Notice

AWE – Advanced Electronics and Electromechanical Devices: Competition Document

Updated 3 December 2024

1. Introduction: AWE – Advanced Electronics and Electromechanical Devices

1.1 Background: Future Technologies in the Space Domain to Enhance the Resilience and Reliability of the UK’s Defence and Commercial Space Systems.

This competition is on behalf of UK MOD, managed by DASA and funded through AWE plc. AWE is an arm’s length Non-Departmental Public Body wholly owned by the Ministry of Defence (MOD), working in close collaboration with the Defence Nuclear Organisation (DNO).

Our nuclear deterrent has been the cornerstone of our national security, safeguarding our values and way of life, for more than 70 years. It has protected the UK and our NATO allies from the most extreme acts of aggression and nuclear blackmail from our adversaries. Our deterrent is more relevant now than ever before.” - Defence Nuclear Enterprise Command Paper

AWE is a crucial part of this national endeavour.

Their scientific and engineering expertise underpins the credibility and safety of our deterrent. Now and into the future, MOD in conjunction with AWE will continue to maintain and develop a UK-sovereign capability in strategically important sectors. This helps deter the gravest threats to the UK and is critical to our security and prosperity.

One of these important sectors is technologies to enhance the resilience and reliability of Defence and commercial systems in the space domain, including vehicles that operate in the air-space domain. DASA, in conjunction with AWE, is seeking innovative ideas to approach four challenge areas in novel ways. Successful bids into this competition will complement existing and nascent UK-sovereign capabilities, contribute to the diversification of AWE and MOD’s supply chains, and boost the already considerable economic impact of the Defence Nuclear Enterprise.

AWE is focused on UK-sovereign capability, therefore eligible organisations:

• Must be UK owned and UK-registered
• Must comply with the National Security and Investments Act if part-foreign owned, and may be subject to pre-contract clarification questions
• Must be based in the UK and carry out the project development activity in the UK

2. Competition key information

2.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on Tuesday 10 December 2024 (GMT)

2.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will require an account. Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

2.3 Total funding available

The total possible funding available for Phase 1 of this competition is £4 million across two years (including VAT).
It is expected that a number of proposals will be funded through this competition, with values in the region of £50,000 to £600,000. However, proposals of any value within the budget will be considered, if deemed value for money. AWE would like to invest in at least one proposal across each challenge.

Additional funding for further phases to increase TRL may be available. If there will be a future phase, it will be open to applications from all innovators and not just those that submitted into Phase 1.

3. Supporting events

3.1 Dial-in sessions

Tuesday 22 October – A dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

Monday 28 and Tuesday 29 October – A series of 15 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions. If you would like to participate please register on the Eventbrite pages to book a one-to-one session for Monday 28 October, or Tuesday 29 October. Booking is on a first come first served basis.

4. Competition Scope

4.1 Objective:

To further enhance UK-sovereign, resilient, demonstrable capabilities for the space and air domains to address the following:

1. Power and data transfer across closed metal barriers.
2. Robust semi-conductor switching for high-voltage applications.
3. Low delta-T thermo-electric generation.
4. Low Drift Inertial Sensors.

4.2 Likely Scenarios

Operational environments may include a combination of sub-orbital, hypersonic, and military air flights. Systems must be resistant to normal and severe space weather, artificial radiological environments, high dynamic manoeuvres, and independent of updating from other systems.

5. Competition Challenges

We are seeking submissions that meet one of four challenge areas. Innovators are welcome to submit more than one proposal, against any of these challenge areas.

As part of the project description there is a need to have clear, definable deliverables. Innovators are expected to provide a breakdown of a financial plan, a clear project timeline and resource plan, which show all research development activities, as well as a descriptive expectation of the final outcome of the project. The closing deliverable description will need to include a final written report as well as a final in-person end of project event consolidating and presenting the work of the entire project. Innovators are responsible for delivering the above in their entirety.

5.1 Challenge 1: Power and Data Transfer Across a Closed Metal Barrier

The scope of this challenge is a space-packaged system for power and data transfer through a metal barrier, that is resilient to severe and artificial radiological environments and high dynamic conditions in the space and air domains. Candidate systems should consider at least 9 multi-plex data channels at 66Mb/sec per channel. Proposed ideas must begin at a minimum of TRL 3 and are expected to demonstrate at circa TRL 5.

