--- title: "eLoran Programme" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-051748" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051748" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051748.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051748.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Planning" buyer: "DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY" published: "2026-04-01" --- # eLoran Programme Buyer: DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY Current stage: Planning OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-051748 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-051748) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051748.json) ## Summary The Department for Science, Innovation & Technology is at the planning stage for the eLORAN Programme, aimed at enhancing the UK's Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) resilience. This procurement process focuses on the development of a nationally-owned eLORAN PNT system to ensure a robust backup to the GPS system, particularly for the UK's critical national infrastructure. The programme is set to commence with contracts from April 2027, with initial operating capability by 2028, full operation by 2030, and future innovative use cases to be explored thereafter. Businesses can engage in this premarket phase by responding to the questions regarding technical feasibility and programmatic costs by 30 June 2025. This engagement will inform the final procurement requirements and potential market competition around the procurement process. The eLORAN Programme presents significant opportunities for businesses specialising in global navigation and positioning systems, particularly those with capabilities in developing resilient terrestrial infrastructure. The procurement process invites collaboration with SMEs to contribute innovative solutions for enhancing UK’s national PNT resilience. Suitable candidates can influence programme requirements, potentially leading to direct technical and commercial engagement with the National eLORAN Programme working group hosted by DSIT. This provides a vital business growth opportunity for companies poised to support the UK's national infrastructure with advanced navigation technologies, fostering both national and international interoperability. Responding early to the engagement will maximise influence and potential commercial arrangements. ## Notice Build and operation of a nationally-owned UK eLORAN PNT system within the UK to provide resilient, terrestrial, sovereign, sustainable, and high-quality Position, Navigation and Timing ### Planning Information Introduction There is recognition within the UK and internationally that much critical national infrastructure is dependent in some way on Global Positioning System (GPS) and/or other Global navigation satellite system (GNSS). In October 2023, UK Govt published its new Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT) Policy Framework which includes a “10 Point Plan” to enhance national PNT resilience . This plan includes: “develop a proposal for a resilient, terrestrial, and sovereign Enhanced Long Range Navigation (eLORAN) system to provide backup Position and Navigation” An eLORAN programme is being established within the National PNT Office with three main objectives: a. Build a Nationally-owned UK eLORAN PNT system with initial operating capability (IOC) by start of 2028 and full operating capability by 2030, that will provide resilient, terrestrial, sovereign, backup Position, Navigation and Timing for UK Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and the wider economy and society. b. Ensure interoperability with other national and international eLORAN systems. c. Conduct research and development to ensure the long-term sustainability, continual improvement and expanded applications of the eLORAN system. Achieving these objectives will result in three primary outcomes: d. Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) resilient to the loss of GNSS provided timing. From 2027, a resilient, sovereign timing service provided to UK CNI from the Universal Coordinated time from National Physical Laboratory (UTC (NPL)) and eLORAN. e. CNI resilient to the loss of GNSS provided PNT. From 2029, a full eLORAN system to be built to provide backup PNT across the UK. f. New PNT use cases exploited. From 2030, the full eLORAN system can be exploited to find new innovative use cases that were previously inaccessible by PNT services by GNSS. The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology is currently developing the business case for an eLoran system, referred to herein as “eLORAN Programme”. To this end a set of potential services and associated mission requirements have been derived. These are presented at Annex A. For the avoidance of doubt, this notice is not informing the market of an imminent procurement. All costs pertaining to the completion of this response are to be borne by the responders. Please note, procurement dates and other data in this notice are subject to governance and should not be viewed as a firm commitment. This premarket engagement is purely to gain market knowledge and is not the launch of a new procurement. Timelines and technical requirements will be refined through market engagement. At this stage a contract start date April 2027 with an IOC in early 2028 is estimated. Respondents are invited to review these services and provide responses to the questions below, with whatever level of detail and means is considered appropriate by the respondent, considering the objective is to support development of the eLORAN Business Case. The questions are separated into two parts: • Part A: Technical considers the technical feasibility and processes of developing the stated capabilities. • Part B: Programmatic explores the projected costs and preferred commercial arrangements to deliver the capabilities. Queries If you have any queries or clarification questions with regards to providing a response to this questionnaire, please get in touch at NPNTO@dsit.gov.uk. The deadline for clarification questions is 30/05/25. Questions and responses will be provided to all participants, to ensure you have access to the same level of information. Submitting Responses & Timescales Responses should be submitted either as a word document or PDF to NPNTO@dsit.gov.uk Target for responses to Part A and B is 30/06/25 These are not deadlines; later responses will be considered, but respondent’s scope to influence the programme is reduced the later submissions are received. These responses will be reviewed by the cross-government eLoran programme team members to: • Identify potentially suitable candidate companies or proposals that might be able to meet the UK National eLORAN System requirements; • Identify potentially suitable candidate companies that would best support specialised functions in the larger UK National eLORAN System; • Inform further refinement of the National eLORAN Programme requirements and capabilities; • Identify concepts or proposals with different solutions than those previously considered; • clarify or expand understanding of potential relationships of national eLORAN systems dependencies and support to UK critical national infrastructure; • determine the pathway for the next stage of commercial engagement. Respondents should anticipate invitation to direct technical and commercial engagement with the National eLORAN Programme working group hosted by DSIT. The intention of this premarket engagement is to initiate the process to commercial competition leading to award of contract or contracts for a UK National eLORAN System commencing financial year 26/27. ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030149-2026 | | Notice type | UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice | | Procurement type | Standard | | Procurement category | Goods | | Procurement method | Not Specified | | Procurement method details | Not specified | | Tender suitability | SME | | Awardee scale | Not specified | | All stages | Planning | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 1 Apr 2026 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | 1 May 2026 | | Award date | Not specified | | Contract period | 29 Apr 2027 - 31 Dec 2030 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | Not specified | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Planning | | Lots status | Planning | | Awards status | Not specified | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | DEPARTMENT FOR SCIENCE, INNOVATION & TECHNOLOGY | | Locality | LONDON | | Post town | South West London | | Postcode | SW1A 2EG | | Country | England | | ITL 1 | TLI London | | ITL 2 | TLI3 Inner London - West | | ITL 3 | TLI35 Westminster and City of London | | Local authority | Westminster | | Electoral ward | St James's | | Westminster constituency | Cities of London and Westminster | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 38 - Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses) ### Codes - 38112100 - Global navigation and positioning systems (GPS or equivalent) ## Release History - 1 Apr 2026 at 09:10 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030149-2026 - 27 May 2025 at 14:34 - PlanningUpdate - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027816-2025 - 19 May 2025 at 14:16 - Planning - UK2 - Preliminary Market Engagement Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022752-2025 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/030149-2026 1st April 2026 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/027816-2025 27th May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/022752-2025 19th May 2025 - Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents ## 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-051748. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-051748.json.