The notice, published on 5 August, is a UK2 preliminary market engagement notice, meaning no competition has opened and no contract has been awarded. A significant point emerges on how the authority would be staffed as the documents indicate that while the Platform Authority position itself must be held by a crown servant, supporting organisations will be needed to supply workforce and expertise for it to function. The contracting authority is based at Whale Island in Portsmouth, and the classifications attached to the notice cover uncrewed underwater vehicles and engineering services. Existing safety and certification regimes were built around crewed warships, and questions of who certifies an uncrewed vessel as safe to operate, and on what basis, have not been fully resolved anywhere. A platform authority is the body that owns that judgement across a type’s life, setting the standards a vessel must meet and assuring that it continues to meet them.