Proposals that reach up to TRL 6 by the end of the project will be considered. Proposals that reach TRL 7 and beyond will not fit the scope of this competition.

Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:

• Acoustic i.e. piezo-electric transducers.
• Inductive coupling.
• Capacitive coupling.
• Magnetic resonance coupling

5.2 Challenge 2: Robust Semi-conductor Switch for High-voltage Applications in the Space Domain

There are technical demands from higher sub-systems that mandate resilient, radiation-hardened, fast-rise, high voltage, semi-conductor switching. Innovators are expected to demonstrate both performance and resilience to severe and artificial radiation environments, and very-high dynamic manoeuvre in the space and air domains. Proposed ideas should develop from TRL 3 to demonstrate at TRL 5.

AWE is open to broad concepts that have been already developed beyond TRL 3.

Proposals that reach up to TRL 6 by the end of the project will be considered. Proposals that reach TRL 7 and beyond will not fit the scope of this competition.

AWE would recommend investigating wide band gap semi-conductor materials that are robust to the space and air domains such as, but not necessarily limited to, Silicon Carbide (SiC).

5.3 Challenge 3: Low Delta-T Thermo-Electric Generators

This challenge looks to augment internal power generation through harvesting and storing thermo-electric energy in the space and air domains. AWE is seeking the demonstration of concepts that can be advanced further in terms of power and resilience to both space domains and very high-speed air domain environments.

Proposed ideas should be developed from a minimum of TRL 2 to a demonstration at TRL 4.

Proposals that reach up to TRL 6 by the end of the project will be considered. Proposals that reach TRL 7 and beyond will not fit the scope of this competition.

Areas to consider may be:

• Research into more sustainable thermoelectric materials from a perspective of health and safety, potential environmental hazards, and supply chain robustness.
• Research into the different materials and methods required to fabricate Thermo Electric Generators (TEGs) (e.g., effects of different soldering junctions between Thermo Electric (TE) materials and generator Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs).
• The development of TEG designs to optimise electrical power levels needed for low and high voltage applications.

5.4 Challenge 4: Low-Drift Inertial Navigation Sensors (INS)

AWE has a requirement to develop low-drift inertial sensors for strap-down inertial navigation with:

• Low noise
• Low bias instability
• Low random walk
• High Dynamic range
• Form and fit suitable for air and space domains in a defence application.

Innovators are expected to develop their bid from a minimum TRL 3 capability to demonstrate at TRL 5

Proposals that reach up to TRL 6 by the end of the project will be considered. Proposals that reach TRL 7 and beyond will not fit the scope of this competition.

5.5 Expressions of Interest (EOIs)

If you are uncertain of the relevance of your innovation, you are strongly recommended to contact your Innovation Partner to discuss sending a one-page expression of interest. Once your EOI has been submitted via your Innovation Partner, you should receive a response within 2 weeks, confirming whether or not your idea is in scope. The competition closes on the 10 December, so DASA cannot guarantee a response to an EOI submitted after the 25 November.

You will be required to confirm whether or not you have submitted an EOI and what the outcome was, when you submit your proposal. Submitting an EOI is not a mandatory criteria of this competition.

5.6 We are interested in…

We are interested in novel ideas to benefit end-users working in UK Defence, Security and Commercial air and space domains. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• an understanding of the challenges posed by the air and space environments, including in end-user natural, mechanical and artificial radiological events
• theoretical development, method of advancement or proof of concept research which can demonstrate potential for translation to practical demonstration in this phase
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to any defence and security context including critical national infrastructure sectors

