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Published 19 Dec 2025, 12:30 GMT

Official UK procurement notice

715727467 - Protector RWS PDS Contract - October 2026 / UK5

Official notice

Authority: Defence Equipment and Support (Central government)

ServicesDirect awardAbove thresholdDefence & security
Sectors: Architecture & Engineering (71) Delivery: Delivery location not published
Contract value (direct award)£1,500,000≈ £375k / year · £1,800,000 inc. VAT
Award in standstill Not publishedno call for competition
Award (standstill) to Thales UK Limited
Contract term 4 yrsends 30 Sept 2030 · starts 1 Oct 2026

What is being bought

Published requirement 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

CPV: Technical support services

The lotProcurement structure

single lot · no lot value published
Lot #1Awarded 4 yrs
Contract period: 1 Oct 2026 – 30 Sept 2030 (4 yrs)
71356300 Technical support services

Procedure terms & legal framework

From the official record
Procedure method
Direct award
Legal basis
UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
Procurement category
Services
Notice status
Awarded without competition
Procurement threshold
Above threshold (FTS publication)
Regulatory regime
Defence & security
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
19 Dec 2025, 12:30 GMT
Last source update
21 Jan 2026, 11:18 GMT
Authority reference
715727467
FTS notice number
2026/S 000-005189
Latest notice
Transparency notice (UK5)
Classification (CPV)
Technical support services
Delivery area
Not published
Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05fa4e Find a Tender
Why no open competition
Single Suppliers Intellectual Property Exclusive Rights; Single Suppliers Technical Reasons
Published justification

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

  1. 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.

How it was run

Official notice
Submission deadline
—

Timeline

19 Dec 2025 → 1 Oct 2026 · 4 dates
  1. Planning notice published312 days ago
    19 Dec 2025, 12:30 GMT
  2. Latest notice published279 days ago
    21 Jan 2026, 11:18 GMT
  3. Next notice expected241 days ago
    28 Feb 2026, 23:59 GMT
  4. Contract starts27 days ago
    1 Oct 2026, 00:00 BST

Notice history

4 events · 2 releases on Find a Tender · since 19 Dec 2025
  1. Pipeline notice published
    19 Dec 2025, 12:30 GMT
    UK1
  2. Transparency notice published
    21 Jan 2026, 11:18 GMT
    UK5
  3. Status changed to complete
    21 Jan 2026, 11:18 GMT
  4. Contract signature expected
    1 Oct 2026, 23:59 BST
    scheduled

Commercial outcome & contract awards

Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast
Awards 1some still in standstill
Awarded value £1,600,0001 award exc. VAT
Awarded toValueDateStatus
Thales UK Limited1 Oct 2026 – 30 Sept 2030£1,600,000—Standstill

Contracting authority & participating public bodies

Defence Equipment and Support

Contracting authorityPublic authority - central government GB-PPON: PVRL-5831-GLMM MOD Abbey Wood, Bristol, South West, BS34 8JHContact name, email

Bidders & participating suppliers

1 commercial party on the notice
  • Thales UK LimitedAwarded supplierGB-COH: 00868273 350 Longwater Avenue, Green Park, Reading, South East, RG2 6GFContact email

Official documents & specifications (2)

Official links; attachments are not copied

Notices published for this procedure

  • Transparency notice awardTransparency noticeUK5Transparency notice on Find a Tender
  • Pipeline notice planningPipeline noticeUK1Pipeline notice on Find a Tender