UK to hold industry engagements ahead of GBP6bn engineering contract

The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) is hosting early market engagement activities to provide industry with information, ascertain interest, and understand market capability ahead of the award of its ‘Engineering Delivery Partner – Future’ (EDP-F) contract. 

Totalling GBP6 billion, the EDP-F contract will include a broad spectrum of “engineering services” across the MoD portfolio spanning between 2028 and 2033, according to a notice published on 9 June via the department’s Defence Sourcing Portal. 

Ahead of this, the MoD is planning to hold a webinar on 30 June, to provide industry with more details on the specific requirements of the EDP-F. Registration for the webinar is open until 23 June. 

Following the webinar, a request for information (RFI) regarding industry’s engineering capabilities will be issued to suppliers via the MoD’s ‘AWARD’ e-sourcing and evaluation portal.  This is to help the MoD inform the contract requirements ahead of the tender. 

The current EDP contract – due to be replaced by the EDP-F – is operated by a group of companies as part of a ‘delivery partnership’. Named the Aurora Engineering Partnership, it includes AtkinsRéalis, BMT, Frazer-Nash Consultancy, and QinetiQ.  

Aurora is supported by a wider group of partners called the ‘Provider Network’. This includes “around 230 suppliers”, 65% of which are SMEs, QinetiQ says.  

Together, the Aurora partnership and its Provider Network deliver engineering services to the MoD that include:  

• Capability, innovation, technology development, and assessment 
• User and system requirements definitions 
• Test, evaluation, and acceptance 
• Independent assurance, evaluation, and advice 
• Through-life availability and capability management 
• Legislative and regulatory compliance
• Supplier technical assessment and monitoring 
• Engineering support for decisions 
• Knowledge management 

It is unclear as to whether these requirements will change for EDP-F, especially ahead of the RFI process, where the MoD has the opportunity to refine its requirements ahead of tender. 

The tender itself has an estimated publication date of 31 May 2027.