Published 9 February 2021

New portal will improve the way the Ministry of Defence procures and interacts with suppliers and industry

MOD has taken a big step towards e-Sourcing with the launch of the new Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP). There’s lots of benefits to this new approach which will modernise and improve the way the MOD procures and interacts with suppliers and industry.

The Portal will be a one-stop shop to access all MOD adverts, prequalification and tendering opportunities, as well as relevant information on doing business with MOD with suppliers now able to register on the platform.

The DSP also provides the internal system that enables MOD personnel to manage the opportunity through its journey to becoming a contract in a more effective way. The system allows for secure online document exchange and a clear audit trail, removing inefficient email and paper-based practices.

The result is that the existing web address for Defence Contracts Online (DCO) has been redirected to the new DSP. The DSP will be the route to contracting with the MOD and all suppliers will need to register on the platform in readiness for the full launch which will take place this month.

You can still access the DCO for current opportunities, just navigate to the page and click “view opportunities”.

Haydn Fowler, DE&S Programme Lead, says “Launching the DSP is an important milestone in improving how we engage externally and further improves our commercial systems. Current activities will continue but it’s really important that suppliers register on the DSP so that they’re ready for when it goes live. We’ve had some great feedback from suppliers throughout the process and user acceptance testing went well. To hear the portal is intuitive and easy to navigate shows this is the right thing to do and will further improve the process.”