Official UK procurement notice
Production and Installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 Baseline Equipment for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Batch 2 Ships
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)·Consortium: 3 public authorities
Sectors: Radio, television, communication, telecommunication and related equipment (32) Delivery: UK
Awarded value£1,178,772,1052 contracts · exc. VAT
Awarded 12 Sept 2024
Awarded to STS Defence Ltd2 awards
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe production and installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline satellite communications equipment for the Royal Navy's T26 fleet Ships 4 to 8.
CPV: Purchase · Satellite communications equipment
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1The production and installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline equipment (which consist of bespoke integrated satellite communications equipment) for the Royal...
The production and installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline equipment (which consist of bespoke integrated satellite communications equipment) for the Royal Navy’s T26 fleet Ships 4 to 8.
32531000 Satellite communications equipment
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).
How bids were scored
- Lowest price
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Negotiated without publication of a contract notice
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32009L0081 Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 (Directive 2009/81/EC)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- No (one-off requirement)
- First published
- 3 Dec 2025, 15:45 GMT
- Last source update
- 3 Dec 2025, 15:45 GMT
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-049a56
- Why no open competition
- The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development under the conditions stated in the directive; The works, supplies or services can be provided only by a particular economic operator due to absence of competition for technical reasons
- Published justification
Defence Digital Commercial, part of the United Kingdom Ministry of Defence (MoD), has awarded a contract for the production and installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline satellite communications equipment for the Royal Navy's T26 fleet Ships 4 to 8 to STS Defence Ltd. This equipment will provide a communications service to support Information Exchange Requirements (IER) for simultaneous voice and more…
data. Please note, a Voluntary ex ante transparency notice has previously been published for this contract on the Find a Tender website, which can be seen here: https://www.find-tender.service.gov.uk/Notice/029245-2024 STS Defence Limited have previously designed a bespoke UHF SATCOM 4.2 Design capability in partnership with SNXP Limited which is accredited for use by the MoD on the T26 Fleet. The installation of this capability in T26 Ship 1 was carried out by STS Defence Limited under a task on an existing MoD Contract. This Contract was competed, and STS Defence Limited was awarded the contract. Thereafter, the installation of this capability in T26 Ships 2 and 3 was directly awarded to STS Defence Limited under a separate contract for Technical Reasons pursuant to Regulation 16(1)(a)(ii) of the DSPCR 2011, which is also applicable to this contract. Contractual timelines for the delivery of this Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline equipment capability into T26 Ships 4 to 8 are already embedded within the existing Type 26 Ship Building Contract (Contract Ref. No. SHIPACQ036) as a requirement to enable repeat supply and fit. Only STS Defence and SNXP Limited have the technical ability and experience necessary to produce and install this Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 baseline equipment capability into T26 Ships 4 to 8 in a manner that is accredited for use by the MoD and meets the required timescales. It is not viable for another supplier to deliver an alternative design that meets the MoD's technical requirements within the necessary timescales. Further, the STS Defence/SNXP SATCOM design has been approved by Naval Command Headquarters (NCHQ) to ensure it is fit for use. This design and accreditation process took several years to complete. To bring in a third-party supplier to design new equipment, obtain MoD approval and accreditation for the new design and then build and install it on T26 Ships 4 to 8 would incur significant and disproportionate additional time and cost consequences to the MoD, which would also result in significant delays to Vessel Acceptance Date (the date by which MoD are required to have agreed that the newly built T26 Ship has been delivered to an acceptable level against the requirements defined in the T26 Ship Building Contract (Contract Ref. No. SHIPACQ036)), thereby causing an unacceptable capability gap to the Royal Navy.
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics — not a forecastAwards 2
Awarded value £1,178,772,1052 contracts exc. VAT
Bids received 1
Contracts signed 2latest 4 Nov 2025
| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| STS Defence LtdSMESubcontracting: Supply of hardware design and technical expertise | — | — | Awarded |
| STS Defence Ltd | — | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 079452-2025-712714450-1 · STS Defence Ltd
- Signed
- 4 Nov 2025
- Value
- £1,166,772,105
- Status
- active
Production and Installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 Baseline Equipment for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Batch 2 Ships · STS Defence LtdSME
- Signed
- 12 Sept 2024
- Value
- £12,000,000
- Status
- active
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1bids · 1 electronic | — | — | — |
Notice history
5 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Sept 2024- Procurement method changed3 Dec 2025, 15:45 GMT
- Buyer details updated3 Dec 2025, 15:45 GMT
- Status changed19 Sept 2024, 15:36 BST
- Procurement method changed19 Sept 2024, 15:36 BST
- Buyer details updated19 Sept 2024, 15:36 BST
Published amendments (1 · 0 deadline changes)
| When | What | Before | After | Shift |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| — | TextII.1.1) Title · Section II: Object | N/A | Production and Installation of Integrated UHF SATCOM & EFMTE 4.2 Baseline Equipment for the Royal Navy’s Type 26 Batch 2 Ships | |
| — | TextIV.1.1 · Section IV | The products involved are manufactured purely for the purpose of research, experiment, study or development | — |
1 amendment published without a description.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
2 public bodies on the noticeDispute resolution & review bodies
- Ministry of Defence - Defence DigitalReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
2 commercial parties on the notice- STS DefenceAwarded supplier
- STS Defence LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.