Official UK procurement notice
Application Development & Support
Authority: Defence Equipment and Support
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe requirement is for the development and in service support of Application Development & Support (ADAS). This will include software development and support for the following:
- Development and continued availability of an application store.
- Systems and platforms may include Android, Windows, Linux and AWS. Software (applications) will be required to be developed for use on a variety of networks and with varying levels of data classification. Applications may be standalone, networked using secure closed systems or open cloud based and may be required to interface with 3rd party hardware e.g. sensors for data ingest, processing and transfer. These apps will need to be integrated onto the application store.
- Integration of commercial off the shelf (COTS) applications onto the application store.
The suppliers will be required to support DE&S with rapid, insightful, and cost-effective decisions to ensure the sustainment of the UK defence operations.
The number of bespoke apps is subject to change but is assumed to be around ~20 over the life of the contract. The applications are to be used by a small, CBRN focused Military group only.
The classification of application development is up to and including OFFICIAL-SENSITIVE. However, some apps may require libraries up to an including SECRET UK EYES ONLY meaning that the supplier will be required to hold Facility Security Clearance before contract award.
The in-service support shall include, but not limited to maintaining availability of the applications and the application store.
- How the procedure runs: The Application Development and Support contract is being procured through the Competitive Flexible Procedure in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 ('The Act'). The following steps will be used to decide which supplier progress to Invitation to Tender; • Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) - The top 6 tenderers who are fully compliant and have the received highest scores in the Technical Envelope shall be invited to take part in the Invitation to Tender (ITT). Invitation to Tender (ITT), the evaluation shall include various stages in order to arrive at contract award; • Bidder’s conference – Shortly after the ITT is issued, the tenderers will be invited to a Bidder’s Conference to learn more about the Authorities requirements and background to the ITT. • Paper based evaluation of the ITT - The evaluation will access tenderers based on Value for Money (VFM) using the VFM Weighted index. The weighting of the evaluation will be split 60% technical and 40% price. The top three scoring tenderers will progress to the presentation stage. • Presentation stage – The three remaining tenderers will present to the Authority in order to bring to life specific sections of their software development proposal response, which they have detailed in their written ITT response. • Partial second ITT evaluation – The sections of the ITT which are covered in the presentation will be re-evaluated by the Authority following the suppliers’ presentations.; scores can increase, decrease or remain the same. • Contract award – The tenderer offering the best Value for Money (VFM) using the VFM Weighted index will be awarded the contract. The weighting will remain 60% technical and 40% price. Full information on how the procurement procedure including evaluation criteria, strategy and stages of evaluation will be provided within the ITT guidance. The Authority reserves the right under the Procurement Act 2023 to: -To cancel the procurement procedure at any stage. - Not to award a contract as a result of the procurement process. - Make any modifications during a competitive flexible procedure, provided that the deadline to participate or submit a first or only tender has not passed (section 31(1)(b)). - Make non substantial modifications, during a competitive flexible procedure, up to the deadline of the final tendering stage (section 31(2)(a)). - Refine or supplement the award criteria during a competitive flexible procedure (section 24(1)). If there are any changes to the procedure, this will be set out in the ITT supporting documentation.
CPV: Development of software for military applications · Development software development services · IT software development services · Programming services of application software
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1RenewalPublished value£10,250,000
- Economic & financial standing
The legal and financial capacity conditions of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are set out in the PSQ and PSQ supporting documentation.
Suppliers, associated persons and tier one & two suppliers are required registered on the Central Digital Platform and share up-to-date information.
The Authority shall assess suppliers (or where relevant, a connected person), an associated person or a sub-contractor to determine whether mandatory or discretionary grounds for exclusion apply, in accordance with The Procurement Act 2023.
Please see section 1.13 on the PSQ and the supporting document for full information on financial requirements.