5.7 We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• provide solutions that may become subject to the Regulations and Agreements around the Movement of Strategic Controlled Goods, such as but not limited to:
  • International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR).
  • Wassenaar Agreement on the Non-Proliferation of Dual-Use Goods.
  • Missile Technology Control Regime (MTCR).
• projects that are subject to MODREC due to timescales (see section 7.9 below).
• lose their properties due to exposure to natural severe and man-made radiological environments.
• solutions that are not developed enough for exploitation or have no clear research advancement, remaining at a low maturity (for Challenges 1, 2 and 4 – the outcome should not fall below TRL 5; for Challenge 3 – the outcome should not fall below TRL 4
• represent repackaging of existing products without significant further development
• have reliance upon an international supply chain and/or restrictions imposed by national and international agreements
• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation which therefore does not translate to a practical demonstration
• an unsolicited resubmission of a previous DASA bid
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

6. Accelerating and exploiting your innovation

It is important that over the lifetime of DASA competitions, ideas are matured and accelerated towards appropriate end-users to enhance capability. How long this takes will depend on the nature and starting point of the innovation.

6.1 A clear route for exploitation

For DASA to consider routes for exploitation, ensuring deliverables are designed with the aim of demonstrating the solution, making it as easy as possible for collaborators/stakeholders to identify the innovative elements of your proposal.

Whilst DASA recognises that early identification and engagement with potential end users during the competition and subsequent phases are essential to implementing an exploitation plan, during the competition phase all correspondence must be via the DASA helpdesk, or your local Innovation Partner.

All proposals to DASA should articulate the expected development in technology maturity of the potential solution over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved capability against the current known (or presumed) baseline.

Where solutions offered by suppliers offer credible potential for a positive impact on performance, AWE is keen to sustain partnerships that may stretch over many years, consistent with its long-term programmes.

6.2 How to outline your exploitation plan

A higher technology maturity is expected in subsequent phases. Include the following information to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans to date:

• the intended defence or security users of your final product and whether you have previously engaged with them, their procurement arm or their research and development arm
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end user procurement programmes
• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time, improved capability) that your solution will provide to the user
• whether it is likely to be a standalone product or integrated with other technologies or platforms
• expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example, “scaling up” for manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and wider markets for exploitation
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

6.3 Is your exploitation plan long term?

Long term studies may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should be clear that there is credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

Include project specific information which will help exploitation. This competition is being carried out as part of a wider MOD programme and with cognisance of cross-Government initiatives. We may collaborate with organisations outside of the UK Government and this may provide the opportunity to carry out international trials and demonstrations in the future.

7. How to apply

7.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on Tuesday 10December 2024 (GMT)

7.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

Via the DASA Online Submission Service for which you will be required to register.
Only proposals submitted through the DASA Online Submission Service will be accepted.

7.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for Phase 1 of this competition is £4 million across two years (including VAT).

7.4 How many proposals will DASA fund

It is expected that a number of proposals will be funded through this competition, with values in the region of £50,000 to £600,000. However, proposals of any value within the budget will be considered, if deemed value for money. AWE would like to invest in at least one proposal across each challenge.

Additional funding for further phases to increase TRL may be available. Any further phases will be open to applications from all innovators and not just those that submitted Phase 1 bids.

7.5 For further guidance

For more information on our competition process and how your proposal is assessed, click here.

Queries should be sent to the DASA Help Centre via accelerator@dstl.gov.uk .

7.6 What your proposal must include

• the proposal should focus on the Phase 1 requirements but must also include a brief (uncosted) outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation
• when submitting a proposal, you must complete all sections of the online form, including an appropriate level of technical information to allow assessment of the bid and a completed finances section
• you must include a list of other current or recent government funding you may have received in this area if appropriate, making it clear how this proposal differs from this work
• a project plan with clear and descriptive milestones, outputs and deliverables must be provided. Deliverables must be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the proposed project plan and will define the end-point for that phase of work; there must be included a final report and presentation event.
• you should also plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting, marking the start of Phase 1, a mid-project report and an end of project event consolidating and presenting the work of the entire project. Regular online monthly reviews with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager will be set to discuss progress; all meetings will be in the UK. Meetings may take place virtually and in person. Any slides presented at these meetings will need to be made available to the project team.
• your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition and supplier contract timescales up to 24 months). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report and final in-person presentation event) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant

7.7 What your resourcing plan should include

Your resourcing plan must identify, the nationalities of known proposed employees that you intend to work on and in this project.

