Scope
Reference
710264450_SERPENS Close Find Radar
Description
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.
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 inservice 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.
SERPENS reserves the right to procure additional CFR systems during the performance period of any resultant contract, for the purposes of counter rocket, artillery and mortar (C-RAM), or counter unmanned aerial surveillance (C-UAS), or any other air defence or surveillance roles. The in-service support provisions of any contract awarded may be extended to provide the same, or similar, support services towards any additional systems procured under the performance of the contract. For the avoidance of doubt, a permitted modification/direct award may be made in the event that additional goods and/or services are to be procured for the same or similar use cases by the Armed Forces.
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)
- 16 June 2026 to 15 June 2032
- Possible extension to 15 June 2036
- 10 years
Description of possible extension:
The Contract will be extendable through the Authority exercising the rights afforded under the Contract Terms and Conditions to take up additional option years of in-service support.
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
Options are to be exercised 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. The means of pricing the additional option years will be governed by the provisions set out in the Contract Terms and Conditions
Main procurement category
Goods
CPV classifications
- 35722000 - Radar
Participation
Legal and financial capacity conditions of participation
The legal and financial capacity conditions of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are specified in the DEFFORM 47 Annex D - Conditions of Participation Guidance document. This will be made available at the publication of this Tender Notice.
Suppliers will be required to ensure they have registered on the Central Digital Platform and have maintained their organisation's details with sufficient fidelity with regard to the mandatory and discretionary exclusion criteria and debarment rules in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023.
Technical ability conditions of participation
The full technical conditions of participation and the associated evaluation criteria are specified in the DEFFORM 47 Annex D - Conditions of Participation Guidance document. This will be made available to all on the publication of this Tender Notice.
The criteria headings are set out below:
Electronic Trading
Security of Information
TUPE
Quality Assurance
Prompt Payment
Carbon Reduction
Modern Slavery
Prospective contractors are required to hold Quality Management System certification to ISO 9001:2015 or suitable alternative standard, with the appropriate scope to deliver contract requirements, issued by a Nationally Accredited Certification Body. You will be required to provide a copy of the certificate(s) as directed by any Conditions of Participation associated with this Notice, and in any event, the winning supplier will be required to provide it for review prior to contract award. The contractual condition for quality will be Allied Quality Assurance Publication (AQAP) AQAP 2110.
Submission
Enquiry deadline
21 May 2025, 11:59pm
Submission type
Requests to participate
Deadline for requests to participate
22 May 2025, 11:59pm
Submission address and any special instructions
The link to the Conditions of Participation PSQ is here:
https://contracts.mod.uk/go/6588586401965DF9D983
All tendering documentation will be uploaded to the SERPENS Close Find Radar AWARD data room from the date of this Tender Notice and requests for access should be submitted to the SERPENS multiuser at desle-fims-arty-serpens-pj@mod.gov.uk
The link to the SERPENS Close Find Competition Award Portal is here:
https://award.commercedecisions.com/serpens/web/login
Access to the SERPENS data room may be subject to demonstration of appropriate security clearance up to OFFICIAL SENSITIVE held by the requestee prior to admission into the AWARD Portal.
The Conditions of Participation and corresponding guidance document for evaluation will be published on the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) and is publicly available to all suppliers from the publication of this Tender Notice.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
2 June 2026
Award criteria
| Name | Description | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 Interim Technical Assessment | Full detail on the evaluation criteria can be found in the DEFFORM 47 Annex B Interim Technical Assessment Evaluation Criteria The Stage 1 Interim Technical Assessment will consist of criteria... |
Quality |
| Stage 2 Full Tender Assessment | Full detail on the evaluation criteria can be found in the DEFFORM 47 Annex C Full Tender Assessment Evaluation Criteria The Stage 2 Full Tender Assessment will consist of criteria assessing the... |
Quality |
Weighting description
This procurement will utilise an Interim Technical ITT tender assessment to down select to 3 tenderers. The remaining 3 tenderers following the Stage 2 Interim Technical Assessment will be invited to submit tenders for the Full Tender Assessment, or ITT Stage 2. Both Interim and Full tender evaluation criteria is set out in the Invitation to Tender documents and will be made available on the SERPENS Close Find Radar data room on AWARD from the publication of this Tender Notice.
Other information
Description of risks to contract performance
There is a risk that during the course of the tendering period that the Live Firing Data Gathering Event activity, which is part of the assessment criteria and confidence score of Criteria 2.05 - Performance Accuracy is unable to go ahead due to circumstances unforeseen to the Authority.
In the event that this risk materialises the Authority reserves the right to amend the Award Criteria linked to this event under Section 24 of the Procurement Act 2023.
For all of the below stated known risks the Authority is providing this information in the event that a permitted modification in accordance with the Procurement Act 2023 is required in the future. This modification would be exercised in accordance with Schedule 8, Paragraph (5) of the Procurement Act 2023 - Materialisation of a Known Risk.
Under Contract there is a risk that the system may require modification to hardware and/or software to enable integration with FC BISA, or an equivalent messaging system, and any associated hardware to realise the full SERPENS capability. It is not possible to mitigate the risk prior to the launch of the procurement as the system we are procuring is subject to the outcome of the competition and the extent of any hardware or software modification cannot be appropriately scoped.
Under Contract there is a risk that the system may require modification to hardware to enable integration and/or installation onto a Foxhound vehicle to realise the full SERPENS capability. It is not possible to mitigate the risk prior to the launch of the procurement as the system we are procuring is subject to the outcome of the competition and the extent of any hardware modification cannot be fully de-risked until the CFR technical solution is known.
Conflicts assessment prepared/revised
Yes
Procedure
Procedure type
Competitive flexible procedure
Competitive flexible procedure description
The procedure will follow the following steps to arrive at a Contract Award decision.
• Publish Tender Notice
• Issue Full ITT to Tenderers
• Conditions of Participation Return
• Conditions of Participation Evaluation
• Stage 1 Interim Technical Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 1 Interim Technical Tender Return
• Authority's Stage 2 Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 1 Interim Technical Tender Evaluation
• Stage 1 Interim Technical Tender ITT Down selection to no more than 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 (Dialogue)
• Final Date for Tenderer Clarification Questions / Requests for additional information
• The Authority issues Final Clarification Answers
• Stage 2 Full Tender Return
• Authority's Stage 2 Tender Clarification Period
• Stage 2 Full Tender Evaluation
• Authority Review and Approval Period
• Tenderers notified of ITT result and Contract Award
Full information on how the procurement procedure, including evaluation criteria and intended stages of evaluation, clarification and dialogue is detailed in the Invitation to Tender.
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.
Contracting authority
Defence Equipment and Support
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PVRL-5831-GLMM
MOD Abbey Wood
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