---
title: "Space Weather R2O Maintenance - University of Reading"
ocid: "ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae"
canonical_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/?ocid=ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae"
markdown_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae.md"
json_url: "https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae.json"
source: "Find A Tender Service"
current_stage: "Award"
buyer: "MET OFFICE"
published: "2026-07-02"
---

# Space Weather R2O Maintenance - University of Reading

Buyer: MET OFFICE  
Current stage: Award  
OCID: ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae

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## Summary

The Met Office, based in Exeter, is leading a procurement process titled "Space Weather R2O Maintenance" in collaboration with the University of Reading. This initiative falls under the category of services focusing on research and experimental development. The procurement method is a direct award, with a contract period commencing on 17th July 2026 and concluding on 31st March 2027, with potential extensions until 2030. The procurement is tied to the UKRI SPF-funded programme SWIMMR, targeting advancements in space weather scientific modelling to enhance forecast capabilities. The primary location of service delivery is within the United Kingdom, specifically in the South West region. The entire process is currently in the award stage, and a key date to note is the scheduled future signature by 16th July 2026.

This procurement offers significant growth opportunities for businesses specialising in scientific research and development services, particularly those with expertise in space weather and related modelling capabilities. Companies with a strong technical understanding of space weather models, architecture, and scientific methodologies are well-suited to participate. The project's success is contingent on leveraging proprietary models and expert knowledge held by the University of Reading, which suggests there is limited availability for other suppliers. However, businesses capable of supporting and enhancing these models may find lucrative opportunities in this direct award contract, potentially benefiting from ongoing collaborations and enhancements to the Met Office's operational models.

## Notice

'Space Weather Implementation, Measurement, Modelling and Risk' (SWIMMR), was a PS19.9m UKRI SPF funded programme led by STFC from 2019, and which largely concluded in 2023. Several of the projects were targeted at space weather scientific modelling gaps, with the aim of bringing them into operation for forecast capabilities in the Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre (MOSWOC). The project 'S3' stood up systems and enabled collaboration between academic partners and the Met Office space weather programme, bringing a platform 'sandbox environment' and portal for monitoring outputs into use at the Met Office (MO) where our scientists worked with several academic partners to bring their models into use. Whilst the original SWIMMR programme made this collaboration possible, there is much work remaining to bring the models into working operational use by the target date of September 2026, the Research to Operations to Research (R2O2R) project is the next stage in this Programme. The Space Weather CSA with the Department for Science and Technology (DSIT) sets out a required output for the Met Office to Support the validation, integration and exploitation of new capabilities and data delivered through the SPF SWIMMR Programme. Met Office Space Weather (MOSW) has agreed with funding partner DSIT to deliver several targets for the next phase of work: Evidence of user need and user requirement to shape model use and output (MOSWOC being the primary user, with several end-users being the recipients of forecasting products). Technical and scientific requirements within MOSW for fully onboarding, working with and supporting the models and/or their outputs in operational settings. (Whilst the 'S3' platform and portal were helpful for the early stages of model collaboration, they are not able to support long term model and output development and operation). In terms of the projects to achieve modelling capability, we have agreed a number of these and their priority levels with the academic institutions who own the models.

### Procurement Information

The deliverables within this contract are directly associated with models and code that have been developed and are owned by the partner (supplier) to a defined level of maturity under the SWIMMR Programme. The partner retains the intellectual property rights (IPR) for the model code and provides access to the Met Office under licence. As such, the partner is uniquely positioned to deliver the required maintenance, support and enhancement services. The purpose of the contract is to ensure the continued operation, maintenance and incremental improvement of the models within the Met Office Space Weather service. This work requires detailed technical understanding of the model architecture, development history and underlying scientific methodologies, all of which reside with the original developers at Reading. Continued support of the models is dependent on access to both the proprietary codebase and the specialist expertise held by Reading. Replicating this capability with an alternative supplier would require significant time, cost and risk, and would introduce unacceptable impacts to operational continuity and model performance. In summary, due to the proprietary nature of the model code and the reliance on expert knowledge held by Reading, there is no alternative supplier capable of delivering these services. The Met Office therefore requires access to the code and expertise that are solely held by Reading to ensure the ongoing operation and reliability of the service.

## Key Details

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Publication source | Find A Tender Service |
| Latest notice | https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062412-2026 |
| Notice type | UK6 - Contract Award 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 | 2 Jul 2026 |
| Submission deadline | Not specified |
| Future notice date | Not specified |
| Award date | 30 Jun 2026 |
| Contract period | 16 Jul 2026 - 31 Mar 2027 |
| Recurrence | Not specified |

## Values

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Tender value | Not specified |
| Lots value | Not specified |
| Awards value | £164,880 |
| 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 | MET OFFICE |
| Locality | EXETER |
| Post town | Exeter |
| Postcode | EX1 3PB |
| Country | England |
| ITL 1 | TLK South West (England) |
| ITL 2 | TLK4 Devon |
| ITL 3 | TLK43 Devon CC |
| Local authority | Exeter |
| Electoral ward | Pinhoe |
| Westminster constituency | Exmouth and Exeter East |
| Delivery location | Not specified |

## Supplier

| Field | Value |
| --- | --- |
| Number of suppliers | 1 |
| Supplier names | THE UNIVERSITY OF READING |

## CPV Codes

### Divisions

- 73 - Research and development services and related consultancy services

### Codes

- 73100000 - Research and experimental development services

## Release History

- 2 Jul 2026 at 14:41 - Award - UK6 - Contract Award Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062412-2026
- 2 Jul 2026 at 14:37 - Award - UK5 - Transparency Notice - https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062407-2026

## Documents

- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062412-2026
  2nd July 2026 - Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/062407-2026
  2nd July 2026 - Transparency notice on Find a Tender

## Notice URLs

- https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2023/54/contents
- https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/

## 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-06c2ae. The underlying structured data is available as OCDS JSON at https://d3tenders.com/contract/ocds-h6vhtk-06c2ae.json.