Stage 1 - Qualification (Pass / Fail)
Part 1 - Confirmation of core supplier information
- Documentation
- Preliminary SI Basic Information
- Confirmation of CDP SI Basic Information
Part 2 - Additional exclusion information
- Associated Persons
- List of all Intended Sub-Contractors
- Subcontractors CDP Information
Part 3 - Conditions of participation
- Electronic Trading
- Defence and Security Questions
- Security of Information
- Financial Assessment
Suppliers must pass stage 1 to progress to stage 2 of the PSQ. Questions where a 'fail' will result in exclusion from the competition have been clearly identified within the evaluation criteria against each question within the Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) Conditions of Participation Methodology document.
- Technical & professional ability
The technical condition of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are set out in the PSQ and PSQ supporting documentation.
Stage 2 - Technical (Pass / Fail and Scored)
Part 3 - Conditions of Participation
- Sustainable Procurement
- Russian / Belarusian Entities
- Insurance
- Data Protection
- Technical Ability and Project Experience
- Experience of Sub-contractor Management
- Health and Safety
- Tackling Modern Slavery in Supply Chains
Questions where a 'fail' or a score of 0 will result in exclusion from the competition have been clearly identified within the evaluation criteria against each question in the PSQ Conditions of Participation Methodology document.
- Condition of participationshortlisting
The top six fully compliant suppliers with the highest technical scores shall be invited to take part in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
What 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).
- Conditions of Participation - PSQ: Suppliers will be evaluated in two stages, Stage 1 - Qualification and Stage 2 - Technical, only suppliers that pass Stage 1 shall be deemed compliant and progress to Stage 2 - Technical evaluation. Most questions in stage 1 and 2 are pass/fail questions. Questions where a 'fail' or a score of 0 will result in exclusion from the competition has been clearly identified within the evaluation criteria against each question in the PSQ Conditions of Participation Methodology document. Questions within the Technical Ability and Project Experience (within stage 2) are weighted and scored (0/30/70/100). The weighting for this section is 100%.
- Economic & financial standing
The legal and financial capacity conditions of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are set out in the PSQ and PSQ supporting documentation.
Suppliers, associated persons and tier one & two suppliers are required registered on the Central Digital Platform and share up-to-date information.
The Authority shall assess suppliers (or where relevant, a connected person), an associated person or a sub-contractor to determine whether mandatory or discretionary grounds for exclusion apply, in accordance with The Procurement Act 2023.
Please see section 1.13 on the PSQ and the supporting document for full information on financial requirements.
Stage 1 - Qualification (Pass / Fail)
Part 1 - Confirmation of core supplier information
- Documentation
- Preliminary SI Basic Information
- Confirmation of CDP SI Basic Information
Part 2 - Additional exclusion information
- Associated Persons
- List of all Intended Sub-Contractors
- Subcontractors CDP Information
Part 3 - Conditions of participation
- Electronic Trading
- Defence and Security Questions
- Security of Information
- Financial Assessment
Suppliers must pass stage 1 to progress to stage 2 of the PSQ. Questions where a 'fail' will result in exclusion from the competition have been clearly identified within the evaluation criteria against each question within the Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) Conditions of Participation Methodology document.
- Technical & professional ability
The technical condition of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are set out in the PSQ and PSQ supporting documentation.
Stage 2 - Technical (Pass / Fail and Scored)
Part 3 - Conditions of Participation
- Sustainable Procurement
- Russian / Belarusian Entities
- Insurance
- Data Protection
- Technical Ability and Project Experience
- Experience of Sub-contractor Management
- Health and Safety
- Tackling Modern Slavery in Supply Chains
Questions where a 'fail' or a score of 0 will result in exclusion from the competition have been clearly identified within the evaluation criteria against each question in the PSQ Conditions of Participation Methodology document.
- Condition of participationshortlisting
The top six fully compliant suppliers with the highest technical scores shall be invited to take part in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
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
- Closed
- 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
- 19 May 2025, 14:02 BST
- Last source update
- 15 Aug 2025, 13:40 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 24 Nov 2025
- Authority reference
712050456- FTS notice number
2025/S 000-049140- Latest notice
- Tender notice (UK4)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0516f4Find a Tender- Contract terms summary
The Authority shall pay the Contractor any sums due under such an invoice no later than a period of 30 days from the date on which the Authority has determined that the invoice is valid and undisputed.
