Supply and Support of Hoses, Pipe Engineering Work and Valves (HPV) for Royal Navy Vessels

1. Purpose of this Notice

PPA is exploring market capability and delivery approaches for a potential, future requirement for Hoses, Pipework engineering and Valves (HPV) for Royal Naval Vessels. We are sharing this brief and aquestionnaire to:

• help suppliers understand our context, objectives and early design choices;
• enable suppliers to give informed feedback that can help improve any future procurement; and
• signal a potential opportunity to prime and subcontractor markets (including SMEs ).

This is not a call for competition. Participation is optional and will not disadvantage or advantage you in any future procurement

The information gathered through this PME will be used to refine the Authority’s requirements, lotting strategy (if any), contract structure, performance measures, and risk allocation. Participation in this PME is voluntary and will not form part of any subsequent evaluation.

2. Background

DE&S (Authority) supports the UK Ministry of Defence by procuring and supporting equipment and services for the Armed Forces. The PPA Team intends to establish a contract (or contracts) to ensure resilient, compliant, and timely supply of Hoses, Pipe work engineeringand Valves required for Royal Naval Vessels.

The Authority is seeking to engage with capable suppliers and manufacturers across the supply chain to understand market capacity, capability, innovation, commercial models, and potential risks and opportunities.

The Authority is seeking information on both general HPV experience and, where applicable defence specific delivery, to develop a balanced evidence-based understanding of current market capability. The intention is not to restrict engagement to existing defence suppliers, but to understand the breadth of experience across the wider market in delivering requirements of comparable size and technical complexity. Information relating to defence environments is requested soley to understand any additional regulatory, assurance, or security considerations that may be relevant.

This approach is intended to ensure the authority’s future procurement strategy is informed, proportionate and reflective of the full range of capable suppliers within markets.

3. Scope of Requirement (Indicative)

The future contract is expected to cover, but not be limited to:

• Sourcing, manufacture (where applicable), and supply of Hoses, Pipework engineering and Valves.
• Associated fittings, assemblies, and ancillaries.
• Compliance with relevant defence, naval, safety, quality, and assurance standards.
• Inventory management, packaging, labelling, and delivery to MOD or nominated locations.
• Obsolescence management and support to in-service platforms.
• Technical support, data provision, and quality assurance activities.

The Authority is particularly interested in market views on:

• Supply chain resilience and security of supply.
• Lead times, minimum order quantities, and batch sizes.
• Opportunities for standardisation, aggregation, or rationalisation.
• Innovation in materials, manufacturing, testing, or logistics.
• Commercial models (e.g. framework, single/multi-supplier, call-off structures).

4. Contract Overview (Indicative)

• Estimated Contract Value: £180 million excl VAT (total, across the full potential term)
• Contract Term: 5 years comprised of an initial Term of 3 years with 2 Options of 1 year each
• Form: To be confirmed
• Location of Delivery: Primarily United Kingdom, with potential overseas delivery in support of deployed units

The above details are indicative and may change following market engagement.

5. Planned Market Engagement Activity

The Authority is undertaking the following activities:

• Issue of a Request for Information (RFI). Suppliers have until 17:00 on 29th May 2026 to submit their expression of interest
• On receipt of expressions of interest the Authority may issue a questionnaire to inform discussions at the Supplier Briefing Event event and any future procurement.
• It is anticipated that the Supplier briefing event will be held virtually on Wednesday 3rd June at 10:30am to 12:00pm for 90 mins.
• One-to-one meetings with interested suppliers may be offered following the supplier briefing event.
• Request for further written submissions on specific technical or commercial questions.

6. Indicative timeline (subject to change)

Note: the below dates are indicative for a PA23 Competitive Flexible Procedure. Use of another procedure may change these timeframes.

• UK2 Preliminary Market Engagement: now (your feedback window as per the notice)
• Issue UK4 Tender Notice & Tender Pack: Sept / Oct 2026
• Evaluation & standstill (UK6): Jan/Feb 2027
• Contract signature & onboarding: Mar/Apr 2027 Exact dates and content will be confirmed in the UK4 Tender Notice.

The Authority reserves the right to change the procurement procedure and to remove or include additional stages at any point throughout any procurement process

7. Participation, confidentiality and next steps

• Please respond via the questionnaire linked in section 4 above.
• You are welcome to respond as a consortium or to indicate interest as a subcontractor; DE&S encourages SME participation.
• Do not include confidential or commercially sensitive information unless clearly marked. We may use non-confidential insights to refine the tender pack.

We may invite suppliers to a short follow-up 1-1 session to clarify responses. This will be conducted openly and documented to maintain fairness and transparency.

• Where further questions arise that were not included in the initial questionnaire and we wish to seek the feedback from the market, we may send these to suppliers as a follow-up to the questionnaire.

Suppliers who wish to participate should:

1. Ensure they are registered on the Defence Sourcing Portal.
2. Register their interest against the notice by sending and email titled PPA/006 Expression of Interest to [email protected]

When registering interest suppliers may be asked to provide:

• Company name and primary contact details.
• A summary of relevant capabilities and experience.
• Areas of the scope they are most interested in (e.g. pipes, hoses, valves, manufacturing, distribution, testing, logistics, etc.).
• A response to a questionnaire issued by the authority

Suppliers are responsible for ensuring their DSP registration details are accurate and up to date.

7. Important Notes

• This UK2 notice is for market engagement purposes only and does not constitute a call for competition.
• Participation in UK2 is not a condition for participation in any future procurement, nor does it provide any advantage or disadvantage.
• The Authority is not committing to any particular procurement route, scope, or timescale as a result of this notice.
• Any costs incurred by suppliers in participating in this PME will not be reimbursed.
• All information shared will be treated in accordance with applicable confidentiality and procurement regulations.

Thank you

Your insights will help us design a clear, proportionate and outcome-focused procurement that delivers high-quality support, faster throughput and better value for money. How your input will be used We will analyse responses which may help to shape the final procurement. If we decide to proceed with this procurement via a procedure under PA23, we will publish the UK4 tender in line with PA23, with all necessary details to compete fairly.