Official UK procurement notice
The Provision of Engineering Aerospace Commissioning Scheme (EPACS)
Authority: Ministry of Defence (Central government)
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionThe Ministry of Defence (MOD) requires Higher Education Institution (HEI) providers to collaborate with the Authority to validate a degree programme which complies with regulations set by the relevant government authorities (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education in the UK, The Office for Students in England, the Higher Education Funding Council for Wales in Wales, and the Scottish Funding Council in Scotland). Course validation must be in place to allow qualifications to be awarded to students on completion of their courses.
The programme of study should be designed to make it suitable for accreditation by an appropriate professional institution. The Supplier and Authority will collaborate over the duration of the contract with the aim of achieving professional accreditation within the contract period. The intent is to enable completing students to apply for professional registration as Incorporated Engineers with the Engineering Council.
The role of the DCTT is to train and educate Aeronautical Engineering (AE) to meet the Defence requirement.
CPV: Adult-education services at university level · Personal development training services
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · value publishedLot #1AwardedRenewalPublished value£560,000
What it takes to wini
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Evaluation split and conditions of participation as published; the tender pack may add morei
How this buyer will score bids.
The evaluation criteria and weights exactly as published on the notice, grouped by family (price, quality, social value and so on).
Published sub-criteria (2)
- Technical Non-Cost Including Social Value: 60%
- Price: 40%
Published award criteria (2)
- Price
- Technical Non-Cost Including Social Value
- Price carries 40 of 100 points: a 10% discount moves about 4 points. The method statement decides this lot, not the discount.
Price arithmetic assumes straight proportional scoring; the tender pack may use another formula.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Open procedure
- Legal basis
- UKPGA · 2023/54 Procurement Act 2023
- Procurement category
- Services
- Notice status
- Cancelled
- Procurement threshold
- Above threshold (FTS publication)
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Competitive procedure
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMT
- Last source update
- 23 Jun 2026, 14:19 BST
- Award evaluation window
- Submission end – 18 May 2026
- Authority reference
715090450- FTS notice number
2026/S 000-016253- Latest notice
- Procurement termination notice (UK12)
- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-05d503Find a Tender
How it was run
Official notice- Submission deadline
- 27 Mar 2026, 12:30 GMT
- Clarification deadline
- 4 Mar 2026, 12:30 GMT
- Electronic submission
- Allowed
- Accepted languages
- en
Submission via the Defence Sourcing Portal
Timeline
28 Oct 2025 → 23 Jun 2026 · 9 dates- Planning notice published365 days ago28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMT
- Market engagement340 days ago21 Nov 2025, 23:59 GMT
Further instructions are included in the uploaded docuement - 20251024_715090450_EPACS_PREM.
For inflormation purposes a draft Statement of Requirement (SoR) - 20250805-715090450_Draft_SoR_EPACS has also been uploaded.
The closing date and time for resposne to this RFI is 21 November 2025 at 09:00hrs.
- Next notice expected323 days ago8 Dec 2025, 23:59 GMT
- Tender notice published247 days ago23 Feb 2026, 17:14 GMT
- Clarification questions by238 days ago4 Mar 2026, 12:30 GMT
- Submission deadline215 days ago27 Mar 2026, 12:30 GMT
- Award decision expected by163 days ago18 May 2026, 23:59 BST
- Contract starts143 days ago8 Jun 2026, 00:00 BST
- Latest notice published127 days ago23 Jun 2026, 14:19 BST
Notice history
11 events · 4 releases on Find a Tender · since 28 Oct 2025- Preliminary market engagement notice published28 Oct 2025, 11:16 GMTUK2
- Planned procurement notice published28 Oct 2025, 15:49 GMTUK3
- Status changed to planned28 Oct 2025, 15:49 GMT
- Procurement method changed28 Oct 2025, 15:49 GMT
- Deadline published: 23 Jan 2026, 09:00 GMT28 Oct 2025, 15:49 GMT
- Tender notice published23 Feb 2026, 17:14 GMTUK4
- Published value updated to £560,00023 Feb 2026, 17:14 GMTwas £800,000
- Status changed to active23 Feb 2026, 17:14 GMT
- Deadline moved to 27 Mar 2026, 12:30 GMT23 Feb 2026, 17:14 GMT+63 days · was 23 Jan 2026, 09:00 GMT
- Procurement termination notice published23 Jun 2026, 14:19 BSTUK12
- Status changed to complete23 Jun 2026, 14:19 BST
Routine re-releases (4)
- 2025-10: 1 release · 28 Oct 2025
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecast| Awarded to | Value | Date | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| supplier not published | — | 23 Jun 2026 | Cancelled715090450 The Provision of Engineering Profession Aerospace Commissiong Scheme (EPACS) has been abandoned. Following a detailed review of the submissions received it has become apparent that ambiguity within the Schedule of Requirements (SOR) has contributed to inconsistencies in how pricing was interpreted and submitted by all bidders. Therefore, it has been determined that the pricing documents received were not presented in a comparable format. As a result, a fair and consistent evaluation could not be undertaken. |
Contracting authority & participating public bodies
Official documents & specifications (4)
Official links; attachments are not copiedNotices published for this procedure
- Procurement termination notice Procurement termination notice on Find a Tender
- Tender notice Tender notice on Find a Tender
- Planned procurement notice Planned procurement notice on Find a Tender
- Preliminary market engagement notice Preliminary market engagement notice on Find a Tender