Guidance

The Ministry of Defence Procurement process

The Ministry of Defence's approach to procurement, and where to find defence opportunities.

From:
Ministry of Defence
Published
29 October 2020
Last updated
15 February 2021 — See all updates

This guidance was withdrawn on

This publication is superseded by Procurement at MOD.

Where to find our contract opportunities

Our new e-Sourcing platform called the Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP). went live on the 15 February 2021. All new direct tender and contract opportunities valued over £10,000 will now be advertised on the DSP. Access and registration is free of charge and all suppliers looking for opportunities in Defence procurement are encouraged to register their details on the DSP now.

All requirements advertised before the launch of the DSP are still available on the legacy Defence Contracts Online (DCO) portal. Access and registration to the DCO portal is also free of charge. All tendering activities started on the DCO will be completed on the DCO, with the portal being retired once all legacy work is concluded.

We also advertise our tender and contract opportunities more widely. We use the government’s Contracts Finder portal. Here central government departments and other public bodies advertise tender and contract opportunities valued at £10,000 and above. Access to Contracts Finder is free of charge.

Requirements below £10,000 are often one off projects bought in accordance with our internal policy for low value purchasing.

We buy common goods and services via the Crown Commercial Service website. CCS are the biggest public procurement organisation in the UK, they provide a wide range of common goods and services across the public sector.

Procurement principles

As a public sector organisation, we procure in a different way to industry with competition as the default position, we set objective tender selection criteria, and we are fair and transparent and will be held accountable for procurement decisions in a way the private sector is not. We do not operate preferred supplier lists.

Our principles include non-discrimination (on grounds of nationality), equal treatment (of all suppliers), transparency (act in fair and non-discriminatory manner), mutual recognition (of equivalent documents and standards).

Overview of a typical competition

This is a brief overview of a typical competition:

  1. requirement advertised
  2. pre-qualification questionnaire
  3. invited to tender
  4. independent assessment
  5. supplier selection
  6. contract award.

As a requirements driven organisation, first, we identify what we need to buy and we advertise this. Suppliers then have the opportunity to express their interest and bid. We use an initial questionnaire to pre-qualify suppliers. Suppliers are then invited to tender. We assess bids using pre-agreed criteria and select suppliers using objective evaluation. This criteria is used to select a supplier and award the contract. A debrief is available for suppliers if requested.

Procurement at MOD

Updates to this page

Published 29 October 2020
Last updated 15 February 2021 + show all updates

  1. Updated content under the 'Where to find contract opportunities' heading.

  2. Updated the information under the 'Where to find our contract opportunities' heading.

  3. Updated the information under the 'Procurement principles' heading.

  4. Updated the implementation update from MOD’s Chief Commercial Officer, Andrew Forzani.

  5. Updated information about the release of the Defence Sourcing Portal.

  6. Updated the information under the Where to find our contract opportunities headings and added a letter from Chief Commercial Officer Andrew Forzani.

  7. First published.

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