NAVAL SUPPORT INTEGRATED GLOBAL NETWORK (NSIGN)

Military Capability

Record date: 31 March 2026

Whole-life cost: £14.4bn
Published schedule: 01/12/2021 – 29/12/2029
NISTA delivery confidence: Not disclosed
Senior responsible owner: Gary McCormack

What the project is for

The Naval Support Integrated Global Network (NSIGN) is the re-provision of the services contracted through Future Maritime Support Programme, specifically Ship and Submarine engineering and key Naval Base enablers. NSIGN consists of 3 projects, Ships Support, Submarine Support and Naval Bases. Whilst NSIGN will continue to develop the market facing transformation (a combination of single source and competition) it will also utilise Defence frameworks wherever possible, expand the scope for Ships to include non-complex, provide choice for how the Royal Navy will operate in the future, and look at project scope boundaries/opportunities where NSIGN could deliver more effectively.

Departmental delivery commentary

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the NISTA/SRO Delivery Confidence Assessment rating at 25/26-Q4 remained at Amber. This is primarily due to the following factors. 1. The NSIGN Programme is rated Amber to reflect that it is delivering progress across all three Projects through the concept and assessment phases, while continuing to face a small number of significant and interrelated challenges. 2. Progress to date demonstrates a clear strategic direction, increased maturity of user requirements and options, and improved Programme level understanding of dependencies, risks and affordability drivers across the Ships, Submarines and Naval Bases Projects. 3. On going uncertainty on publication of the Defence Investment Plan creates constraints on long term affordability, limiting the Programme’s ability to fully de-risk subsequent delivery stages at this point.

Schedule

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the programme's end-date at 25/26-Q4 remained the same at 22/03/2030. This is primarily due to the following factors. 1. The baseline of the programme and the Integrated Programme Schedules support the deliverability assessment, but timelines remain challenging to contract award with programmes meeting either the current Future Maritime Support Programme expiry dates for planned Future Martime Support Programme extensions (in 2026 and 2028). 2. The active close management of Future Maritime Support Programme Extensions alongside the NSIGN activity are key to mitigating the risks to continuity of service delivery.

Cost

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project's departmentally agreed Whole Life Cost at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) decreased from £20264.02M to £17000.81M. This is primarily due to the following factors. 1. Programme level Cost Modelling will be finalised on publication of the Defence Investment Plan. 2. The current marginal (<1%) whole life affordability challenge (against a total assessed expenditure of £20bn over 10 years) will be resolved through further cost-modelling and challenge prior to the the NSIGN Ships Invitation to Negotiate (as part of the Outline Business Case approval and Naval Base Outline Business Case and NSIGN Subs Full Business Case in Quarter 1 26/27).

Benefits

Compared to financial year 24/25-Q4, the project's departmentally agreed Benefits at 25/26-Q4 (measured in £m) remained at 0. This is primarily due to the following factors. NSIGN has a clear benefits strategy focussed on improving availability of assets to support defence outcomes. Benefits plans and profiles continue to mature inline with Outline Business Case and Full Business Case submission timelines.