CORDA to deliver defence and security analysis to UK Government
The contract is worth up to £50 million over the two-and-a-half years, with options to extend until 31 March 2020.
The ASC will provide a more flexible and transparent approach to the analysis required by UK Government’s defence and security decision-makers. It encourages greater collaboration between the Government, industry and academia analysis communities through an open supply chain to deliver greater value for money and identify new approaches and capabilities for Dstl’s customers.
Commenting on the contract win, Mike Tulip, ASC Programme Director at CORDA, said: “The UK’s defence and security sector continues to face a number of strategic challenges and the demand for analysis is growing. The ASC brings together the varied and complementary strengths of the analysis communities within Government, academia and industry in a coherent way. This will help to improve the quality of analysis being delivered. Our role as prime contractor is to facilitate the collaboration between these three separate communities and ensure the solutions are technically robust, whilst providing better value for money.”
Rob Solly, Division Head, Defence and Security Analysis at Dstl said: “There is a huge demand for analysis by UK defence and security decision-makers. We want to create a framework that will provide a more flexible, collaborative and responsive way of working with industry and academia. We are confident that ASC, led by CORDA, with its technical and analytical expertise and flexible approach, will be able to deliver a coherent technical programme to the highest standards to meet this growing need.”
CORDA will work with six technical leads comprising of individuals from CORDA and independent, technical consultancies NSC, Polaris Consulting, RED Scientific Limited and Roke Manor Research, alongside an initial open supply chain of 11 large defence companies, 27 small and medium sized enterprises, seven academic institutions and three international research establishments, to provide access to over 1,200 analysts.
CORDA was awarded the ASC contract in August 2015 following an extensive, competitive bid process. The ASC has already seen 18 task requirements circulated to the supply chain, worth a total of over £1.5 million, with more tasks being added as the need arises. The first three tasks started in November 2015 and will be completed by the end of March 2016, providing analysis and understanding to inform planning for military engineering capabilities.