Serco set for direct award for naval air station support

The Ministry of Defence intends to award a contract worth approximately GBP 15 million to Serco for continued engineering support and airfield services at Royal Naval Air Stations Yeovilton and Culdrose, the UK Defence Journal understands.

The notice, published on 2 April, sets out the MoD’s intention to award the deal directly to Serco without competition under Section 41 of the Procurement Act 2023. The contract would cover a period of one year with the option to extend for a further year.

The MoD justified the direct award on the grounds that changing supplier would result in services that are “different from, or incompatible with, the existing services.” The notice stated that an alternative provider would lack Serco’s “deeply embedded operational expertise and established relationships at Yeovilton and Culdrose” as well as its “suitably trained and experienced staff.”

The department set out a detailed case for why switching contractors would cause disproportionate difficulties. Among the risks cited were “unacceptable risks to performance and safety resulting from the need to rebuild critical trust and operational knowledge,” the need to invest additional resources in retraining staff and modifying systems, and “a risk to the continued readiness and support to MCT aircraft, which is critical to national defence.”

The MoD also warned that a change in supplier could lead to disruption to ground support and equipment provision at RNAS Yeovilton, increased lead times in returning airframes to flying operations at RNAS Culdrose, and a reduction in available aircraft in the forward fleet.

The direct award justification falls under paragraph 7 of Schedule 5 of the Procurement Act, which permits contracts to be awarded without competition where the existing supplier’s services cannot be replicated without incompatibility or disproportionate technical difficulty. Direct awards of this nature are not unusual in defence, particularly for specialist support services at operational military sites where continuity and institutional knowledge are considered essential to maintaining safety and readiness.