--- title: "715663452 - Holmes 2 - UK5 - Transparency Notice" ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7" canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7" markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7.md" json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7.json" source: "Find A Tender Service" current_stage: "Award" buyer: "MINISTRY OF DEFENCE" published: "2025-10-07" --- # 715663452 - Holmes 2 - UK5 - Transparency Notice Buyer: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE Current stage: Award OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7 [View canonical contract page](https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7) [Download OCDS JSON](https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7.json) ## Summary The Ministry of Defence has completed a direct award procurement process titled "715663452 - Holmes 2 - UK5 - Transparency Notice" within the industry category of document management services. The procurement involved setting up a Major Incident Room (MIR) functionality within the ModNet (Secret) Cloud using the HOLMES 2 application. This was mandated to ensure compliance with the Armed Forces Act 2006 and relevant policing standards. The contract, awarded to Unisys based in Milton Keynes, addresses the unique technical requirements for investigating serious and complex crimes. The process adhered to the Procurement Act 2023 due to the absence of competition for technical reasons, and the contract period spans from 28 November 2025 to 28 November 2028, with a potential one-year extension to November 2029. The total contract value is £491,269, with a gross amount of £589,523. This tender offers substantial business opportunities for companies capable of supplying specialised document management services tailored to high-security environments. Large firms with experience in IT solutions for law enforcement and complex crime investigation may find relevance in such tenders, especially those possessing capabilities around comprehensive search facilities, evidence management, and secure digital asset storage. Businesses like Unisys, which can demonstrate accredited software and adapt to sector-specific compliance like that of the National Police Chiefs Council, are particularly well-suited to engage in these types of government contracts, offering growth potential through the provision of bespoke and technically demanding solutions. ## Notice Provision of HOLMES 2 application to set up a Major Incident Room ("MIR") functionality within the ModNet (Secret) Cloud. Within Defence, the Service Justice System is required to operate in accordance with the Armed Forces Act 2006 and the Laws of England and Wales. This includes operating to College of Policing guidelines: Major Incident Room Standardised Administrative Procedures 2021 (MIRSAP 2021) and the Major Crime Investigation Manual 2021 (MCIM 2021), which lay out how serious and complex crime must be investigated. Unisys HOLMES 2 is the only system accredited by the NPCC (National Police Chiefs Council) for the purpose of setting up MIRs. The MIR is the repository for all material gathered from the public, enquiry officers and other sources. It is managed using standardised administrative procedures and supports the Senior Investigating Officer to direct and control the investigation. As such, the Service Justice System is held up against the same levels of scrutiny as other Home Office Police Forces and hence the required application must enable the Service Prosecuting Authority and Military Court Service to obtain the same performance data as the Crown Prosecution Service and His Majesty's Courts and Tribunal Service in order to be compliant with Home Office and College of Policing Standards. The Defence Serious Crime Command (DSCC) is establishing a MIR which requires a system for gathering and processing evidence which is SUKEO (Secret UK Eyes Only). The HOLMES 2 application has been developed by Unisys (built on the Unisys Law Enforcement Application Framework (U-LEAF) and is a bespoke application designed to meet the complex requirements of MIR Standard Administrative Procedures ("MIRSAP 2021") in line with the unique technical requirements for investigating serious, complex crimes/incidents. ### Procurement Information The contract award is based on: Procurement Act 2023 Regulation 41 Sch.5 Para. 6: A) due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and B)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works. The HOLMES 2 application is the only accredited UK national application for investigating complex crime and is accredited by the Home Office. Unique technical features of HOLMES 2 include but are not limited to: - Searching: Comes with a comprehensive search facility that allows the user to query structured and unstructured data captured during an investigation. - Incident Linking: Ability to run searches across linked incidents. - Exhibit/Property Management: Enables recording of property found or seized during an investigation and preparation and production of forensic submission forms and receipts. - Disaster Victim Identification compliant with Interpol standards. - Associations: Maintains relevant links between all records, documents and tasks created or captured as a part of an investigation incident. The user can also define if these associations/links are provisional, time-bound, or high importance/relevance to the entity. The user also has the capability to highlight certain associations and include these in the entity profile. - Tag Management: Tagging provides a facility to link a group of entities and documents to multiple common lines of enquiry or themes. It also facilitates flexible classification and grouping of related records through user configurable themes. - Disclosure & Case Preparation: Disclosure of unused prosecution material is supported, and documents can be redacted for Court purposes. Preparation of multiple case files for Disclosure, court files and use of different templates as may be required by the different geographical regions are supported. - Covert Operations. Provides ability to run a covert investigation within the system. - Digital Evidence Vault and Management Store through the Holmes 2 DAMS (Digital Asset Management System) - captures and aggregates all types of imagery - stills, video, audio, multimedia and disk images whilst maintaining the integrity of stored materials. Stores content from multiple channels (forensic imagery, ad-hoc imagery, Taser-cam / wearable video, CCTV/IP camera, in-car video, interview/observation rooms, and public imagery) to a single back-end secure IT system. - Ensures chain of custody of evidence through preservation of original assets with an audit trail ## Key Details | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication source | Find A Tender Service | | Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/063020-2025 | | 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 | | All stages | Award | ## Dates | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Publication date | 7 Oct 2025 | | Submission deadline | Not specified | | Future notice date | Not specified | | Award date | 7 Oct 2025 | | Contract period | 28 Nov 2025 - 28 Nov 2028 | | Recurrence | Not specified | ## Values | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender value | Not specified | | Lots value | Not specified | | Awards value | £491,269 | | Contracts value | Not specified | ## Status | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Tender status | Complete | | Lots status | Complete | | Awards status | Pending | | Contracts status | Not specified | ## Buyer | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Main buyer | MINISTRY OF DEFENCE | | Locality | GLASGOW | | Post town | Glasgow | | Postcode | G2 8EX | | Country | Scotland | | ITL 1 | TLM Scotland | | ITL 2 | TLM3 West Central Scotland | | ITL 3 | TLM32 Glasgow City | | Local authority | Glasgow City | | Electoral ward | Anderston/City/Yorkhill | | Westminster constituency | Glasgow North | | Delivery location | Not specified | ## Supplier | Field | Value | | --- | --- | | Number of suppliers | 1 | | Supplier names | UNISYS | ## CPV Codes ### Divisions - 72 - IT services: consulting, software development, Internet and support ### Codes - 72512000 - Document management services ## Release History - 7 Oct 2025 at 15:35 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/063020-2025 ## Documents - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/063020-2025 7th October 2025 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender ## Notice URLs - https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/ministry-of-defence - 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-05a9e7. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-05a9e7.json.