Award

715727467 - Protector RWS PDS Contract - October 2026 / UK5

  • Defence Equipment and Support

UK5: Transparency notice - Procurement Act 2023 - view information about notice types

Notice identifier: 2026/S 000-005189

Procurement identifier (OCID): ocds-h6vhtk-05fa4e (view related notices)

Published 21 January 2026, 11:18am



Scope

Reference

715727467

Description

This opportunity is for the Post Design Services Technical Support for the M151 Protector Remote Weapon Station (RWS) which is an autonomous vehicle mounted weapon for remote operation of either the 7.62mm General Purposes Machine Gun (GPMG), or 12.7mm Heavy Machine Gun (HMG), or 40mm Grenade Machine Gun (GMG) platform which can be mounted on a variety of armoured vehicles. It is designed and manufactured by Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, Norway (OEM). The contract is expected to last continue for 4 years until 30th of October 2030. The CPV code for this procurement is 71356300 - Technical support services


Contract 1

Supplier

Contract value

  • £1,600,000 excluding VAT
  • £1,920,000 including VAT

Above the relevant threshold

Earliest date the contract will be signed

1 October 2026

Contract dates (estimated)

  • 1 October 2026 to 30 September 2030
  • 4 years

Main procurement category

Services

CPV classifications

  • 71356300 - Technical support services

Other information

Conflicts assessment prepared/revised

Yes


Procedure

Procedure type

Direct award

Special regime

Defence and security

Direct award justification

  • Single supplier - intellectual property or exclusive rights
  • Single supplier - technical reasons

This Procurement falls to be regulated under the provisions of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). It is considered this Contract be placed under Chapter 3, Section 41 – Direct Award Specials Cases (1)(a) of the Procurement Act 2023 (PA 2023). This is for Technical Reasons in accordance with:

1. Schedule 5 paragraph 5. The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract:

(a)due to a particular supplier having intellectual property rights or other exclusive rights, only that supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, and

(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works

2. Schedule 5 paragraph 6. The following conditions are met in relation to the public contract:

(a)due to an absence of competition for technical reasons, only a particular supplier can supply the goods, services or works required, an

(b)there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works.

Through access to the only up to date drawing pack and technical information, licences from the Design Authority under ITAR and EAR regulations, along with the specialist knowledge and expertise necessary to mitigate potential risks to integration, operation and support, it is considered that TUKL/KDA are the only economic operator able to provide the services needed to meet the contractual requirement, while having the capability to manage and mitigate the various technical risks that are likely to be encountered during the performance of the Contract. For all these reasons, the Procurement Strategy is to place a single source Contract with TUKL.


Supplier

Thales UK Limited

  • Companies House: 00868273

350 Longwater Avenue, Green Park

Reading

RG2 6GF

United Kingdom

Region: UKJ11 - Berkshire

Small or medium-sized enterprise (SME): No

Voluntary, community or social enterprise (VCSE): No

Contract 1


Contracting authority

Defence Equipment and Support

  • Public Procurement Organisation Number: PVRL-5831-GLMM

MOD Abbey Wood

Bristol

BS34 8JH

United Kingdom

Region: UKK12 - Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire

Organisation type: Public authority - central government