The Ministry of Defence has cancelled its competition to secure a through-life support solution for the Royal Navy’s five Type 31 frigates, according to a contract notice published on the Find a Tender service.
The notice, issued on 22 July 2026, announces the abandonment of the Type 31 Through Life Support procurement, which had been advertised on the Defence Sourcing Portal and Find a Tender in November 2023. The MOD states that the notice is for the purposes of transparency only and does not constitute a request for expressions of interest.
The competition had sought management and through-life support services for the five Inspiration-class Type 31 frigates over a minimum eight-year period, with two additional one-year extension options, run under the Competitive Negotiated procedure of the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011. In setting out the reasoning, the notice states that “changes to the programme context, commercial practicality, and enterprise support planning mean the assumptions underpinning the current T31 TLS competition no longer hold.” The MOD adds that “continuation is therefore not judged to be in the NA-M DM Contracting Authority’s best interests and a decision has been made to cancel further activity against this requirement.”
The support solution had been intended to sustain the availability and operational service of the Type 31 fleet across a range of tasks. According to the original notice, the requirement covered the management of maintenance, the supply chain, design services, engineering services, support information, and safety, environmental protection and security, alongside overall management of the service. The original description set out that the frigates would sit “at the heart of the RN’s surface fleet, deterring aggression and maintaining the security of the UK’s interests,” working alongside allies to “deliver credible UK warship presence across the globe.”
The Type 31 programme is being delivered by Babcock International at its Rosyth facility in Scotland, where the ships are being assembled under a contract awarded in 2019 for a class based on the Arrowhead 140 design, itself derived from the Iver Huitfeldt-class frigate operated by the Royal Danish Navy. The lead ship, HMS Venturer, was floated off in 2023, with the remaining four vessels, Active, Formidable, Bulldog and Campbeltown, at varying stages of construction. The class is intended to replace five general-purpose Type 23 frigates that have served the Royal Navy since the early 1990s.
The notice describes the frigates as flexible and adaptable by design, undertaking missions such as the interception and disruption of those using the sea for unlawful purposes, collecting intelligence, conducting defence engagement and assisting those in need. The abandonment of the through-life support competition leaves open the question of how sustainment for the class will now be arranged, with the MOD having indicated that its approach to enterprise support planning has shifted since the requirement was first advertised more than two and a half years ago.
