---
title: "The Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement (MSCA) Future Arrangement (FA"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-035077"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-035077"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-035077.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-035077.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "MINISTRY OF DEFENCE"
published: "2022-07-11"
---

# The Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement (MSCA) Future Arrangement (FA

Buyer: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-035077

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## Summary

The Ministry of Defence has completed the contracting process for the Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement (MSCA) Future Arrangement, a significant tender in the defence services sector, specifically aimed at supporting the UK Royal Navy. This project will provide essential strategic capabilities for submarine and surface platform design and operations. The contract, valued at £215 million, was awarded to QinetiQ Limited following a limited procurement method without prior publication of a call for competition, and is intended to run for ten years from its signing date on 11 March 2022. The procurement process has now reached the Award stage, confirming the engagement of QinetiQ Limited as the contractor capable of fulfilling the specific requirements necessary for maintaining the UK’s maritime defence capabilities within UK territory.

This tender presents substantial opportunities for businesses with expertise in defence services, particularly those involved in hydrodynamics, maritime life support, engineering design, and technical consultancy. Companies that can provide advanced support in facilitating assured access to deep expertise, as well as having experience in the provision of military electronic systems and training services in defence materials, would be well-positioned to compete for any future opportunities arising from this long-term contract. The involvement of a prime contractor like QinetiQ Limited further highlights the potential for subcontracting arrangements, providing avenues for smaller firms to contribute to significant national defence projects.

## Notice

Delivery of essential UK strategic capabilities to support the effective delivery of current and future submarine and surface platform design, manufacture and operation.

### Lot Information

Lot 1

Procurement for the provision of assured access to deep expertise, and the facilities required to support them, in hydrodynamics, maritime life support, structures & survivability and stealth materials in support of the UK Royal Navy.

### Procurement Information

The Submarine Delivery Agency (the "Authority"), part of the UK Ministry of Defence, intends to award a contract to QinetiQ Limited (the "Contractor") for the sustainment and support of the Maritime Strategic Capability Agreement (MSCA). This contract will be for a period of 10 years. This will be a new Qualifying Defence Contract (QDC) and will be compliant with the Defence Reform Act (DRA) and secondary legislation Single Source Contract Regulations (SSCR) 2014. An exemption from the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations (DSPCR) 2011 (as amended) using regulation 7(1)(a), in conjunction with Regulation 6(3A)a, for security of national-eyes only information has been endorsed by the MoD Directorate of Security and Resilience. It is considered that this contract can be placed using the principles of the Negotiated Procedure without Prior Publication of a Contract Notice pursuant to Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011 (as amended) on the basis that QinetiQ Limited is the only contractor capable of supplying the facilities and Suitably Qualified and Experienced Personnel (SQEP) needed to meet the Authority's requirements under this contract. The MSCA requirement has been determined to be, and must remain, a sovereign capability by the current UK Government meaning any potential contractor must meet this requirement with a capability within UK territory. The Restated Principles Agreement (RPA) was signed in July 2001 and transferred operations of the former Defence Evaluation and Research Agency, which was a part of the MOD, to QinetiQ Limited. QinetiQ Limited are currently the only contractor with UK based facilities accredited to the required security requirements and with sufficient technical capability to fulfil the MSCA requirement in UK territory. If a different contractor were to be awarded the contract, these create a disproportionate technical difficulty for the Authority in maintaining and operating its maritime platforms including its Defence Objective of a Continual at Sea Detetterant (CASD). This is due to the necessity for an alternative contractor to undertake a significant investment in their existing capital estate across the whole of the UK to build and furnish dedicated facilities within the UK to meet the unique demands of the MSCA requirement. QinetiQ Limited have operated the facilities transferred to them under the RPA for 15 years and have developed extensive expertise, deeply integrated technical knowledge of the maritime platforms, and specialist tools to support the Authority with maintaining maritime platform capability through-life and CASD. Furthermore, the alternative contractor would be fully responsible for keeping the safety profile of multiple maritime platforms during this initial period to the expected standard, which creates an unacceptable risk to life for users of the maritime platforms in question given the disproportionate technical effort needed from the contractor to meet and maintain this operational requirement. Therefore, only QinetiQ Limited are currently able to meet the Authority's requirement due to technical reasons.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/018894-2022 |
| Notice type | Award Notice |
| Procurement type | Standard |
| Procurement category | Services |
| Procurement method | Limited |
| Procurement method details | Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition |
| Tender suitability | Not specified |
| Awardee scale | Large |
| All stages | Award |

## Dates

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication date | 11 Jul 2022 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 11 Mar 2022 |
| Contract period | Not specified |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | Not specified |
| Contracts value | £215,000,000 |

## Status

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender status | Complete |
| Lots status | Not specified |
| Awards status | Active |
| Contracts status | Active |

## Buyer

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Main buyer | MINISTRY OF DEFENCE |
| Locality | BRISTOL |
| Post town | Bristol |
| Postcode | BS34 8JH |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK5 West of England |
| ITL 3 | TLK52 Bath & North East Somerset and South Gloucestershire |
| Local authority | South Gloucestershire |
| Electoral ward | Stoke Park & Cheswick |
| Westminster constituency | Filton and Bradley Stoke |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | QINETIQ |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 50 - Repair and maintenance services
- 71 - Architectural, construction, engineering and inspection services
- 75 - Administration, defence and social security services
- 79 - Business services: law, marketing, consulting, recruitment, printing and security
- 80 - Education and training services

### Codes

- 50660000 - Repair and maintenance services of military electronic systems
- 71320000 - Engineering design services
- 71600000 - Technical testing, analysis and consultancy services
- 75220000 - Defence services
- 79993000 - Building and facilities management services
- 80600000 - Training services in defence and security materials

## Release History

- 11 Jul 2022 at 11:04 - Award - Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/018894-2022

## Notice URLs

- https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence

## Provenance

This Markdown file is an alternate public rendering of the D3 Tenders contract record. The canonical page is https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-035077. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-035077.json.