Official UK procurement notice
Mission Innovation Secretariat · UK public procurement notice
Authority: Department for Energy Security & Net Zero (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe UK has hosted the Mission Innovation (MI) Secretariat since 2017. Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) support was brought in from 2022 to address specialist skill and capacity gaps. The MI Secretariat is currently transitioning to be hosted at the IEA, however countries with continue to provide in-kind resources until at least 2030.
This procurement is to continue the direct award for ESC to provide essential support to the MI Secretariat in the transitional period until June 2027 for a value of £250,000 (exc VAT), with the potential to extend until June 2028.
The contract will cover a transitional phase as the MI Secretariat moves from the UK Government to the IEA. The capability built up by ESC in last 4 years is essential to retain whilst the MI secretariat is transitioning to the IEA. This procurement is necessary to ensure continuity of expertise from ESC who have delivered the Secretariat functions work since 2022. ESC’s role will protect UK interests by ensuring effective UK representation at the core of MI's governance.
The Direct Award will fund the time of two Specialist leads, a project manager and admin support to deliver:
- Event Coordination of the MI Annual Gathering:
- Event Programme management of the MI Ministerial
- Diplomatic engagement with governments to support the delivery of MI outcomes.
- Artificial Intelligence workstream for Mission Innovation
- Coordination and Technical Advice to the MI Missions:
- Data and Analysis of International Energy Innovation
- Enhanced diplomatic and technical capability of the wider MI Secretariat in light of the transition to the IEA.
The procurement is required to maintain continuity of Secretariat capability in a transitional period following the end of the current contract.
However, the UK has also committed to provide resource for the a core Secretariat team through the remainder of Mission Innovation 2.0, which runs to 2030. Following the initial direct award to 2027, a competitive procurement is expected to be run for an organisation to deliver the remainder of this commitment. ESC’s Direct Award contract will include a potential to extend by 1 year. The variation provision would be used where market engagement supports the existing conclusion that there is no other reasonable supplier to deliver the MI Secretariat role in the next year. An extension woild be accompanied by extensive efforts to ensure a competitive process could be run the following year for services to 2030.
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedProcedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Direct award
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- 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
- 24 Jun 2026, 17:45 BST
- Last source update
- 4 Aug 2026, 11:42 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-073613- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06bc97Find a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons; Additional Repeat Extension Partial Replacement
- Published justification
The UK has hosted the Mission Innovation (MI) Secretariat since 2017. Energy Systems Catapult (ESC) support was brought in from 2022 to address specialist skill and capacity gaps. The MI Secretariat is currently transitioning to be hosted at the IEA, however countries with continue to provide in-kind resources until at least 2030.
This procurement is to continue the direct award for ESC to provide essential support to the MI Secretariat in the transitional period until June 2027 for a value of £250,000 (exc VAT), with the potential to extend until June 2028.
The contract will cover a transitional phase as the MI Secretariat moves from the UK Government to the IEA. The capability built up by ESC in last 4 years is essential to retain whilst the MI secretariat is transitioning to the IEA. This procurement is necessary to ensure continuity of expertise from ESC who have delivered the Secretariat functions work since 2022. ESC’s role will protect UK interests by ensuring effective UK representation at the core of MI's governance.
The Direct Award will fund the time of two Specialist leads, a project manager and admin support to deliver:
- Event Coordination of the MI Annual Gathering:
- Event Programme management of the MI Ministerial
- Diplomatic engagement with governments to support the delivery of MI outcomes.
- Artificial Intelligence workstream for Mission Innovation
- Coordination and Technical Advice to the MI Missions:
- Data and Analysis of International Energy Innovation
- Enhanced diplomatic and technical capability of the wider MI Secretariat in light of the transition to the IEA.
The procurement is required to maintain continuity of Secretariat capability in a transitional period following the end of the current contract.
However, the UK has also committed to provide resource for the a core Secretariat team through the remainder of Mission Innovation 2.0, which runs to 2030. Following the initial direct award to 2027, a competitive procurement is expected to be run for an organisation to deliver the remainder of this commitment. ESC’s Direct Award contract will include a potential to extend by 1 year. The variation provision would be used where market engagement supports the existing conclusion that there is no other reasonable supplier to deliver the MI Secretariat role in the next year. An extension woild be accompanied by extensive efforts to ensure a competitive process could be run the following year for services to 2030.
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 24 Jun 2026- Transparency notice published24 Jun 2026, 17:45 BSTUK5
- Contract award notice published23 Jul 2026, 15:39 BSTUK6
- Contract details notice published4 Aug 2026, 11:42 BSTUK7
- Contract signature expected5 Aug 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Energy Systems Catapult Limited6 Aug 2026 – 31 Mar 2027 · up to 30 Jun 2028Extensions: Potential for +1 extension. | £250,000 | 22 Jul 2026 | Awarded |
| Energy Systems Catapult Limited | £250,000 †same award published again · counted once | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 2 · Energy Systems Catapult Limited
- Signed
- 10 Jul 2026
- Value
- £250,000
- Period
- 10 Jul 2026 – 6 Jul 2027 · up to 30 Jun 2028 with extensions
- Status
- active
- Extensions
- The Buyer may extend the Contract for a period of up to 12 months by giving no less than 10 Working Days notice in writing to the Supplier prior to the Expiry Date.
No agreed KPIs: Not proportionate for this contract and standard contract management clauses are sufficient. Total contract is not above £5m.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- ENERGY SYSTEMS CATAPULT LIMITEDAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender