Scope
Reference
UKSAC25_0044
Description
The Office of the Chief Engineer within the UK Space Agency is intending to procure delivery partners across different studies that feed into Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC), which is currently spread across four working groups. expected to span 5 locations. The UK is a global leader on space sustainability providing the technical backing to space sustainability decisions. The Inter Agency Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) has 13 member states that conduct technical research to inform their publications on how to measure, database, protect from and mitigate space debris. The primary purpose is to exchange information on space debris research activities between members, to facilitate opportunities for cooperation in space debris research, to review the progress of ongoing cooperative activities and to identify debris mitigation options. The UK has been a member for nearly 30 years and has been helping to guide the international policy over this time. The IADC consists of a steering group and four working groups - Measurements, Environment and Database, Protection and Mitigation.
UKSA is seeking suppliers to perform technical studies of relevance to the four IADC working groups. We will require the supplier to fulfil the specification, including defining framework/model where needed and putting theoretical metrics into practice.
The total value of this contract including all four lots shall not exceed £300,000 (inclusive of VAT). UKSA intends to award a minimum value of £25,000 (inclusive of VAT) per individual lot, with indicative values per lot below (all values inclusive of VAT):
• Lot 1: Up to £25,000
• Lot 2: Up to £150,000
• Lot 3: Up to £75,000
• Lot 4: Up to £50,000
Prospective suppliers to note the deadline to complete the work shall not exceed 31st March 2026. Beyond this point, activity will not be funded.
Full details will be available in the forthcoming specification.
Total value (estimated)
- £250,000 excluding VAT
- £300,000 including VAT
Above the relevant threshold
Contract dates (estimated)
- 1 September 2025 to 31 March 2026
- 7 months
Options
The right to additional purchases while the contract is valid.
UKSA has set out a number of different studies within lots 2, 3 and 4, which may not all be taken forward. UKSA will set out in its specification how it will decide which of the options will be awarded.
Main procurement category
Services
CPV classifications
- 73000000 - Research and development services and related consultancy services
Contract locations
- UK - United Kingdom
Lot 1. Measurements
Description
Lot 1.1: Analysis of the data from EISCAT Beampark Campaign
Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Characterisation of the Small Debris Space Environment remains an ongoing critical challenge for addressing space sustainability. NSpOC has previously funded a 24 hour beampark campaign using the EISCAT UHF radar system with the raw data analysed through an ESA contract. At the recent IADC, it was discussed that shorter follow up beamparks targeting specific fragmentation events would also be very beneficial. As a result of this, NSpOC has arranged for a further 24 hours of time but split up over 6 x 4 hr sessions targeting the recent CZ-6A fragmentation. The campaigns target 200-2000 km with a 75E pointing direction. We require a supplier to analyse the raw data to pull out detections and use the circular orbit assumption to extract an orbital inclination and altitude and make an assessment of object size based on the signal strength.
Lot value (estimated)
- £20,834 excluding VAT
- £25,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations, contract dates and options are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 2. Environment and Database
Description
Characterisation and modelling of meteoroid and debris around the Earth and storage and access of the data by electronic means, including meteoroid and debris models, short and long-term evolution, collision prediction and risk assessment.
Lot 2.1: Assess the utility of existing metrics and develop new metrics for space environment
Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Review the formulation of existing proposals of metrics for the space environment to identify their strengths and weaknesses. Develop environment-level metrics that can be used to quantify the status of the orbital debris environment and define its sustainable use. Compare proposed metrics against other indicators and metrics of the space environment to understand their respective strengths and weaknesses and to establish their utility in understanding sustainable space activities.
Lot 2.2: Develop software and tools to assess the environment
Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Develop key software components and tools to establish further UK capability to model the long-term evolution of the space environment. Apply to software and tools to benchmark cases against other internationally developed models.
Lot 2.3: Timelines for End of Life (EOL) disposal
Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Quantitative assessment of the impacts of reducing the lifetime of the spacecraft at End-of-Life considering residence time in congested areas e.g. constellation shells, space stations. An assessment of risk and approaches to orbit design which may minimise risk and improve sustainability of the missions.
Lot value (estimated)
- £125,000 excluding VAT
- £150,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations, contract dates and options are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 3. Protection
Description
Design and technology of shielding against meteoroids and space debris and the associated test methods which include test facility and procedure, hypervelocity impact data, simulation software.
Lot 3.1: Explore options for simple thresholds to quantify the vulnerability of spacecraft to impacts
Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
The national and international standards dealing with space debris mitigation, requirements are provided based on the size of space debris that is likely to create a spacecraft failure in terms of probability of loss of functionality leading to the loss of collision avoidance manoeuvre capability and/or post mission disposal capability. We are looking for suppliers to address this topic to support the development of impact vulnerability-based thresholds that can be used in future as simplified metrics and provide an adequate and sound basis. The intention is to focus on design-dependent spacecraft vulnerability.
Lot 3.2: Define fragmentation event simulations for multiple simplified modern spacecraft designs (geometries, materials) and collision conditions (e.g. impactor properties, impact location, velocity, incidence angle) and characterise the fragments generated for different collision conditions
Total Contract Value: Up to £50,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
The national and international standards dealing with space debris mitigation, assume on the size or energy of space debris that is likely to create a catastrophic break-up and generate the related fragment distributions. In practice, the employed definition of "catastrophic" to justify the "critical" threshold of the space debris involved is often qualitative and limited by the availability of the state-of-the-art research. We are looking for suppliers to characterise fragments released in hypervelocity impacts that can be used in future for deriving fragmentation severity.
Lot value (estimated)
- £62,500 excluding VAT
- £75,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations, contract dates and options are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Lot 4. Mitigation
Description
Study of all measures to reduce or avoid the creation of space debris or reduce the hazards created by space debris. This includes identification of space debris sources, design and operation of space systems to avoid or reduce the creation of space debris, guidelines for debris mitigation.
Lot 4.1: Lunar Debris Mitigation Guidelines - further work on disposal options
Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Given the sustainability challenges that the Cislunar environment presents, the UK Space Agency is keen to support the development of new guidelines for the sustainable use of Cislunar space and is therefore commissioning this study to identify key research gaps and further develop the work carried out in the previous studies to feed directly into the a forementioned international forums. The outputs of this study may also be used by the UK Space Agency and wider UK Government to inform new regulatory policy for future UK-licensed lunar missions.
Lot 4.2: Assessment of technologies driving post-mission disposal reliability
Total Contract Value: Up to £25,000 (inclusive of VAT)
Total Contract Duration: 6 months
Investigate the merits of higher post-mission disposal success rates, looking at reliability based on mass, collision probability, orbital location, propulsion reliability and other relevant parameters. Include analysis of constellations specifically to support recommendations that constellations have higher success rates.
Lot value (estimated)
- £41,666 excluding VAT
- £50,000 including VAT
Same for all lots
CPV classifications, contract locations, contract dates and options are shown in the Scope section, because they are the same for all lots.
Participation
Particular suitability
Lot 1. Measurements
Lot 2. Environment and Database
Lot 3. Protection
Lot 4. Mitigation
Small and medium-sized enterprises (SME)
Submission
Publication date of tender notice (estimated)
17 July 2025
Enquiry deadline
24 July 2025, 2:00pm
Tender submission deadline
8 August 2025, 5:00pm
Submission address and any special instructions
This opportunity will be offered via the Jaggaer e-sourcing portal: To register on the Jaggaer eSourcing portal please use the link https://beisgroup.ukp.app.jaggaer.com/ and follow the instructions to register as a supplier.
When available, it will be possible to search for this requirement.
Tenders may be submitted electronically
Yes
Languages that may be used for submission
English
Award decision date (estimated)
22 August 2025
Procedure
Procedure type
Open procedure
Reduced tendering period
Yes
Qualifying planned procurement notice - minimum 10 days
Contracting authority
UK Space Agency
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PRTY-4245-MTJY
Quad Two Building (1st Floor), Rutherford Avenue, Harwell Science & Innovation Campus
Didcot
OX11 0DF
United Kingdom
Region: UKJ14 - Oxfordshire
Organisation type: Public authority - central government
Other organisation
These organisations are carrying out the procurement, or part of it, on behalf of the contracting authorities.
UK Shared Business Services Ltd
Summary of their role in this procurement: Administrative delivery partner
- Public Procurement Organisation Number: PMPN-7535-GNTG
Polaris House, North Star Avenue
Swindon
SN2 1FF
United Kingdom
Email: policy@uksbs.co.uk
Region: UKK14 - Swindon