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Official procurement procedure
Solent Transport Future Transport Zone - Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Drone Operation Pilot
No classification published
Location not published
Published value
Not published
Submission deadline Not published
Lots published1
Procurement Executive Summary
AI & Search Synopsis
Generated from official OCDS record
Tenderline Synopsis: Portsmouth City Council: "Solent Transport Future Transport Zone - Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) Drone Operation Pilot". Published status: complete. Published value: Value not published. 1 published lot. Submission deadline not published. See the official notice for participation instructions.
| Contracting Authority | Portsmouth City Council | Scope & Categories | Not published | Submission Window | complete No deadline published |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Submission Gateway | Direct notice route | Legal Basis & Regime | Standard procurement | Estimated Value (exc. VAT) | Not published |
Bidder Intelligence · Authority Profile: Portsmouth City Council
Market Analytics
Derived from OCDS awards & bid statistics
Published history for Portsmouth City Council. These figures describe retained records, not a forecast of bids or a measure of buyer bias.
Average Price Reduction
Not availableInsufficient comparable data
Competition Density
10.1Bids / Report
Supplier ConcentrationHigh Concentration
GUNWHARF QUAYS LIMITEDTop vendor: 59.8% of attributable valuePayment Terms
Check noticePublished terms
Coverage: 294 active published awards; 30 bid reports (which may be per lot). Supplier values exclude multi-supplier awards, frameworks and DPS, and use GBP only. They are published award values, not payments. Price reduction compares single-lot, single-award, single-supplier GBP procedures with explicitly non-framework/non-DPS status; increases remain in the average. Unpublished data stays unknown. Awarded suppliers are winners, not all bidders.
Historical Awarded Suppliers With This Authority:
| Supplier Name | Historic Awards | Attributable GBP Value |
|---|---|---|
| GUNWHARF QUAYS LIMITED | 1 win | £106,000,000 |
| APEX PRIME CARE LTD | 1 win | £43,000,000 |
| CHOSEN CARE GROUP LIMITED | 1 win | £27,500,000 |
| Cyber Media Solutions Ltd | 1 win | £343,596 |
| HEYNE TILLETT STEEL LTD | 1 win | £170,400 |
Procedure terms
Contracting AuthorityPortsmouth City Council | Procedure methodNot published | Procurement categoryNot published |
Statuscomplete | Framework / DPSNot published | CompetitionNot published |
Above thresholdNot published | Legal basisNot published | Tender period startsNot published |
Clarification deadlineNot published | Electronic submissionNot published | Submission languagesNot published |
Published20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT | Last source update20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT | Recurring procurementNot published |
ClassificationNot published | ||
Delivery areaLocation not published | ||
OCIDocds-h6vhtk-04ef7c | ||
What is being bought
Solent Transport - via it's accountable body Portsmouth City Council - intend on entering into a contract with Skylift UAV to provide Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) drone operation to support the Solent Transport Future Transport Zone (FTZ) in partnership with the University of Southampton and funded by the Department for Transport (DfT).
Skylift UAV will provide airspace management, drones and drone operation in accordance with their Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) approved Operating Safety Case and within the CAA approved Temporary Danger Area. This is to support trials that inform how drones could be integrated into airspace in the future and support research into how drones can facilitate medical logistics in the Solent area.
Solent Transport require Skylift UAV to act as Airspace Managers for the Temporary Danger Area for the duration of the trials and provide and operate drone platforms to facilitate Drones for Medical Logistics trials in accordance with the Operating Authorisation, Operating Safety Case and Temporary Danger Area constraints as set out in the Airspace Change Proposal ACP-2022-106.
The commencement of the contract will be 2nd April 2025. The contract will expire on 1st November 2025 at the completion of all BVLOS trials and reporting.
The value of the contract will be £312,990 excluding VAT.
Prior to entering into contract a 8 working day standstill period will be observed in line with the Procurement Act 23 requirements. The standstill period will at end at 23:59 on 31st March 2025.
What changed
From the official release history
- Status changed to complete
20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT - Official notice release published
20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT - Buyer information updated
20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT
Lots and requirements (1)
Published by the contracting authority
- Lot 1 · #1Individual lot title not publishedcompletePublished valueNot publishedThe source published no individual title or description for this lot.Contract periodNot publishedEligibilityNot publishedOptions / renewalNot published
Timeline
- Procedure published
20 Mar 2025, 10:09 GMT - Award pending
Not published · £312,990
Commercial outcome and competition
Awards SKYLIFT UAV LTD £312,990 · Not published · pending |
ContractsNo contract published |
Bid statisticsNo aggregate bid statistics published |
Buyer and organisations in this procedure
Portsmouth City Council
Contracting authority GB-PPON-PCNL-5714-PRZVAward and contract changes
Documents (1)
Official links; attachments are not copied
Related procedures (0)
No related procedures published
Planning and rationale
Planning budgetNot published |
No-engagement rationaleNot published |
Procedure rationale1. Prototypes & Development
Solent Transport has been awarded £28.8m by the DfT to deliver projects under the Solent FTZ. This funding is to run tests and trials of innovative approaches to transport across the Solent area. As these tests and trials take place, Solent Transport are conducting research, capturing data and inviting feedback to understand whether these innovations are improving transport options.
The award of the contract to Skylift UAV will directly enable trials for the Drones for Medical Logistics project, which is within the Solent FTZ. The trials will be conducted in collaboration with the University of Southampton and include, but are not limited to, the testing of novel ways to integrate and manage drones in shared airspace, the testing a network of airspace sensors and the carriage of medical cargo using drones. The medical cargo carriage scientific experiments within the trial plan are based on the use of Skylift UAV drone platforms specifically, and the Skylift UAV sponsored Temporary Danger Area allows for the trials related to airspace integration and management.
The findings of the trials will be reported to the DfT and CAA to inform future airspace policy and determine how the use of drones could be scaled to support health and public sector logistics.
2. Single Supplier - Exclusive Rights
Skylift UAV acted as the sole Airspace Change Sponsor for Solent Transport's Airspace Change Proposal (ACP-2022-106) which was approved on 11 March 2025. This was approved subject to conditions by the CAA on 11 March 2025.
To achieve this approval, Skylift UAV are also required to hold an Operational Authorisation which has been granted by the CAA. The Operational Authorisation, which ensures safe operation of Skylift UAV's drones and that third party risks are reduced to an acceptable level, is unique to Skylift UAV in the context of the proposed Temporary Danger Area for ACP-2022-106 and is based on the detail of Skylift UAV's Operating Safety Case. There are therefore no other operators with the Operating Authorisation that are able to operate within the Solent Transport FTZ Temporary Danger Area.
3. Extreme & Unavoidable Urgency
ACP-2022-106 has been approved on the basis that the Temporary Danger Area will be activated for up to 6 months at the earliest 1 May 2025 and close at the latest 31 October 2025. The trials are scheduled to take place within that 6-month period between 1 June 2025 and 31 September 2025 for at least seven weeks of this period. It is not possible to undertake a competitive tender process and complete the Solent FTZ project objectives as it would require any other operators to seek a new Airspace Change Proposal and evidence that they hold their own Operational Authorisation from the CAA that would allow them to complete the BVLOS flying required by our project by the end of the FTZ funded period which is 31 December 2025. |