DODECADEFENCEIndependent Advisory · Defence & SecurityDefence · Security · Public Sector
From strategyto contract.
Independent Advisory. Defence & Security.
Most BD consultancies understand procurement or technology. We have spent years doing both, writing code on classified programmes and winning multimillion-pound contracts. We help engineering-led teams pursue, secure, and deliver in UK defence and public sector markets.
A focused 60 to 90 minute session, and a documented action plan within 48 hours. The right place to start, no obligation.
About Dodeca Defence
Lean by design.Deep by experience.
Dodeca Defence is a specialist advisory and business development practice built for the intersection of complex technology and high-assurance markets. We work with engineering-led organisations (SMEs, scale-ups, and international vendors) who have genuine capability but need expert support to navigate UK defence and public sector procurement.
The practice combines deep technical fluency with hard-won commercial experience across the MOD, UKIC, central government, and allied defence ecosystems. We have operated at every level, from engineering on classified programmes and leading major bids, to building go-to-market strategies and brokering partnerships between organisations that would not otherwise have found each other.
Senior expertise on every engagement, not a junior team working from a template.
Technical credibility
We speak the language of engineers and architects, and the language of procurement officers and programme directors.
Market knowledge
We know how MOD, UKIC, and central government frameworks actually work, not just in theory, but from years of winning and delivering on them.
Genuine relationships
Senior stakeholder networks built over years of delivery, not a LinkedIn list. We make introductions that move things forward.
The founder
Who you will be working with
Dodeca Defence is led by Luke Richardson, its founder. Luke spent years as a software engineer before moving to the commercial side of defence, with a career spanning Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, and CGI, delivery on classified programmes for UK national security customers, and work as a contractor directly for the National Cyber Security Centre. He can sit in the architecture review in the morning and the procurement meeting in the afternoon and be useful in both.
He works from the UK's south-west defence corridor, close to MOD Abbey Wood, and is a regular presence at the sector's main events, including Farnborough, DSEI, and the European exhibitions.
Engagements are led by Luke directly and delivered with a network of trusted associates and specialist partners. Senior on every engagement, by design.
The network
Where work needs more hands, we draw on an established bench of specialists: bid writers, accreditation and assurance specialists, cleared recruitment, and legal and export control partners. These are people we have worked with over years and bring in as the work requires, so you get the right specialist for the task without carrying a standing team.
Independent, with interests declared
Independence is the product. Dodeca has no technology to sell you and no partner quota to fill, so the advice is only ever about what gets you to contract.
Where we hold an interest in any organisation relevant to your engagement, you will know about it in writing before the work starts, any introduction that touches it is made free of charge, and if a material conflict cannot be managed, we decline the work. Independence you can check beats independence you are asked to assume.
How we work
A partner in growth.Not a consultant with a report.
We plug into your team at whatever stage makes sense, from first conversation with a market through to contract signature and delivery. Most clients come to us with one of three situations.
"We have real capability but cannot get in front of UK buyers."
You have technology or services that belong in front of MOD, UKIC, or central government, but the procurement landscape is opaque, the relationships are hard-won, and the frameworks are a maze. We have spent years building exactly the access and knowledge you need. We work with you to map the right routes, open the right doors, and build a pipeline that reflects what you can actually win.
"We have a live opportunity and we need to win it."
A tender has landed. A framework call-off is open. A partner wants to bring you into a bid. This is where the work gets real, and where the difference between winning and losing is usually in the preparation, the narrative, and the quality of the response. We embed with your team, bring the bid discipline, and help you tell a story that evaluation panels actually want to read.
"We're selling to customers who need evidence, not just assurance."
MOD, UKIC, and regulated government customers do not take your word for things. They want documentation, audit trails, governance structures, and a delivery approach that holds up to scrutiny. We wrap your team with the frameworks and artefacts that protect you commercially, build client confidence from day one, and position you for repeat business.
What working with us looks like
Ways to engage
The ladder is designed so each step earns the next: a workshop that proves value in a day, a sprint that delivers the strategy, and execution or retained support for the part that decides outcomes, because entering this market is a programme, not a project.
For overseas vendors
Entering the UK from overseas
The UK's Defence Investment Plan, published in June 2026, commits to a "buy British by default" approach in priority sectors and weights procurement towards companies with a substantive UK presence. For an overseas defence technology company, a credible UK footprint has stopped being optional.
Building one raises questions a domestic SME never faces: entity structure and establishment, National Security and Investment Act screening, export control and dual-use licensing, nationality constraints on security clearances, and how to sequence accreditations from a standing start. We have worked through every one of these questions in live engagements, not from a textbook.
Our UK market entry programme takes an overseas vendor from first assessment to an operating UK presence with a route to market: a structured entry sprint covering entity strategy, regulatory screening, readiness sequencing and target prioritisation, followed by hands-on execution support, introductions, and capture work on live opportunities.
We work particularly closely with Ukrainian and eastern European defence technology companies, covered in depth in our Ukraine section.
Start with a scoping session on your UK entry, and a written plan of action within two working days. No obligation.
Ukraine
The fastest learning loop in defence
Ukraine's defence industry is running the fastest capability iteration loop in the world: fielded, countered, redesigned, and fielded again in weeks. It has reset what combat-proven means, and it is reshaping how serious buyers, the UK among them, think about procurement tempo. We work inside that loop in both directions.
For Ukrainian and eastern European defence technology companies, we provide a route into UK and NATO markets: UK presence and entity strategy, National Security and Investment Act screening, export control positioning, accreditation sequencing, and introductions to the buyers and partners that matter. Operational evidence opens doors in the UK, but the market still makes you prove things in its own currency, and we translate between the two.
For UK companies, we help build partnerships around combat-proven Ukrainian capability: technology that has been tested in ways no trial programme can replicate, paired with UK market access and assurance credentials. Some of the strongest bid teams forming in this market right now are exactly that shape.
This is not a market we cover from a distance, and for the founder it is not an abstract one either: his family roots lie in the Polish-Ukrainian borderlands, and the region's history is part of his own. We work directly with Ukrainian defence technology companies, attend the sector's European events, and follow the UK's deepening industrial relationship with Ukraine closely, because it is where much of the next decade of this market will be decided.
A focused 60 to 90 minute session, and a documented action plan within 48 hours. The right place to start, no obligation.
Where we operate
Sectors & markets
Ministry of Defence
Programme engagement, secure delivery, and procurement framework navigation across land, air, maritime, and cyber domains.
UK Intelligence Community
Direct delivery experience within the UK Intelligence Community, and with the assurance, information security, and stakeholder engagement requirements of the national security environment.
Central Government
Cabinet Office, Home Office, FCDO, DWP, MHCLG, DHSC, and NHS (covering digital, cyber, and technology transformation).
Ukraine & Eastern Europe
Active engagement with Ukrainian defence technology companies and allied procurement channels. Direct experience supporting combat-proven technology into UK and NATO markets.
Read the Ukraine section →International & Allied Defence
Supporting international vendors entering UK markets, and UK organisations pursuing allied and export opportunities. Experience spanning NATO partner nations.
UAS, Space & Emerging Tech
Specialist support for drone systems, EW-resilient navigation, space-based capabilities, and emerging technology seeking pathways into regulated markets.
Procurement frameworks
CCSG-CloudDOS / Digital OutcomesDSPDynamic markets (formerly DPS)NATO procurementGet in touch
Start aconversation.
Whether you have a specific opportunity in mind, need help navigating a framework, or just want to understand whether we can help, we are happy to have an initial conversation with no obligation.
We typically respond within one working day.