7.8 If your proposal is recommended for funding

In the event of a proposal being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed employees and feasibility of issuing a contract. Please note that this process will take as long as necessary and could take up to 6 weeks in some cases for non-UK nationals.
You must identify any ethical / legal / regulatory factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received.

7.9 Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee (MODREC)

You must identify any ethical / legal / regulatory factors within your proposal. As stated in Section 5.7 ‘We are not interested in’, you must make it clear in your proposal that you DO NOT require the completion and attainment of ethical favourable opinion from the Ministry of Defence Research Ethics Committee (MODREC). Due to the timescales for this project, if MODREC approval is required your proposal will be rejected. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please refer to the MODREC Guidance for Suppliers or contact your Innovation Partner for further guidance.
Requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities, need to be included in your proposal. There is no guarantee that GFA will be granted or will be available. If you require GFA, you should include an alternative plan in case it is not available.

Failure to provide any of the above listed will automatically render your proposal non-compliant.

7.10 Export control for overseas partners

All relevant export control regulations will apply if a company ultimately wants to sell a developed solution to a foreign entity. All innovators must ensure that they can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can be supplied to the UK and other countries. If you cannot confirm that you can gain the requisite licences, your proposal will be sifted out of the competition.
Additionally, if we believe that you will not be able to obtain export clearance, additional checks may be conducted, which may also result in your proposal being sifted out of the competition.

7.11 Cyber risk assessment

Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ)

On receipt of a ‘Fund’ decision, successful suppliers must be able to prove cyber resilience before the contract is awarded. The start of this process is the submission of a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ). The SAQ allows suppliers to demonstrate compliance with the specified risk level and the corresponding profile in Def Stan 05-138, and the level of control required will depend on this risk level.

To expedite the contracting time of successful suppliers we ask all suppliers to complete the SAQ before they submit their proposal.  The SAQ can be completed here using the DASA Risk Assessment RAR-240913B02 and answer questions for risk level “Low”. In the form, for the contract name please use the competition title, and for the contract description please use the title of your proposal.

Defence Cyber Protection Partnership

The Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) will review your SAQ submission and aim to respond within 2 working days with a unique reference number, this will be used as an indication of your compliance status. They welcome emails if you think a response has not been provided in this time. The resulting email response from DCPP should be attached (JPG or PNG format) and included within the DASA submission service portal, when the proposal is submitted. You will also be asked to enter your SAQ reference number. Please allow enough time to receive the SAQ reference number prior to competition close at 12:00 midday on Tuesday 10th December 2024 (GMT).
The SAQ will be evaluated against the CRA for the competition, and it will be put it into one of the following categories:

1. Compliance Status Met – no further action
2. Compliance status Not Met – if successful in competition and being funded, the innovator will be required to complete a Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP) before the contract is placed, which will need to be reviewed and agreed with the relevant project manager.
   Innovators can submit a proposal without all controls in place, but are expected to have all the cyber protection measures necessary to fulfil the requirements of the contract in place at the time of contract award, or have an agreed Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP).
   The CIP provides evidence as to how and when potential innovators will achieve compliance. Provided the measures proposed in the Cyber Implementation Plan do not pose an unacceptable risk to the MOD, a submission with a Cyber Implementation Plan will be considered alongside those who can achieve the controls. A final check will be made to ensure cyber resilience before the contract is placed.  Commercial staff cannot progress to contract without it. This process does not replace any contract specific security requirements. Additional information about cyber security can be found at: DCPP: Cyber Security Model industry buyer and supplier guide

7.12 Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a title, Proposal Value Proposition Statement (PVPS) and a short abstract. The title, PVPS and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments, to describe your project and its intended outcomes and benefits. They may be included at DASA events in relation to this competition and in documentation such as brochures. As this information can be shared, it should not contain information that may compromise Intellectual property.

7.13 How your proposal will be assessed

At Stage 1, all proposals will be checked for compliance against the competition document and may be rejected before a full assessment is carried out. Only those proposals that demonstrate compliance against the competition scope and a DASA pre-sift criteria check will be taken forward to full assessment. For more information on how your proposal will be assessed please read the Assessment process and criteria.

