

Defence Equipment and Support

Contact Name
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Email
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →
Contact Phone
Available with D3 Tenders Premium →

Buyer Location

Locality
BRISTOL
Postcode
BS34 8JH
Postcode Area
Bristol
Country
England
Major Region (ITL 1)
TLK South West (England)
Basic Region (ITL 2)
TLK5 West of England
Small Region (ITL 3)
TLK52 Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Delivery Location
Not specified
Local Authority
South Gloucestershire
Electoral Ward
Stoke Park & Cheswick
Westminster Constituency
Filton and Bradley Stoke

Supplier Information

Number of Suppliers
1
Supplier Name

Boeing Defence UK

Further Information

Notice Documents

Open Contracting Data Standard (OCDS)

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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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