National Flagship Manufacture

Tender description

The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is seeking to procure a new ship for the United Kingdom and Her Majesty’s Government which will promote UK interests worldwide and be crewed by the Royal Navy. This ship has been denoted the National Flagship. The National Flagship will advance the UK’s interests at home and abroad, promoting the UK’s economic security. The ship will be used as a diplomatic and trade platform, showcasing UK engineering and green maritime technologies, whilst acting as a tangible representation of the UK’s commitment to support jobs, prosperity, and skills within the UK shipbuilding sector. The National Flagship will be built entirely in the UK. The cost envelope for the Manufacture Contract is £200-250M. The MoD is currently conducting a separate competition to select the design of the National Flagship (“Design”). This competition commenced with the release of a Contract Notice on 19 July 2021, and a release of an Invitation to Negotiate (tender pack) to pre-qualified Bidders in November 2021. Bidders will deliver design bids in March 2022. The winning ship designer will be awarded the Design Contract, under which the Design will be further developed and matured. Once sufficiently mature this Design will then form the basis of the ship design specification for the purposes of the Manufacture Procurement. The Manufacture Procurement will be the competitive process to select the Manufacturer of the National Flagship, who will be awarded the Manufacture Contract. Part of the scope of the Manufacture Contract is envisaged to be detailed / pre-production design work. This procurement will be exempt from the Defence and Security Public Contracts Regulations 2011 to protect the UK’s national security interests.