Official UK procurement notice
500000.00 · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionTempest Production Assurance Testing (TPAT) for AJAX vehicles to ensure that platforms are security accreditable.
CPV: Technical inspection and testing services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32009L0081 Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (Directive 2009/81/EC)
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Apr 2025, 12:14 BST
- Last source update
- 4 Apr 2025, 12:14 BST
- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-013056- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-04fd40Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
The Secretary of State for Defence (the “Authority”), through the AJAX Programme within Defence Equipment and Support (“DE&S”) intends to place a contract with Malvern Optical Limited (“MOP”) for the Platform security accreditation and Initial Operating Capability (IOC) assurance The proposed contract will have a duration of 3 years and an estimated value of £500K and be placed as a supply of services contract.
As a covered procurement, this procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (the “PA23”). It is considered that the direct award of the contract is lawful in accordance with section 41(1) and paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 of the PA23 because competition is absent for technical reasons such that only MOP can achieve the requirement and there is no reasonable alternative.
TEMPEST accreditation is required for platform security accreditation and assurance for IOC of the AJAX programme.. TEMPEST is a specialist field. Companies need to be accredited by the UK National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) Platform TEMPEST Accreditation Scheme (CPTAS) to carry out this security accreditation. MOP is the only NCSC accredited TEMPEST Evaluation Partner and test house for vehicles and there is no reasonable alternative to the TEMPEST service and therefore MOP is the only supplier capable of meeting the Authority’s requirement.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Malvern Optical LimitedSubcontracting: declared | £500,000 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 013056-2025-1 · Malvern Optical Limited
- Signed
- 31 Mar 2025
- Value
- £500,000
- Status
- active
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Malvern Optical LimitedAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.