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PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

715112450 - Ballistic Testing Services - Personal Armour

Defence Equipment and Support · Transparency notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 26 Sept 2026, 08:31.

Opportunity overview

This Tender Notice outlines the Authority's intent to competitively assess, select and award a contract to deliver Ballistic Testing Services for Personal Armour to support new to service projects and ensure through life support of Personal Armour provided to its Armed Forces Personnel. The contract will have a headroom of £10m (Inc VAT) and will be for 5 years with 3 x 1 optional years. The Ballistic Testing Service will serve as a dedicated platform to facilitate comprehensive testing and evaluation of Personal Armour systems. This service will encompass a wide range of protective equipment, including but not limited to Hard Armour Plates, Soft Armour Fillers, and Helmets. The testing process will ensure that these protective solutions meet established safety, durability, and performance standards under various conditions. By providing a structured and reliable pathway for ballistic testing, the service aims to support the development, validation, and certification of personal protective equipment, ensuring it meets operational requirements and offers optimal protection to users in diverse environments. For the provision of Ballistic Testing Services, it is a mandatory requirement that the contractor operates a facility located within the United Kingdom. This ensures accessibility, compliance with relevant UK regulations, and alignment with national security and operational standards. The ballistic testing will be conducted on an as-needed basis throughout the duration of the contract, with testing schedules determined by specific requirements or requests. The contractor must maintain readiness and flexibility to accommodate testing demands at any point during the contract period, ensuring timely and efficient service delivery to meet the needs of the programme. The Ballistic Testing Service competition mandates that participating laboratories must hold accreditation from the United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) to the ISO 17025 standard. This international standard specifies the general requirements for the competence, impartiality, and consistent operation of testing and calibration laboratories, ensuring the highest levels of quality and reliability in testing processes. Additionally, laboratories must demonstrate compliance with NATO AEP-2920, the Allied Engineering Publication that outlines the procedures and standards for evaluating the ballistic performance of personal armour systems. This dual requirement ensures that laboratories possess both the technical expertise and the operational capability to conduct ballistic testing to internationally recognised and NATO-specific standards, guaranteeing the accuracy, consistency, and credibility of the results. The competitive procurement will be managed in accordance with the Procurement Regulations 2024.

Awarded to

Amounts belong to published awards or contracts. Where several suppliers share one value, it is labelled as shared and is not a supplier-specific allocation.

Radnor Range Limited

Matched by number
Published award value
£10m
Awarded
Not supplied
Award ID
1
Status
pending
Identifier
GB-COH 05639696
Location
Bristol, UKK11, BS8 1BQ, United Kingdom

Classification

No classification was supplied.

Lots

  • Lot 1Value not stated

Documents and notices

Published notice details

Additional information from the published procurement release. Fields appear only when supplied by the source; check the original notice and tender documents before acting.

Scope, procedure and submissions

Id
715112450
Status
complete
Procurement Method
direct
Procurement Method Details
Direct award
Why this procedure was chosen
It is considered that the direct award to the Supplier is permitted under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 relying on the direct award justification set out in paragraph 6 of Schedule 5 for technical reasons. “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, and (b) there are no reasonable alternatives to those goods, services or works. The Authority has concluded that competition is absent for technical reasons because only Radnor Range Ltd possesses the necessary combination of accredited ballistic testing capability, facilities, expertise and capacity required to deliver the services in accordance with the Authority's operational requirements. No alternative supplier or substitute solution has been identified that is capable of meeting the requirement for the services required. Accordingly, the Authority considers that a direct award is permitted under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023 and Schedule 5, paragraph 6, as competition is absent for technical reasons.

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Special regime

defenceSecurity

Procedure reasons

Entry 1
Id
switchingDirectAward

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Status
complete

Suitability

Sme
Yes

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Defence Equipment and Support
Id
GB-PPON-PVRL-5831-GLMM

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PVRL-5831-GLMM

Address

Street Address
MOD Abbey Wood
Locality
Bristol
Postal Code
BS34 8JH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKK12

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government
Organisation 2
Name
Ministry of Defence
Id
GB-PPON-PHVX-4316-ZVGZ

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PHVX-4316-ZVGZ

Address

Street Address
MOD Abbey Wood
Locality
Bristol
Postal Code
BS34 8JH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKK12

Contact

Name
Sue Koksal

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government
Organisation 3
Name
Radnor Range Limited
Id
GB-COH-05639696

Identifier

Scheme
GB-COH
Id
05639696

Address

Street Address
C/O Saffery Llp St Catherine's Court, Berkeley Place, Clifton
Locality
Bristol
Postal Code
BS8 1BQ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKK11

Contact

Roles

supplier

Details

Scale
sme
Vcse
No

Award information

Award 1
Id
1
Status
pending
Main Procurement Category
services
Above Threshold
Yes
Has Renewal
Yes

Items

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
73111000
Description
Research laboratory services
Entry 2
Scheme
CPV
Id
73432000
Description
Test and evaluation of firearms and ammunition
Entry 3
Scheme
CPV
Id
35815100
Description
Bullet-proof vests

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Value

Including VAT
12,000,000
Amount
10,000,000
Currency
GBP

Suppliers

Supplier 1
Id
GB-COH-05639696
Name
Radnor Range Limited

Contract period

Starts
11 Jan 2027, 00:00
Ends
10 Jan 2032, 23:59
Max Extent Date
10 Jan 2035, 23:59

Renewal

Description
3 x 12mth option years

Related lots

1

Documents

Entry 1
Id
073873-2026
Document Type
awardNotice
Notice Type
UK5
Description
Transparency notice on Find a Tender
Published
4 Aug 2026, 16:36
Format
text/html

Milestones

Entry 1
Id
1
Type
futureSignatureDate
Due
18 Dec 2026, 23:59
Status
scheduled

Related procurements

Entry 1
Id
unsuccessfulProcess
Scheme
ocid
Identifier
ocds-h6vhtk-056c18

Relationship

unsuccessfulProcess

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Bristol · UKK12 · BS34 8JH · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

1 published notice version reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

1 VERSION
  1. 073873-2026Transparency notice on Find a Tender ·