Official UK procurement notice
UK05 - Validation and Review of the Army’s Physical Employment Test
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThis requirement is to conduct a validation and review of the Army’s Physical Employment Test, formally known as the Role Fitness Test (Soldier), to ensure it remains fit for purpose, evidence-based, and legally defensible.
Open work like this
This notice no longer takes bids · live search, filters set
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1Awarded
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTERValidation and Review of the Army’s Physical Employment Test30 Sept 2026 – 1 Apr 2028 | £300,000 | — | Awarded |
Contracts
Validation and Review of the Army’s Physical Employment Test · UNIVERSITY OF CHICHESTER
- Signed
- 10 Nov 2026
- Value
- £299,994
- Period
- 10 Nov 2026 – 30 Apr 2028
- Status
- active
No agreed KPIs: Not applicable for the contract deliverables
Procedure 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
- Standard
- 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
- 9 Sept 2026, 14:53 BST
- Last source update
- 12 Nov 2026, 11:44 GMT
- Authority reference
715916474- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-107485- Latest notice
- Contract details notice (UK7)
- Delivery area
- Not published
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-06f5cfFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
- Published justification
The Ministry of Defence are seeking to place a direct award contract under PA23 with the University of Chichester. The purpose of the contract will be to re-validate the findings produced by University of Chichester under previous Army contracts to determine whether the Army's Physical Employment Test and Role Fitness Test (Soldier) remain operationally relevant, scientifically valid, legally defensible, proportionate, and practicable against contemporary military tasks and employment demands.
The University possesses the required background and technical knowledge/experience to undertake the work required and have conducted similar work for the Royal Navy, Royal Air Force and NATO. They also conducted the original testing which underpins the current PES and RFT(S) and hold the existing research, methodology, technical reports, assumptions and development history for the requirement. As such the MOD have opted to utilise Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act 2023: Abscence of competition for technical reasons for this procurement.
Notice history
3 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 9 Sept 2026- Transparency notice published9 Sept 2026, 14:53 BSTUK5
- Contract signature expected30 Sept 2026, 23:59 BSTscheduled
- Contract details notice published12 Nov 2026, 11:44 GMTUK7
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- University of ChichesterAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications (2)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Contract details notice Contract details notice on Find a Tender
- Transparency notice Transparency notice on Find a Tender