Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, with reference to his Department’s award notice entitled UK5 - Transparency Notice, published 17 December 2025, what definition the Department uses for technical lock‑in.

The Ministry of Defence does not use a single formal definition of ‘technical lock in’. In the context of the referenced award, the term is used to describe situations where changing a supplier would create disproportionate operational technical difficulty, disruption, or incompatibility with existing systems.