Official UK procurement notice
The Procurement and In-Service Support of Portable Metal and Low Metal Detection Systems - UK2
Authority: Defence Equipment and Support (Central government)
The PROTECT Delivery Team (DT), part of the NAD Group Ministry of Defence, are considering initiating a project for the procurement and in-service support of approximately 500 Handheld, portable metal and low-metal detection systems intended for operation by a single operator. The in-service support shall include, but not limited to spares provision, repairs, technical expertise, servicing, safety and environmental management, obsolescence management, configuration control and technical support. The contract duration shall be for a maximum period of 11 years, 7 years plus 4 x 1-year options. The capability shall be portable, deployable and robust for deployment in a diverse range of climates to detect and locate the presence, or absence, of Explosive Ordnance (EO) and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe PROTECT Delivery Team (DT), part of the NAD Group Ministry of Defence, are considering initiating a project for the procurement and in-service support of approximately 500 Handheld, portable metal and low-metal detection systems intended for operation by a single operator. The in-service support shall include, but not limited to spares provision, repairs, technical expertise, servicing, safety and environmental management, obsolescence management, configuration control and technical support. The contract duration shall be for a maximum period of 11 years, 7 years plus 4 x 1-year options. The total estimated contract value is £36,500,000 (Ex VAT) or £44,000,000 (Inc VAT).
The Authority will be considering Commercial of The Shelf and the Modified of The Shelf (COTS & MOTS) detectors to equip advanced search teams across Defence. The capability shall be portable, deployable and robust for deployment in a diverse range of climates to detect and locate the presence, or absence, of Explosive Ordnance (EO) and Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs).
The systems shall be required to detect and locate targets across wide ranging and varied ground search tasks, operating effectively across a range of environmental and ground conditions. The equipment shall be supportable over a 10-year period from Initial Operation Capability (anticipated 1 year post contract award) with the ability to procure additional systems if required.
In issuing this UK2 notice, The Authority is not committing to commence with any procurement in relation to the requirements stated in this Notice.
CPV: Metal detectors
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The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1PlannedRenewal
Pipeline intelligence · planning stage: how this market runs before the tender is published
How Defence Equipment and Support buys Surveillance and security systems and devices (CPV 3512), and who usually turns up
Defence Equipment and Support’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: Surveillance and security systems and devices (CPV 3512) →
How the contest usually goes
Winner shares use published awards; bid and price charts use contested lots.
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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.
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Local means the winner is registered in the region where that award was delivered.
Most of this buyer’s recorded winners were registered in the region where that award was delivered.
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Half of these awards have an award date within 227 days of the bid deadline.
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Both shares are minimums: some awards have no bid count.
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?
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1 bid54% / 13%
2–327% / 43%
4–615% / 23%
7+4% / 20%
How did awards compare with estimates?
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Below estimate38% / 43%
Within ±2%31% / 43%
Above estimate31% / 14%
Assess each lot i
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Open a lot for its forecast, this buyer’s previous supplier and possible competitors, from published award history, not a bid list
Lot #1CPV 3512Published estimate£37m
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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 30 past lots.
1 bid13%
2–343%
4–623%
7+20%
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No comparable awards for this lot yet.
Who has supplied this buyer on similar work? i
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No earlier contract of this buyer matches this lot on the published record.
Who could compete for this lot? i
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Candidate suppliers for this notice have not been worked out yet, so this is not a verdict that nobody fits.
About this data
- Estimates, labelled. The price range, possible competitors and earlier-work matches are our estimates from past awards, not published facts, win chances or price advice. The buyer’s own record and the wider market are shown apart, never mixed.
- Source. Official UK public procurement notices (Find a Tender and Contracts Finder), reused under the Open Government Licence v3.0, updated through the day and rebuilt nightly. Not every figure uses both feeds, and each one shows how many records it rests on: see the methodology. Spotted something wrong? Tell us.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Competitive flexible procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Planned procurement
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Defence & security
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 11 Nov 2026, 08:47 GMT
- Last source update
- 11 Nov 2026, 11:49 GMT
- Authority reference
715997496- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-107041- Latest notice
- Preliminary market engagement notice (UK2)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-07b91aFind a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- —
Timeline
11 Nov 2026 → 30 Sept 2028 · 4 dates- Planning notice published2 days ago11 Nov 2026, 08:47 GMT
- Today14 Nov 2026
- Market engagementin 23 days7 Dec 2026, 23:59 GMT
The Authority is interested in understanding the capabilities in the market to help inform the development of the requirements. Early Market Engagement activities will be conducted over the coming months, initially with a request for a supplier brief.
Supplier Briefs:
Please provide a brief of up to 2,000 words detailing your capability and potential solutions to the requirements along with a price list and any potential risk/issues that the Authority should consider. Your brief should be addressed to [email protected]. Please provide your brief no later than 7 December 2026.
As a minimum, your brief should address the following questions:
•What potential solutions are available to meet the requirements as stated above? Please provide information to support including any brochures (including technical information), and supplementary information if appropriate.
•Please provide specific information on the product maturity/ technology readiness level (TRL).
•What are the estimated delivery timescales from order through to delivery? (Please base timescales on quantities listed above).
•What are the estimated costs per unit at the market price?
•Any potential risks/issues in relation to delivering the requirement?
•Please provide information on the potential for collating requirements within the wider suite of Ground Search detectors as detailed within the notice, outlining which requirements would be appropriate for this approach and the rational for their inclusion.
- Tender notice expectedin 258 days30 Jul 2027, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts30 Sept 2028, 00:00 BST
Notice history
3 events · 3 releases on Find a Tender · since 11 Nov 2026- Pipeline notice published11 Nov 2026, 08:47 GMTUK1
- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 Nov 2026, 11:41 GMTUK2
- Preliminary market engagement notice published11 Nov 2026, 11:49 GMTUK2
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 (3)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender
- Pipeline notice Pipeline notice on Find a Tender