£350m defence and security contract awarded

A contract worth up to £350 million to provide cutting-edge analysis to underpin defence and security decision-making in the UK has been awarded by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory to BAE Systems CORDA.

Under the ASTRID (Analysis for Science and Technology Research in Defence) contract, BAE Systems CORDA will use leading-edge techniques to provide analysis on critical strategy, policy and investment challenges for Dstl and Ministry of Defence. This research can also be re-purposed and shared across other areas within government to solve similar challenges, improving efficiency across the whole UK government.

The five-year contract will operate across five areas: strategy, policy and enterprise; capability and investment for platform and system level capabilities within current and future force structures; organisational structures, including back-office support, systems and processes; enabling services including modelling and data collection; and horizon scanning.

Rob Solly, Dstl Divisional Head, said: “The ASTRID contract will maintain the provision of high quality analysis to underpin decisions across MoD and our partners in wider government. It will build on the successful collaborative approach of ASC, providing access to the best talent in the UK and overseas. We also aim to progressively and significantly exceed the MoD target of awarding 25 per cent of the work to SMEs including non-traditional defence suppliers.”