Official UK procurement notice
715112450 - Ballistic Testing Services - Personal Armour
Authority: Defence Equipment and Support·Consortium: 2 public authorities
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis Tender Notice outlines the Authority's intent to competitively assess, select and award a contract to deliver Ballistic Testing Services for Personal Armour to support new to service projects and ensure through life support of Personal Armour provided to its Armed Forces Personnel.
The contract will have a headroom of £10m (Inc VAT) and will be for 5 years with 3 x 1 optional years.
The Ballistic Testing Service will serve as a dedicated platform to facilitate comprehensive testing and evaluation of Personal Armour systems. This service will encompass a wide range of protective equipment, including but not limited to Hard Armour Plates, Soft Armour Fillers, and Helmets. The testing process will ensure that these protective solutions meet established safety, durability, and performance standards under various conditions. By providing a structured and reliable pathway for ballistic testing, the service aims to support the development, validation, and certification of personal protective equipment, ensuring it meets operational requirements and offers optimal protection to users in diverse environments.
For the provision of Ballistic Testing Services, it is a mandatory requirement that the contractor operates a facility located within the United Kingdom. This ensures accessibility, compliance with relevant UK regulations, and alignment with national security and operational standards. The ballistic testing will be conducted on an as-needed basis throughout the duration of the contract, with testing schedules determined by specific requirements or requests. The contractor must maintain readiness and flexibility to accommodate testing demands at any point during the contract period, ensuring timely and efficient service delivery to meet the needs of the programme.
The Ballistic Testing Service competition mandates that participating laboratories must hold accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the ISO 17025 standard. This international standard specifies the general requirements for the competence, impartiality, and consistent operation of testing and calibration laboratories, ensuring the highest levels of quality and reliability in testing processes. Additionally, laboratories must demonstrate compliance with NATO AEP-2920, the Allied Engineering Publication that outlines the procedures and standards for evaluating the ballistic performance of personal armour systems. This dual requirement ensures that laboratories possess both the technical expertise and the operational capability to conduct ballistic testing to internationally recognised and NATO-specific standards, guaranteeing the accuracy, consistency, and credibility of the results.
The competitive procurement will be managed in accordance with the Procurement Regulations 2024.
- How the procedure runs: This procurement will be conducted using the Competitive Flexible Procedure in accordance with Procurement Regulations 2024. All compliant tenderers at the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) stage will be taken through to the ITT of the Competitive Flexible Procedure. The full requirement will be issued at the ITT stage and tenderers will be given appropriate time to respond with their initial tenders. The Authority will complete a tender evaluation against the evaluation strategy which will be detailed at the ITT Stage. Following the evaluation of the tenders, each tender will be ranked in accordance with the evaluation methodology, the winning tenderer will be selected on the basis of the evaluation and award criteria detailed in the ITT. The Authority reservesthe right to cancel the competition at any stage with no liability for tenderer costs and expenses.
CPV: Bullet-proof vests · Cover plates · Research laboratory services · Research, testing and scientific technical simulator · Test and evaluation of firearms and ammunition · Test and evaluation of security equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedWhat it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
- PSQ: PSQ to be assessed on a Pass/Fail basis for the Qualification and Technical Envelopes:
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Cancelled
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Defence & security
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 4 Aug 2025, 11:11 BST
- Last source update
- 4 Aug 2026, 16:36 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 29 Jul 2026
- Authority reference
715112450- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-008118- Latest notice
- Transparency notice (UK5)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-056c18Find a Tender
- How it runs
This procurement will be conducted using the Competitive Flexible Procedure in accordance with Procurement Regulations 2024.
All compliant tenderers at the Procurement Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) stage will be taken through to the ITT of the Competitive Flexible Procedure. The full requirement will be issued at the ITT stage and tenderers will be given appropriate time to respond with their initial tenders.
The Authority will complete a tender evaluation against the evaluation strategy which will be detailed at the ITT Stage. Following the evaluation of the tenders, each tender will be ranked in accordance with the evaluation methodology, the winning tenderer will be selected on the basis of the evaluation and award criteria detailed in the ITT.
The Authority reservesthe right to cancel the competition at any stage with no liability for tenderer costs and
expenses.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Submission deadline
- 27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
All submissions must be via the DSP
Timeline
4 Aug 2025 → 4 Aug 2026 · 8 dates- Planning notice published4 Aug 2025, 11:11 BST
- Market engagement12 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
As part of the market engagement for this competition, the DCC Survivability Team plan to visit the facilities in the UK that register interest. The type of information the team will be interested in and would like to understand further as part of these visits is likely to include the below:
- Tour of the site, including a procedural walkthrough (no requirement for actual testing, but a step-by-step understanding of procedures based on facility capabilities).
- Range of testing services available (both in house and external)
- Standards, and certifications, traceability and licences
- Equipment (testing, measuring, calibrating etc)
- Environmental conditions and facilities
- Storage Facilities
- How the facility measures uncertainty and how expanded uncertainty is calculated and assured.
- Disposal procedures
- An understanding of facility personnel SQEP
- An understanding of past testing experiences
- Safe working procedures and practices
Please note, the release of this UK 2 Preliminary Market engagement Notice is not the formal start to the competition process. You will have an opportunity to participate in the Tender process when it formally starts with the release of the UK 4 Tender Notice, which will be advertised via the Defence Sourcing Portal and Find a Tender Service via the Central Digital Platform in the future. At this stage suppliers are only able to register
interest for the upcoming market engagement.
If you wish to take part please register your interest by emailing: [email protected] and [email protected]
- Next notice expected15 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published269 days ago29 Jan 2026, 14:50 GMT
- Submission deadline240 days ago27 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts89 days ago29 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
- Award decision expected by88 days ago29 Jul 2026, 23:59 BST
- Latest notice published82 days ago4 Aug 2026, 16:36 BST
Notice history
7 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 4 Aug 2025- Pipeline notice published4 Aug 2025, 11:11 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published7 Aug 2025, 14:35 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published29 Jan 2026, 14:50 GMTUK4
- Published value updated to £8,333,33329 Jan 2026, 14:50 GMTwas £8,333,333
- Status changed to active29 Jan 2026, 14:50 GMT
- Procurement method changed29 Jan 2026, 14:50 GMT
- Transparency notice published4 Aug 2026, 16:36 BSTUK5
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeConsortium members and other public bodies
- Ministry of DefenceContracting authorityPublic authority - central government
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender