Scope
Reference
710264450A_SERPENS_Close Find Radar
Description
This planned procurement notice is to provide advance information to the market of SERPENS' intent to procure Close Find Radars and associated in-service support of radar hardware and software. It is envisaged that this notice will assist prospective suppliers to plan bid pipelines and determine if they wish to prepare for and express interest in bidding for the planned procurement activity.
Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S), as the procurement arm of the Ministry of Defence (MoD), is engaged in procurement activity for Project SERPENS, a digitally integrated weapon locating system, to be employed as counterbattery assets comprising artillery weapon locating sensors and radars which will be installed onto in-service land vehicles and integrated with communications bearer networks. The planned out-of-service date (OSD) for the SERPENS system is 2057.
SERPENS plans to procure a quantity of twenty-five (25) Close Find Radars using a competitive flexible procedure (s.20) under a staged delivery schedule to complete during calendar year 2027. Please note, quantity/ies are subject to change.
Focus is on high technological readiness with priority on key requirements following which development will focus on the mounting of radar assets onto vehicles, integration with in-service comms bearer/s and, in future, integration into SERPENS as a networked array of sensors. The planned core term for this contracting opportunity will be six (6) years, estimating equipment deliveries within no more than two (2) years followed by four (4) years of in-service support. Options are planned to be implemented to extend the in-service support beyond the core six-year term as a de-risking measure based on the complexity of system integration requirements for the SERPENS system.
Should any company be interested in expressing interest for this contracting opportunity, and you have not previously engaged with the SERPENS team, please contact the associated buyer who will be able to provide registration details for the SERPENS AWARD portal.
Total value (estimated)
- £94,000,000 excluding VAT
- £112,800,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 29 May 2026 to 28 May 2032
- 6 years
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
It is intended for four (4) single Option years of in-service support to be available for exercising to bring the core six-year term to a maximum ten (10) years.
Options to purchase additional good and services include:
• Unit Cost: x1 OTS Systems Delivered (Price if purchased each year plus inflation)
• Through Life Support additional years
Main procurement category
Goods
CPV classifications
- 35722000 - Radar
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
22 April 2025
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
19 May 2025, 11:59pm
Submission address and any special instructions
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
18 May 2026
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Special regime
Defence and security
Competitive flexible procedure description
The procedure will follow the following steps to arrive at a Contract Award decision.
• Publish Tender Notice
• Issue ITT to Tenderers
• Conditions of Participation Return
• Conditions of Participation Evaluation
• Stage 1 Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 1 Tender Return
• Authority's Stage 2 Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 1 Tender Evaluation
• Stage 1 Down selection to 3 Tenderers
• Dialogue with down selected Tenderers for Live Firing Data Gathering Event planning.
• Down selected Tenderers to provide data pack for the purpose of initial design work.
• Close Find Radar Live Firing Data Gathering Event
• Stage 2 - Radar Model Validation Due Diligence Workshops
• Final Date for Tenderer Clarification Questions / Requests for additional information
• The Authority issues Final Clarification Answers
• Stage 2 Tender Return
• Authority's Stage 2 Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 2 Tender Evaluation
• Authority Review and Approval Period
• Tenderers notified of ITT result and Contract Award
For further information including a description and further detail of the above listed activities can be found on the attachment to this Planned Procurement Notice.
Please note: QinetiQ are providing specialist radar and radar modelling expertise under the Engineering Delivery Partner (EDP) Framework, and are involved in evaluating some of the ITT criteria. For the avoidance of doubt DE&S will retain oversight and all evaluation scoring will be moderated by a crown servant.
Documents
Associated tender documents
710264450A_Project SERPENS_Close Find Radar Competitive Flexible Procedure.pdf
Contracting authority
Defence Equipment and Support
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PVRL-5831-GLMM
MOD Abbey Wood, Filton
Bristol
BS34 8JH
United Kingdom
Email: DefComrcl-SystemsGuidance@mod.gov.uk
Website: https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/defence-equipment-and-support
Region: UKK12 - Bath and North East Somerset, North Somerset and South Gloucestershire
Organisation type: Public authority - central government