Payment for Contractor Deliverables will be made by electronic transfer and prior to submitting any claims for payment, the Contractor will be required to register their details (Supplier on-boarding) on the Contracting, Purchasing and Finance (CP&F) electronic procurement tool. Further details are provided in the draft contract which will be provided as part of the ITT.
- How it runs
The Application Development and Support contract is being procured through the Competitive Flexible Procedure in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 ('The Act').
The following steps will be used to decide which supplier progress to Invitation to Tender;
- Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) - The top 6 tenderers who are fully compliant and have the received highest scores in the Technical Envelope shall be invited to take part in the Invitation to Tender (ITT).
Invitation to Tender (ITT), the evaluation shall include various stages in order to arrive at contract award;
- Bidder’s conference – Shortly after the ITT is issued, the tenderers will be invited to a Bidder’s Conference to learn more about the Authorities requirements and background to the ITT.
- Paper based evaluation of the ITT - The evaluation will access tenderers based on Value for Money (VFM) using the VFM Weighted index. The weighting of the evaluation will be split 60% technical and 40% price. The top three scoring tenderers will progress to the presentation stage.
- Presentation stage – The three remaining tenderers will present to the Authority in order to bring to life specific sections of their software development proposal response, which they have detailed in their written ITT response.
- Partial second ITT evaluation – The sections of the ITT which are covered in the presentation will be re-evaluated by the Authority following the suppliers’ presentations.; scores can increase, decrease or remain the same.
- Contract award – The tenderer offering the best Value for Money (VFM) using the VFM Weighted index will be awarded the contract. The weighting will remain 60% technical and 40% price.
Full information on how the procurement procedure including evaluation criteria, strategy and stages of evaluation will be provided within the ITT guidance.
The Authority reserves the right under the Procurement Act 2023 to:
-To cancel the procurement procedure at any stage.
- Not to award a contract as a result of the procurement process.
- Make any modifications during a competitive flexible procedure, provided that the deadline to participate or submit a first or only tender has not passed (section 31(1)(b)).
- Make non substantial modifications, during a competitive flexible procedure, up to the deadline of the final tendering stage (section 31(2)(a)).
- Refine or supplement the award criteria during a competitive flexible procedure (section 24(1)).
If there are any changes to the procedure, this will be set out in the ITT supporting documentation.
- Risks
There is a risk that some of the applications (or data to be contained within them) will need to be developed at TOP SECRET.
How it was run
Official notice- Requests to participate (first stage)
- 26 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission deadline
- 26 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 12 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
PSQ responses should be submitted by the Authority using the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) by the deadline stated. Responses submitted via any other medium will not be accepted or considered. contracts.mod.uk ↗
The DSP Opportunity listing for the PSQ can be found here - contracts.mod.uk/go/0598293001989EB899F4 ↗
Timeline
19 May 2025 → 1 Jul 2026 · 7 dates- Planning notice published19 May 2025, 14:02 BST
- Next notice expected30 Jun 2025, 23:59 BST
- Tender notice published15 Aug 2025, 13:40 BST
- Clarification questions by12 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Submission deadline393 days ago26 Sept 2025, 23:59 BST
- Award decision expected by334 days ago24 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Contract starts116 days ago1 Jul 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
6 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 May 2025- Pipeline notice published19 May 2025, 14:02 BSTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published19 May 2025, 14:56 BSTUK2
- Tender notice published15 Aug 2025, 13:40 BSTUK4
- Published value updated to £10,250,00015 Aug 2025, 13:40 BSTwas £10,800,000
- Status changed to active15 Aug 2025, 13:40 BST
- Procurement method changed15 Aug 2025, 13:40 BST
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedTender pack and attachments
- Bidding documents and specificationsAccess: Documents will be provided to support to PSQ and ITT, all documents will be avaiable via the DSP. For the PSQ the document provided are; Application Development and Support Project Specific Questionnaire (PSQ) Conditions of Participation Methodology and 20250218_MoD_Covered Procurement_PSQ_Supplier_Explainer.
Notices published for this procedure
- 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