The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office intends to establish a Security and Resilience Framework worth an estimated £2.7 billion excluding VAT, giving the government worldwide access to specialists in areas including stabilisation, counter terrorism, defence support and cyber security, according to a preliminary market engagement notice published on Friday.
The framework is expected to run from 1 March 2028 to 28 February 2031, with a possible extension to 29 February 2036, and would be used across government rather than by the Foreign Office alone.
The notice states: “The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, acting on behalf of UK government, intends to establish the Security and Resilience Framework to support delivery of cross-UK government security and resilience objectives using both Official Development Assistance (ODA) and non-ODA funding.”
On what it would provide, it says the framework “will provide global access to suitably qualified individuals and multi disciplinary teams to deliver a mixture of services and goods, including but not limited to security, stabilisation, governance, justice, serious organised crime, counter terrorism, strategic communications, defence support and cyber security”, with requirements “generally commissioned via call off further competitions”.
The split between aid and non-aid money reflects the rules governing what development spending can pay for. Official Development Assistance is defined by the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee, and its rules generally exclude military equipment and services, so a framework covering defence support alongside governance and justice work needs a funding route outside the aid budget for part of what it delivers.
The engagement process is set out in five stages, beginning with a survey on the framework’s themes, followed by possible one-to-one meetings with suppliers, a draft terms of reference pack, early sight of the invitation to tender and evaluation methodology, and finally an online market engagement event.
During the one-to-one sessions, the notice says, the Foreign Office “will not provide answers to supplier questions during these meetings”, with questions instead recorded and answered through a clarification process shared with all suppliers except where information is commercially sensitive.
The engagement deadline is 8 January 2027, and the tender notice is expected to be published on 19 January 2027. Suppliers register interest through the department’s Jaggaer eSourcing portal.
The framework falls under the light touch regime, which applies to certain services under the Procurement Act 2023 and allows contracting authorities greater flexibility in how they run a competition. The notice marks the opportunity as particularly suitable for small and medium-sized enterprises and for voluntary, community and social enterprises.
