Home / Opportunities / Opportunity
PROCUREMENT OPPORTUNITY

Royal Navy Museums Broadband Services

Royal Navy Museums · Tender notice on Find a Tender

Tender information last checkedLast checked 24 Sept 2026, 12:46.

Opportunity overview

All existing broadband connections to Museum sites are provided by a single supplier. The individual Museum sites are currently interlinked via an MPLS network provided by the current supplier. Each site has a Juniper SRX300 router installed which is managed by the current ISP. The Portsmouth HQ site has a Juniper SRX340. Backup connections are also present at each site for redundancy, with a separate router installed and managed by the current ISP. The backup connection at the Portsmouth HQ site terminates into a separate building. As part of the MPLS network provided by the current ISP, all sites route through a cloud firewall and have a centralised internet breakout. We are provided visibility over the cloud firewall through an online portal which allows us to view and download firewall logs and add/edit/remove inbound firewall rules for our sites as required. Museum IT infrastructure and services are centralised at the HQ site in Portsmouth. Other sites communicate with this infrastructure to access resources over the MPLS network. Multiple VLANs are in use across all Museums sites to support differing requirements. The Museum also has a presence in Microsoft Azure and an offsite datacentre, which is hosting a full Disaster Recovery infrastructure, but these do not form part of the existing MPLS network. The broadband connection at the Portsmouth HQ site is currently shared between 6 separate businesses onsite, each with their own public IP address(es). The Museum also has requirements to route certain services using individual public IP addresses. The current site connections are outlined in the document. Royal Navy Museums is evaluating different broadband options available and as part of this procurement, would like to consider two technologies that we believe can deliver the requirements of the business; MPLS and SD-WAN. As the Museum has been operating on an MPLS network for several years, we know that this technology can deliver the requirements. SD-WAN has previously been considered but never implemented for the Museum. The Museum is now in a position to evaluate its suitability to deliver the requirements, whilst assessing potential benefits and cost savings. This procurement has been split into two lots, representing the separate considerations for MPLS and SD-WAN. To help the Museum make an informed decision, we would like to invite suppliers to respond to both lots and pitch solutions for both MPLS and SD-WAN. This will allow the Museum to assess the benefits, operating costs and overall suitability of the two solutions to help identify which is best able to deliver the requirements over the next 3-5 years. Whilst we would encourage suppliers to respond to both lots to help inform our decision, Royal Navy Museums recognise that this may not be possible for all suppliers. Therefore, if a supplier is only able to offer a solution for one of the lots, we would still welcome their response. It should be noted that, following evaluation, only one of the two lots will be awarded depending on the suitability of each solution for the Museum. Where possible, we would like all sites to be managed under a single contract. The internal networking of our sites is out of scope of this procurement. Suppliers also do not need to include connectivity for the offsite datacentre in their proposal. Pricing The maximum budget available for the individual lots are detailed within the individual lot requirements. Cost proposals should include any installation and equipment costs, if appropriate. As part of your submission, please indicate when billing for services would be expected to start.

Classification

  • CPV72400000 — Internet services

Lots

  • MPLS£140k
  • SD-WAN£110k

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
ocds-h6vhtk-06f0cf
Status
active
Procurement Method
open
Procurement Method Details
Open procedure
Main Procurement Category
services
Above Threshold
Yes
How to submit
All clarification questions and submissions need to be sent to tenders@royalnavymuseums.co.uk

Legal basis

Id
2023/54
Scheme
UKPGA

Submission terms

Electronic Submission Policy
notAllowed

Languages

en

Tender Period

Ends
5 Oct 2026, 17:00

Enquiry period

Ends
18 Sept 2026, 17:00

Expected award period

Ends
12 Oct 2026, 23:59

Lot Details

Award Criteria Details
This procurement has been split into two lots, representing the separate considerations for MPLS and SD-WAN. To help the Museum make an informed decision, we would like to invite suppliers to respond to both lots and pitch solutions for both MPLS and SD-WAN. This will allow the Museum to assess the benefits, operating costs and overall suitability of the two solutions to help identify which is best able to deliver the requirements over the next 3-5 years. Whilst we would encourage suppliers to respond to both lots to help inform our decision, Royal Navy Museums recognise that this may not be possible for all suppliers. Therefore, if a supplier is only able to offer a solution for one of the lots, we would still welcome their response. It should be noted that, following evaluation, only one of the two lots will be awarded depending on the suitability of each solution for the Museum. Where possible, we would like all sites to be managed under a single contract. The internal networking of our sites is out of scope of this procurement. Suppliers also do not need to include connectivity for the offsite datacentre in their proposal.

