Official UK procurement notice
Request For Information - In-Orbit Servicing Mission Concepts
Authority: UK Space Agency (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe UK Space Agency (UKSA) considers In-Orbit Servicing, Assembly & Manufacturing (ISAM) as a critical capability for strengthening the UK's position in space and supporting both civil and defence objectives.
At Space Comm Expo in March 2026, the Government announced new investment to strengthen the UK's In-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (ISAM) capabilities.
The purpose of this Request for Information (RFI) is to seek industry feedback to inform the UK Space Agency's options for deploying this funding through potential future ISAM mission(s). Through this RFI, UKSA is seeking views on possible mission concepts that could demonstrate or enable ISAM capabilities. In particular UKSA wishes to understand:
- The feasibility of Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) enabled ISAM Missions;
- Indicative costs (as a range) of delivery;
- Delivery timescales.
This Request For Information (RFI) builds on existing market engagement activity and is intended to inform the UK Space Agency's options appraisal, financial assurance and business case development for potential mission concepts, including how such concepts could be developed and taken forward in line with UK public sector commercial, assurance and governance frameworks, prior to any financial commitment.
Responses to this RFI will not be evaluated and this RFI does not constitute a commitment to procure or fund any activity. Information provided will be used solely to inform future programme planning, mission design and options development, with decisions on delivery models (including whether to proceed with a procurement of a contract or a grant call) and any subsequent competition remaining subject to applicable UK public sector requirements. Specific timelines will be subject to the feedback received from this RFI.
Within the next spending review period, the aims and objectives of the In-Orbit Servicing Mission are as follows.
AIM-01. Demonstrate safe, reliable, repeatable RPOD and robotic operations in orbit to give global satellite operators confidence in adoption and position UK ISAM companies to service this demand.
OBJ -001 Conduct In Orbit RPOD Mission(s).
OBJ-002 Demonstrate "service layer" concept through proof-of-concept demonstration and critical elements de-risking.
To view the RFI in full, including the questionnaire for those interested in providing information on mission concept(s) to the UK Space Agency please contact the following inbox:
We will respond with:
- Request For Information: In-Orbit Servicing Mission Concepts (full version including question set)
- Response template (in MS Word)
Please note responses to the RFI questions must be received by Friday 29 May 2026.
CPV: Aircraft and spacecraft · Communication satellites · Navigation satellites · Observation satellites · Satellite-related communications equipment · Space transport services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedPipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How UK Space Agency buys Military spacecrafts (CPV 3563), and who usually turns up
UK Space Agency’s published record next to the market for the same work. Frameworks and DPS are left out: they draw different bid counts. Whole-market view: Military spacecrafts (CPV 3563) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
i
How often small and medium firms win.
Share of awards where the winner’s size is known.
The counts under this question show how many awards have a known supplier size.
Small firms have won here. Neither number says whether you qualify; it describes who has been winning.
i
How often local firms win similar work.
Winners with a registered address in the delivery region, out of awards with a known address.
Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
A local branch does not count if the registered address is elsewhere.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered outside the region where that award was delivered.
i
How long buyers here take to decide after bids close.
Middle value in days from the bid deadline to the award date, on competitions that published both.
Only decided tenders count, so slow ones still waiting are not in.
Half of these awards have an award date within 36 days of the bid deadline.
i
How often work is awarded with no recorded rival.
Direct awards and tenders where every published lot count shows one bid.
Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
Thin markets produce this too; it is not proof of a tailored specification.
Direct awards or one recorded bid are common here. Check the route before spending time on a bid.
How many bids did past lots attract?
i
How many bids past lots received.
Each colour is a bid-count range. Only competed lots with a published count are included.
Past bids do not predict this tender.
1 bid13% / 18%
2–325% / 37%
4–625% / 30%
7+38% / 15%
How did awards compare with estimates?
i
Where winning prices landed against estimates.
Each colour shows awards below, close to or above the published estimate, one lot at a time.
Past prices are a guide, not a bid price.
Below estimate48%
Within ±2%38%
Above estimate15%
Assess each lot i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
i
What past awards tell you about each lot.
See the forecast, this buyer’s earlier suppliers and firms with relevant wins.
No supplier is confirmed as a bidder.
Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 35Estimate not published
This lot lists more than one class in CPV 35. The comparison uses that group.
i
How many bids this lot may attract.
The forecast uses similar past competitions. The bar shows either that forecast or past bid counts; the line below says which.
Each lot shows its own forecast based on its own category; forecasts for different lots of the same notice are not comparative. The bar shows 132 past lots.
A forecast, not a list of bidders.
1 bid18%
2–337%
4–630%
7+15%
i
Where the award price may land.
The forecast uses similar awards and the buyer’s estimate. The band covers the middle half of likely prices.
No comparable awards for this lot yet.
A statistical guide from past awards, not a price to bid.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
i
Who has done similar work for this buyer.
Past contracts are matched by buyer, title and type of work.
A past supplier may not bid again.
No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
i
Who could compete for this lot?
Firms with relevant past wins. On a framework, we show firms on that agreement.
None is confirmed as a bidder.
Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0. New notices arrive through the day; the figures are rebuilt nightly.
- Two views, kept apart. The authority’s own track record and the wider market for the same kind of work sit side by side and are never mixed. Where the local picture is too thin, a figure widens to a broader market and says which one it used.
- Forecasts are labelled. The price forecast and its range, possible competitors and the earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards: not published facts, not win chances and not price advice. Official notices do not say who is bidding.
- Every figure shows what it rests on. Not every notice publishes a bid count, a value or a delivery region, so each figure carries the number of records behind it, and one built on few records is marked as such. The on a figure explains it; the counting rules are in the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- 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
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 17 Apr 2026, 18:50 BST
- Last source update
- 17 Apr 2026, 18:50 BST
- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-035409- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-0685caFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
17 Apr 2026 → 1 Oct 2026 · 3 dates- Planning notice published190 days ago17 Apr 2026, 18:50 BST
- Market engagement148 days ago29 May 2026, 23:59 BST
To view the RFI in full, including the questionnaire for those interested in providing information on mission concept(s) to the UK Space Agency, please contact the following inbox:
We will respond with:
- Request For Information: In-Orbit Servicing Mission Concepts
- Response template (in MS Word)
Responses to the RFI must be received by Friday 29 May 2026, and should be submitted in PDF format by email to the following inbox:
Emails should include the subject line:
"RFI Response - In-Orbit Servicing Mission Concepts -
- Contract starts24 days ago1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST
Notice history
1 event · 1 release on Find a Tender- Preliminary market engagement notice published17 Apr 2026, 18:50 BSTUK2
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Pipeline notice- Awards (0)
- No award published
- Contracts (0)
- No contract published
- Bid statistics
- No aggregate bid statistics published
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (1)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender