Defence Sourcing Portal
What is the Defence Sourcing Portal
The Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP) is the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MOD) primary route for advertising defence related procurement opportunities. It provides suppliers with visibility of upcoming contracts and supports transparent, compliant sourcing across defence and security programmes.
Public sector buyers use the Defence Sourcing Portal to publish opportunities, manage market engagement and ensure procurement activity is conducted in line with defence regulations and policy. Suppliers use it to identify relevant opportunities, access documentation and respond to defence tenders.
Commerce Decisions supports organisations using the Defence Sourcing Portal through the AWARD® software, our secure evaluation and sourcing platform designed for strategic procurements.
Who uses the Defence Sourcing Portal
The Defence Sourcing Portal is used by:
- MOD commercial and project teams
- Defence delivery organisations and partner bodies
- UK and international suppliers operating in the defence sector
It enables buyers to reach a broad supplier base while giving suppliers a clear and consistent view of defence opportunities.
How the Defence Sourcing Portal works
In practice, the Defence Sourcing Portal is used to:
- Publish contract notices and supporting documentation
- Manage supplier communications and clarifications
- Support compliant sourcing and competition processes
While the portal enables visibility and access, evaluation and decision making for strategic procurements often requires specialist tools to ensure consistency, governance and audit readiness.
Why the Defence Sourcing Portal matters for defence procurement
Defence procurement demands high levels of assurance, transparency and control. The Defence Sourcing Portal plays a key role by:
- Improving supplier access to defence opportunities
- Supporting fair and open competition
- Providing a clear audit trail of sourcing activity
This is particularly important for major programmes, sensitive procurements and multistakeholder evaluations.
Using the Defence Sourcing Portal with AWARD®
The AWARD® software complements the Defence Sourcing Portal by supporting the evaluation and governance stages of defence procurement. While opportunities are advertised through the portal, AWARD® enables buying teams to run structured, defensible evaluations aligned with MOD policy and best practice.
Organisations use AWARD® to:
- Manage complex evaluation criteria and scoring
- Ensure consistency across evaluators
- Maintain a full audit trail for assurance and challenge
Together, the Defence Sourcing Portal and AWARD® support end-to-end, compliant defence sourcing.
Defence Sourcing Portal FAQs
The Defence Sourcing Portal is the primary route used by the Ministry of Defence to advertise many defence procurement opportunities. Requirements depend on the nature and value of the procurement.
The portal is accessible to registered suppliers and organisations with an interest in defence and security opportunities.
Opportunities range from early market engagement activity to formal tenders across defence, security and support services.
By publishing opportunities centrally and managing communications consistently, the portal supports open competition and a clear audit trail.