Amendments

Entry 1
Description
To note the tender is broken into two lots but the total price has to be shown for completeness
Id
083307-2026

Lots and requirements

Entry 1
Id
1
Title
MPLS
Description
Royal Navy Museums currently operates on an MPLS network for broadband services as described in section 2 and is considering keeping this arrangement for the future. An MPLS network will need to provide inter-site connectivity for all Museum sites listed, redundancy at every layer, a centralised internet breakout, plus firewalling and management services. As part of the firewalling services, the Museum would like to have visibility over the firewall logs and rules, with the ability to add/edit/remove rules in a timely manner (such as through a secure online portal), without needing to rely on an external supplier or support teams. It would also be useful for the internal team to have clear visibility of bandwidth usage across sites and an alerting system in place that will notify us if any circuit goes offline. It should be noted that some of our sites will require DHCP services due to a lack of local DHCP servers on those sites. Therefore, any managed routers/firewalls deployed as part of an MPLS network will need to be capable of delivering DHCP services. Each site requires a leased line connection as the primary broadband solution, with an appropriate backup solution in place and automatic failover should the primary line fail. The backup solution for the Portsmouth HQ site should also be a leased line. However, this should use a separate underlying telco for additional redundancy at this site. We appreciate that backup solutions for other sites may vary, depending on the available connectivity solutions, however leased line backups are not required elsewhere. At the Portsmouth HQ site, there are multiple separate businesses sharing the broadband connection, each with a unique public IP address. There are also several devices and networks across the Museum which require a unique public IP. As a result, the Portsmouth HQ site will require a minimum of a /27 prefix allocation to accommodate the public IP requirements. There should be scope for us to increase this in the future, if required. Other Museum sites do not have as strict a requirement; however, they will require a minimum of 5 usable public IP addresses per site. We are looking to increase the bandwidth available to our sites to help support the continued growth of the Museum and infrastructure changes implemented over the last few years. Individual site connections and requirements are included in the attached document.
Status
active
Has Renewal
Yes

Value

Including VAT
168,000
Amount
140,000
Currency
GBP

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
quality
Name
Broadband Services
Description
Please describe how you will meet the Lot 1 - MPLS broadband requirements as listed in Annex A, Scope of Works.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
50
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 2
Type
quality
Name
Installation Timelines
Description
Please describe your proposed broadband installation timeframes. Please describe how you will work with Royal Navy Museums to meet the installation deadline and prevent any loss in service to sites as listed in Annex A, Section 4.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 3
Type
quality
Name
Support and SLAs
Description
Please describe how support and change requests can be raised with the support team Please fully describe the SLAs offered with the broadband services for each site. This should include SLAs for standard support/change requests, all the way through to critical circuit failures. Please describe the structure of your support team(s) and their locations

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 4
Type
quality
Name
Environmental Sustainability and Carbon Reduction
Description
Please describe your carbon reduction targets and progress against them Please describe measures used to reduce energy consumption associated with network infrastructure, customer premises equipment, data centres and other equipment supporting the service. Please describe how routers, modems and other equipment will be repaired, reused, refurbished, recycled or responsible disposed of at end of life, including arrangements for take-back of equipment Please describe measures to minimise emissions associated with installation, maintenance and engineer visits, including use of low emission vehicles where practicable.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
10
Weight
percentageExact

Suitability

Sme
Yes

Contract period

Starts
22 Oct 2026, 00:00
Ends
21 Oct 2029, 23:59
Max Extent Date
21 Oct 2031, 23:59

Renewal

Description
The contract is for an initial 3 years but dependent on performance and achievement against KPIs can be extended for a further 2 years.
Entry 2
Id
2
Title
SD-WAN
Description
Royal Navy Museums is considering moving away from the current MPLS setup and implementing an SD-WAN network to interlink the individual sites. For the proposed SD-WAN deployment, we would not require any centralised internet breakout, firewalling or management services that are usually associated with an MPLS network. RNM will also supply their own firewalling and routing devices for each site and manage the configuration and maintenance of these devices through an existing relationship with an MSP. In this scenario, the Museum will configure and manage the SD-WAN network and inter-site connectivity. Each site requires a leased line connection as the primary broadband solution, with an appropriate backup solution in place. The backup solution for the Portsmouth HQ site should also be a leased line. However, this should use a separate underlying telco for additional redundancy at this site. We appreciate that backup solutions for other sites may vary, depending on the available connectivity solutions, however leased line backups are not required elsewhere. At the Portsmouth HQ site, there are multiple separate businesses sharing the broadband connection, each with a unique public IP address. There are also several devices and networks across the Museum which require a unique public IP. As a result, the Portsmouth HQ site will require a minimum of a /27 prefix allocation to accommodate the public IP requirements. There should be scope for us to increase this in the future, if required. Other Museum sites do not have as strict a requirement; however, they will require a minimum of 5 usable public IP addresses per site. We are looking to increase the bandwidth available to our sites to help support the continued growth of the Museum and infrastructure changes implemented over the last few years. Individual site connections are outlined in the attached document. The speeds mentioned are the minimum speeds required. We will be happy to consider proposals that are able to exceed these speed requirements, providing suppliers are able to offer this within the proposed budget. To allow sufficient time to configure, test and schedule site changeovers to the SD-WAN implementation, the broadband lines should be installed and live as soon as possible, but no later than the 31st December 2026.
Status
active
Has Renewal
Yes

Value

Including VAT
132,000
Amount
110,000
Currency
GBP

Award criteria

Criteria

Criterion 1
Type
quality
Name
Broadband Services
Description
Please describe how you will meet the Lot 1 - MPLS broadband requirements as listed in Annex A, Scope of Works.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
50
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 2
Type
quality
Name
Installation Timelines
Description
Please describe your proposed broadband installation timeframes. Please describe how you will work with Royal Navy Museums to meet the installation deadline and prevent any loss in service to sites as listed in Annex A, Section 4.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 3
Type
quality
Name
Support and SLAs
Description
Please describe how support and change requests can be raised with the support team Please fully describe the SLAs offered with the broadband services for each site. This should include SLAs for standard support/change requests, all the way through to critical circuit failures. Please describe the structure of your support team(s) and their locations

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
20
Weight
percentageExact
Criterion 4
Type
quality
Name
Environmental Sustainability and Carbon Reduction
Description
Please describe your carbon reduction targets and progress against them Please describe measures used to reduce energy consumption associated with network infrastructure, customer premises equipment, data centres and other equipment supporting the service. Please describe how routers, modems and other equipment will be repaired, reused, refurbished, recycled or responsible disposed of at end of life, including arrangements for take-back of equipment Please describe measures to minimise emissions associated with installation, maintenance and engineer visits, including use of low emission vehicles where practicable.

Numbers

Entry 1
Number
10
Weight
percentageExact

Suitability

Sme
Yes

Contract period

Starts
22 Oct 2026, 00:00
Ends
21 Oct 2029, 23:59
Max Extent Date
21 Oct 2031, 23:59

Renewal

Description
The contract is for an initial 3 years but dependent on performance and achievement against KPIs can be extended for a further 2 years.

Items and delivery

Item 1
Id
1
Related Lot
1

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
72400000
Description
Internet services

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKC
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UKD
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 3
Region
UKE
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 4
Region
UKF
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 5
Region
UKG
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 6
Region
UKH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 7
Region
UKI
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 8
Region
UKJ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 9
Region
UKK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 10
Region
UKN
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Item 2
Id
2
Related Lot
2

Additional Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
CPV
Id
72400000
Description
Internet services

Delivery locations

Entry 1
Region
UKC
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 2
Region
UKD
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 3
Region
UKE
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 4
Region
UKF
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 5
Region
UKG
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 6
Region
UKH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 7
Region
UKI
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 8
Region
UKJ
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 9
Region
UKK
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Entry 10
Region
UKN
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom

Published documents

Entry 1
Id
conflictOfInterest
Document Type
conflictOfInterest
Description
Not published
Entry 2
Id
A-21798
Document Type
biddingDocuments
Format
application/pdf
Entry 3
Id
083307-2026
Document Type
tenderNotice
Notice Type
UK4
Description
Tender notice on Find a Tender
Published
3 Sept 2026, 09:48
Format
text/html

Buyer, suppliers and contacts

Organisation 1
Name
Royal Navy Museums
Id
GB-PPON-PZYJ-5834-NBRM

Identifier

Scheme
GB-PPON
Id
PZYJ-5834-NBRM

Address

Street Address
Main Road (PP66), HM Naval Base Portsmouth
Locality
Portsmouth
Postal Code
PO1 3NH
Country
GB
Country Name
United Kingdom
Region
UKJ31

Contact

Roles

buyer

Details

Classifications

Entry 1
Scheme
UK_CA_TYPE
Id
publicAuthorityCentralGovernment
Description
Public authority - central government

Recorded locations

  • Buyer location · Portsmouth · UKJ31 · PO1 3NH · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKC · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKD · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKE · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKF · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKG · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKH · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKI · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKJ · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKK · United Kingdom
  • Delivery location · UKN · United Kingdom

Notice and amendment history

2 published notice versions reviewed by ProcuraAxis.

2 VERSIONS
  1. 083263-2026Tender notice on Find a Tender ·
  2. 083307-2026Tender notice on Find a Tender ·