UK MoD Defcon Series

UK MoD Terms & Contract Conditions- Key Areas of Contract

The UK Ministry of Defence has established "standard form" conditions of contract that are normally incorporated in any UK MoD Invitation to Tender (ITT) and resulting contract by their assigned DEFCON number and edition. The prospective contractor must gain an understanding of the contractual provisions incorporated within that DEFCON by accessing on the web, the UK MOD Commercial Toolkit (part of the UK MOD Acquisition System Guidance (ASG) formerly known as the Acquisition Operating Framework(AOF)) where the contractual obligations associated with each referenced DEFCON are detailed.

The table below lists the major DEFCONs & DEFFORMS associated with the important contractual areas of pricing of single source contracts, Intellectual Property Rights and contract termination. These being three areas of contracting with the UK Ministry of Defence where there is to a large degree an established practice in responding to these contract conditions. It is important for a prospective contractor to be aware of established practice when bidding and subsequently performing UK Ministry of Defence contracts to ensure that the contractual obligations accepted by the contractor are fair and reasonable having regard to all the circumstances of the procurement. Defcon Training Limited can advise on prospective responses in these key areas of the UK MoD conditions of contract.

The Defence Reform Act (and associated Single Source Contract Regulations) has resulted in an number of the historic Defcon 600 series pricing regulations being retired from further use and some being revised. The contractors obligations in respect of contracts subject to the Defence Reform Act (DRA) (primary legislation) & Single Source Contract Regulations (secondary legislation) are now set out in that legislation with the Single Source Regulations Office (SSRO) providing statutory guidance. 

The UK MoD has issued Defcons 800-804 in respect of contracts and sub-contracts that are a qualifying defence contract (QDC) or a qualifying Sub-contract (QSC) under the DRA.

For contracts that are not subject to the DRA due to value or other reasons the UK MOD have issued Defcons 811-815 with the intention that these will secure for the MoD similar rights in specific areas to those it obtains through the DRA. None of these Defcons have been agreed with industry and the obligations contained in these Defcons need careful considerations as well as consideration being given to the rights/benefits omitted from these Defcons in comparison to the pre-DRA situation, (Lack of remedy limitation under DEFCON 652 which has been retired allowing the UK MoD to seek damages at law for any breach of the pricing obligations) for example.

These DEFCONS & DEFFORMS are available to download from our Resources page.