The UK’s Ministry of Defence has made a £400 million UAS award directly to Portugal’s Tekever. It said all eight bidders’ submissions failed to meet the requirements laid out by MOD under a public competitive tendering process that began in May 2025.
Despite inviting 18 bidders to respond to an Invitation to Tender late last year, MOD’s Defence Equipment and Support (DE&S), now the National Armaments Director Group, received just eight responses – “however none of these responses were suitable.”
That’s arguably a waste of time and effort for the eight firms that responded, and for MOD itself – which said in a July 24 notice that it had switched to a direct award.
An early market clarification notice suggested prospective suppliers had not found the requirements clear. MOD aimed to tackle that openly, by publicly sharing 15 answers to common questions it was receiving from interested bidders in the programme.
