Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Air Traffic Control Visual Simulators at Royal Air Force Locations
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
Sectors: Transport Equipment & Vehicles (34) Delivery: UK
Published estimate£2,000,000≈ £400k / year · £2,600,000 inc. VAT16.3% below published estimate
Submissions closed 31 Jul 2026awarded 22 Sept 2026
Awarded to Metaverse VR Ltd
Contract term 5 yrsends 31 Aug 2031 · starts 1 Sept 2026
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe requirement is for the provision of 16 x Visual Control Simulators (VISSIM) for training, currency, and assurance for Air Traffic Control Officers (ATCOs) and Air & Space Operations Specialists (ASOS) in the RAF. The requirement is for an Air Traffic Control (ATC) synthetic training environment tool, with ongoing maintenance and software update assistance throughout Contract lifetime. The equipment is to be installed on-site by the Contractor into an office-like environment at all 16 locations.
CPV: Air-traffic control simulation
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedPublished value£2,000,000
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
Published sub-criteria (10)
- 7: 20%
- 8: 20%
- 9: 5%
- 10: 10%
- 11: 5%
- 12: 10%
- 13: 10%
- 14: 5%
- 15: 5%
- 16 - Social Value: 10%
Published award criteria (10)
- 7: Demonstrate how your company will simulate the ADC environment at each location, including visual representation from the ATC tower, day/night operations, airfield lighting selections, and inclement weather operations, including control over cloud cover, visibility, rain, and fog. While all technical approaches will be considered, solutions that utilise screen-based display methods are preferred, as they typically better support collaborative training environments and are more comfortable for the user over prolonged periods of time. Alternative solutions (e.g. head-mounted displays) must clearly demonstrate how they achieve comparable performance and comfort against the stated evaluation criteria to attain equivalent scoring. It is desirable that the POV location can be easily repositioned by the trainer within the simulation to provide alternative views of the environment. Example images of previous or mock-up simulated environments may be included to support this criterion, in accordance with ITT Section C.
- 8: Detail how your company will simulate/replicate the broader controlling environment peripherals, including: • A communications panel enabling the controller to call other controlling positions (the pseudo pilot), manage frequencies and transmit to the pseudo pilot. • A generic top-down radar display which provides an accurate radar image of all aircraft within the simulation to provide the controller with situational awareness and to aid sequencing. • An airfield information management display which includes key data for the simulation such as runway in use, weather data, pressure settings, flying schedule and wind speed/direction. • An airfield lighting panel. This may be integrated into the airfield information display above. These systems should display information from the synthetic environment where appropriate, e.g. the top-down radar display should be a true representation of the simulated environment state; the lighting state within the simulation should match the lighting panel indicators.
- 9: Demonstrate how your company will provide a pseudo-pilot position which allows dynamic, real-time scenario control, simulating ATC aerodrome control procedures.
- 10: Detail how your company will enable full access to an exercise customisation environment, including how RAF operators can create, edit, and delete exercises without incurring cost. Include detail of the process by which ATC procedures, aircraft pathing and vehicle pathing are built within the software. Images of the procedure build process may be included to support this criterion, in accordance with ITT Section C.
- 11: Detail how your company will provide an exercise replay function, including how it supports post-training debriefing and review. All trainee assessment/scoring will be completed independently by the trainer however, system data available to support the trainer will demonstrate higher value.
- 12: Demonstrate how your company will ensure the system accommodates three simultaneous users (trainer, trainee, pseudo-pilot), how the layout supports interaction, and that it can fit within two office desk spaces. Images or diagrams showing the 3-user hardware configuration may be included to support this criterion, in accordance with ITT Section C.
- 13: Detail how your company will provide training to nominated RAF personnel and provide training materials, including format and content, to support enduring training capability. A single example training document excerpt may be included to support this criterion, in accordance with ITT Section C.
- 14: Detail how your company will manage software updates and the promulgation of new exercise data across all delivery locations including how minor change requests required to maintain system functionality will be managed within a through life management plan. This must include a description of the physical or other mechanism by which the system will be updated.
- 15: Detail how your company will evidence compliance with agreed KPIs and your process for user feedback/continuous improvement.
- 16 - Social Value: Make Britain a clean energy superpower: to cut bills, create jobs and deliver security with cheaper, zero-carbon electricity by 2030, accelerating to net zero. Demonstrate how you will influence staff, suppliers, customers and communities through the delivery of the contract to support climate and nature protection and improvement.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Defence & security
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Yes (GPA)
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 29 Jun 2026, 16:38 BST
- Last source update
- 1 Oct 2026, 16:50 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 14 Aug 2026
- Authority reference
715871499- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-060915- Latest notice
- Contract award notice (UK6)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06bf73Find a Tender
How it was run
Official noticeRun through: Defence Sourcing Portal · Who buys & how to bid on MOD DSP
Access & registration note: Free · registration requires an NCAGE code — obtain in advance · before you can bid: NCAGE
- Submission deadline
- 31 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Clarification deadline
- 16 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission channel
- Official e-sourcing portal
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Detailed submission instructions & authority contactsFrom official release
Timeline
29 Jun 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 7 dates- Tender notice published115 days ago29 Jun 2026, 16:38 BST
- Clarification questions by99 days ago16 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Submission deadline84 days ago31 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Award decision expected by69 days ago14 Aug 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts52 days ago1 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
- Assessment summaries sent31 days ago22 Sept 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published21 days ago1 Oct 2026, 16:50 BST
Notice history
8 events · 5 releases on Find a Tender · since 29 Jun 2026- Tender notice published29 Jun 2026, 16:38 BSTUK4
- Tender notice published20 Jul 2026, 10:54 BSTUK4
- Deadline moved to 31 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST20 Jul 2026, 10:54 BST+7 days · was 24 Jul 2026, 12:00 BST
- Tender notice published27 Jul 2026, 11:48 BSTUK4
- Contract award notice published22 Sept 2026, 16:12 BSTUK6
- Status changed to complete22 Sept 2026, 16:12 BST
- Contract award notice published1 Oct 2026, 16:50 BSTUK6
- Contract signature expected22 Oct 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
Published amendments (2)
Tender submission deadline extended to 12:00 midday on 31 July 2026
Tender submission deadline extended to 12:00 midday on 31 July 2026
Routine re-releases (5)
- 2026-07: 1 release · 20 Jul 2026
- 2026-06: 1 release · 29 Jun 2026
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecastAwards 1
Awarded value £1,673,7921 award exc. VAT
Bids received 22 from SMEs
| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Metaverse VR Ltd715871499 - Provision of Air Traffic Control Visual Simulators at Royal Air Force Locations23 Oct 2026 – 22 Oct 2031Amended: Standstill period has been extended until 23:59 on 21st October 2026. Expected contract end date has been updated due to an error in the previously published contract end date. | £1,673,792 | 22 Sept 2026 | Awarded |
Bid statistics published by the authority
| Bids | SME | VCSE | Valid bid range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2final-stage tenders · 3 at stage one | 2 | 0 | — |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- Metaverse VR LtdAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (5)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Contract award notice Contract award notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender