Farnborough. 29 May 2020. BAE Systems has been announced as the preferred supplier for a major new framework contract worth 350milion GBP with the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD).

The contract was placed by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and will be delivered by BAE Systems’ analytical consultancy, CORDA. The Analysis for Science & Technology Research in Defence (ASTRID) framework will be the primary mechanism for providing wide-ranging decision support, analysis and advisory services to the MOD for up to seven years.

Suzanne Harrison, Director BAE Systems CORDA, said: “We are excited to continue in our role as the MOD’s partner of choice for analysis and decision support, working closely with partners across the supplier community to deliver this.It has been fantastic under the ASC to see collaborative teams from across industry and government working to deliver essential support to defence and security decision-makers. Our approach to ASTRID will build on the many strengths of ASC, while bringing in new innovations to keep improving on the successes of the last five years.”

It will be the successor to the £120m Analysis Support Construct (ASC), Dstl’s current flagship framework for defence and security analysis under which BAE Systems manages a 150-strong supply chain of defence companies, SMEs, consultancies and universities to deliver more than 300 separate analysis activities.
DSTL Divisional Head Rob Solly commented: “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% of the work to Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) including non-traditional defence suppliers.”