Official UK procurement notice
Provision of Defence Aviation Confliction Awareness Planning Tool
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Provision of Defence Aviation Confliction Awareness Planning Tool.
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
- Defence & security
- 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
- 19 Dec 2025, 15:07 GMT
- Last source update
- 2 Apr 2026, 13:40 BST
- Authority reference
20251219-DACAPT- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-030898- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05fa9aFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights
- Published justification
The Authority intends to enter a direct award contract in accordance with Schedule 5, paragraph 5 of the Procurement Act 2023 as competition is absent due to the ownership of intellectual property rights.
BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd, the incumbent supplier, hold the patent (ref EP2561500) to the CADS system. The service is proprietary and only the incumbent supplier holds the Intellectual property rights and technical capability. Given the breadth of the patent, it is not credible for the market to design around it. While the patent is in force in the UK, the Authority cannot compete this capability without the agreement of the Patent Proprietor, and this has not been granted. Therefore, BAE Systems (Operations) Ltd are currently the only supplier who can continue to deliver the flight deconfliction service.
Immediate continuation of service maintains operational capability critical in the maintenance of air safety and mission planning.
- Risks
N/A
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
19 Mar 2026 → 2 Apr 2026 · 2 dates- Standstill ends214 days ago19 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMT
- Notice published201 days ago2 Apr 2026, 13:40 BST
Notice history
4 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Dec 2025- Transparency notice published19 Dec 2025, 15:07 GMTUK5
- Contract award notice published9 Mar 2026, 18:04 GMTUK6
- Contract signature expected20 Mar 2026, 23:59 GMTscheduled
- Contract details notice published2 Apr 2026, 13:40 BSTUK7
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bae Systems (Operations) Limited20 Mar 2026 – 17 Feb 2027Options: This Contract contains 1x 6 month option period. Uptake of this is at the Authority's discretion. | £3,162,045same award published again · counted once | 9 Mar 2026standstill to 19 Mar 2026 | Standstill |
| Bae Systems (Operations) Limited | £3,162,045 † | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Contract 2 · Bae Systems (Operations) Limited
- Signed
- 20 Mar 2026
- Value
- £3,162,045
- Period
- 20 Mar 2026 – 17 Feb 2027
- Status
- active
- Options
- Additional 6 month option period being priced. To be used if replacement requirement is not sufficiently mature by Contract end date.
No agreed KPIs: This Contract does have 3 KPIs which will be reported to the Cabinet Office on a quarterly basis. However, for the purposes of this Notice - as the Contract is only running for 12 months (with a potential 6 month Option) and is under £5 million (therefore, the publishing of these KPIs are not mandatory as part of this Notice), it has been decided to not publish them as part of this Notice.
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- BAE SYSTEMS (OPERATIONS) 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