Suppliers wishing to express an interest in the contract must email the MoD, after which they will be asked to complete a pre-qualification questionnaire “to determine suitability-for and advancement-to a competitive” tender process. The ministry said that it expects to appoint a supplier of the new secure infrastructure to five-year contract likely to come into effect in the second quarter of 2023 – although prospective providers are advised that this is “subject to change”. Official guidelines define Top Secret-classified data as “HM Government’s most sensitive information requiring the highest levels of protection from the most serious threats… where compromise could cause widespread loss of life or else threaten the security or economic wellbeing of the country”. “The service required would include: site leasing facility design, build, accreditation, and management and cloud IT system design, build, accreditation and support.” “The requirement would be for the full-service provision of physical and IT infrastructure classified above-secret,” the MoD notice said.

Data stored at the site will include that which is classified by government as Top Secret – which sits above Secret and Official as the highest level of security classification.

The department has published an early-stage procurement notice outlining a potential “requirement for the provision of secure infrastructure on a civilian site in the southeast of England”.Īlthough the ministry claimed that the details provided are, necessarily, limited by the sensitivity of the project, the notice indicated that the facility will likely include a private cloud system and physical document storage provided as a fully managed service. The Ministry of Defence has signalled its intention to implement a new highly secure IT and physical infrastructure for storing some of the UK’s most highly classified and sensitive information.

Top secret government