Presift Criteria
The proposal has a clear outline of how it intends to meet the scope of the competition challenge area	Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal fully explains in all three sections of the DASA submission service how it meets the DASA criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and viability) and the competition scope	Pass / Fail
The proposal must contain a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan which demonstrate how the work proposed will be completed	Pass / Fail
The proposed deliverables include evidence of a final project report	Pass / Fail
The proposed deliverables include evidence of an in-person end of project event consolidating and presenting the work of the entire project	Pass / Fail
The proposal confirms that the bidding organisation is UK-owned and UK-registered. Part-foreign owned companies that comply with the National Security and Investments Act may be eligible, but will be may be subject to pre-contract clarification questions	Pass / Fail
The proposal confirms that the bidding organisation is based in the UK, and all project development activity will take place in the UK	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies there is no need for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of the proposal is below £4 million including VAT	Pass / Fail
The final deliverable month indicated in the proposal must be less than or equal to 24 months from T0. T0 is the date the contract is agreed to by both parties	Pass / Fail
It must be clear that innovations addressing Challenge 1, 2 or 4 are starting at a minimum of TRL 3 and that by the end of the project the innovation will be developed to TRL 5	Pass / Fail
It must be clear that innovations addressing Challenge 3 are starting at a minimum of TRL 2 and that by the end of the project the innovation will be developed to TRL 4	Pass / Fail

Proposals that pass Stage 1 will then be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) by subject matter experts from AWE, and when required, Dstl, other government departments and nominated front-line military commands. You will not have the opportunity to view or comment on assessors’ recommendations.
DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from innovators during the procurement process, which includes the full proposal, to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. In providing such information you consent to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.
Further guidance on how your proposal is assessed is available on the DASA website.
After assessment, proposals will be discussed internally at a Decision Conference where a vote of Fundable / No Fund / No Fund resubmit will be made. Based on these assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations a decision will be made on all proposals that are recommended for fundable, whether they will are to be contracted.

Innovators are not permitted to attend the Decision Conference.

After a Decision Conference is complete proposals that are unsuccessful will receive brief feedback.

7.14 Things you should know about DASA contracts: DASA terms and conditions

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for innovators. For this competition we will be using the Innovation Standard Contract (ISC), links to the contract: Terms and Conditions. We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions; if applicable, please ensure your commercial department has provided their acceptance.

More information on DEFCON 705 can be found by registering on the Knowledge in Defence site.
Funded projects will be allocated to a Project Manager to monitor and ensure the proposed work is carried out on time and on budget, meeting the agreed deliverable criteria, alongside an allocated Technical Partner (acting as the technical point of contact). In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation including, where appropriate, introductions to end-users and business support helping to develop the business.
We will use deliverables from DASA proposals within any issued contracts in accordance with our rights and detailed in the contract terms and conditions.
For this competition, £4 million (including VAT) is currently available to fund proposals. Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, DASA may continue to seek funding from partners across government and shall consider your proposal fundable for 12 months from the date of the decision release. We may share the abstract, PVPS and title of your proposal with any other UK government departments that may express an interest in funding the proposal through DASA, in accordance with the competition document. If a budget holder within the MOD wishes to read the full proposal to decide if they will fund it, we will share it with them under these circumstances. If it is within 60 days of the original NOT FUNDED decision release date, we will share the full proposal with them without seeking your permission. If it is over 60 days since the original NOT FUNDED decision, we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal with them.

For other potential funders, we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal regardless of the number of days since the original NOT FUNDED decision release.

In the event that funding becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms. Your official DASA feedback will indicate if your proposal was deemed fundable, but not awarded funding at the time.

8. Phase 1 key dates

Dial-in

Tuesday 22nd October 2024

Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions

Monday 28th and Tuesday 29th October 2024

Competition closes

Tuesday 10th December 2024 12:00 GMT

Feedback release

February 2025

Contracting

Aim to start April 2025 and end up to 24 months later in 2025-2027

9. Help: Contact the DASA Help Centre

Competition queries including on process, application, commercial, technical and intellectual property aspects should be sent to the DASA Help Centre at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title. If you wish receive future updates on this competition, please email the DASA Help Centre.
While all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access of information to all potential innovators.