International Fund for Ukraine (IFU)

Overview

The IFU is a funding mechanism that uses funding from international partners to procure priority military assistance for Ukraine at pace. This will ensure the continued supply of military support – lethal and non-lethal – to Ukraine through 2023 and beyond.

The fund is administered by the UK on behalf of an Executive Panel, comprising the UK, Norway, Netherlands, Denmark and Sweden. These partners, along with Iceland and Lithuania, have contributed a collective total of more than £520 million to the fund.

IFU Procurement Opportunities

The first IFU procurement round, known as ‘Urgent Bidding Round 1’ (UBR1) has now closed. An announcement on the resulting equipment package was made on 15 February 2023: Ukraine to receive multi-million pound capability boost from international fund.

We will shortly launch Urgent Bidding Round 2 (UBR2) and invite Expressions of Interest (EOI) from suppliers across the globe. The scope of requirements for UBR2 will cover:

• Air Defence
• Long range strike
• Upgrade and maintenance of existing Ukrainian platforms
• Mobility support
• Artillery or tank ammunition production

In order to streamline the process, the detailed requirements will be raised in the UK MOD’s Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP), the MOD’s strategic platform for advertising new opportunities and conducting procurement. When a requirement goes live, suppliers will be invited to submit an Expression of Interest via the DSP.

Suppliers should not approach the MOD for further details at this stage and must wait for the DSP notices to be published. Suppliers interested in responding to an opportunity should ensure that they are registered on the DSP. Guidance on registering and using the DSP is available on the DSP website directly under the Supplier Registration icon: Defence Sourcing Portal (DSP). There is no charge for registering or using the DSP and there is a DSP helpdesk available.

As with UBR1, procurements on behalf of Ukraine through the IFU cannot follow the recognised standard route for public procurement of equipment and services due to the urgent nature of the requirement and the evolving Russian threat. By submitting an EOI, suppliers acknowledge and accept the exceptional nature of UBR2 and waive all legal rights which may otherwise have arisen from participating in a public procurement.

This webpage will be updated when a new UBR2 requirement has been released on the DSP.

Timelines

UBR2 will go live shortly. Requirements will be raised in the DSP in a phased approach. The Air Defence requirement will launch week commencing 10 April. Long range strike and mobility support will launch shortly afterwards.

Background

Following UBR1, an equipment package with an expected value of more than £200m was announced. This will include vital capabilities in the form of air defence, uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), maritime intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, and spare parts for equipment, including Ukraine’s current tanks.

The IFU is not intended to be an exclusive route for support to the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and existing national and multinational routes for support to the AFU continue to run in parallel; submitting an EOI does not preclude suppliers from pursuing opportunities through these routes.

Contact us

Email: SPO-IntFundUkr@mod.gov.uk