Notice

Competition document: Don't Blow It! phase 2

Updated 19 December 2019

The deadline for this competition has been extended to 1700 GMT (1200 ET) on 9 January 2020.

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals for novel and innovative technologies and approaches to access, disable and / or destroy chemical and biological munitions, improvised explosive devices (IEDs) containing chemical and biological agents, and containers of bulk chemical or biological agents in challenging environments.

Following a successful phase 1, this phase 2 competition has, subject to funding and contract, up to £1.5 million available to fund innovations at technology readiness level (TRL) 3 upwards to develop full-scale prototypes ready for testing on agent simulants and munition surrogates. Funding is due to be approved before the competition closes.

It is not compulsory to have been involved in phase 1 to apply. You should however make yourself aware of the previous competition Don’t Blow It! phase 1 and our transparency data of who was funded. Work for phase 2 will need to reach higher maturity than work funded in phase 1.

This competition is jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the US Department of Defense (DoD), and will operate under an extant memorandum of understanding between both nations.

The submission deadline for proposals is 1700 GMT (1200 ET) on 9 January 2020.

2. Background

Under the Chemical Weapons Convention, an international arms control treaty which entered into force in 1997, all member states are obligated to destroy any chemical weapons they own or possess, or that they abandoned on the territory of another member state. In the past, states tended to have large stockpiles of chemical weapons (in excess of 8.5 million munitions and containers have been declared globally since 1997). To date, governments and industry have primarily focused resources and efforts on implementing large-scale destruction programmes utilising techniques such as incineration, explosive destruction or neutralisation. These approaches to chemical weapons destruction have worked exceptionally well in the past.

As the global stockpiles are eliminated, there is an increasing focus on developing a toolkit of novel and innovative options to enable rapid, effective and irreversible destruction of smaller caches discovered in resource-limited or hostile environments. These caches may comprise munitions or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), with a chemical or biological agent fill, and/or containers of bulk agent. They may be discovered in a variety of challenging environments such as on the battlefield, within mountainous regions, in a riverine or in an urban setting. In these cases, constructing a large-scale destruction facility would not be practicable or affordable.

Recent chemical examples include:

• destruction of small quantities of munitions, chemical agents and precursors from the production and use of sulfur mustard by terrorists in Iraq and Syria
• destruction of two nerve agent filled IEDs in Syria, reportedly abandoned by terrorists
• destruction of chemical weapons abandoned by Japan in China; weapons are recovered and stored at dozens of sites throughout the country, often in remote areas and containing small quantities of chemical agents

In a limited number of cases, where small numbers of chemical weapons have been discovered in a hazardous condition, posing an immediate threat to the safety of people and the environment, they have been destroyed by open detonation. This process is carried out in an open outdoor area, and both the munitions and chemical fill are destroyed explosively. Whilst this method is not prohibited under the Chemical Weapons Convention, it is only used in limited circumstances for expedient destruction and is not the preferred option due to potential collateral damage and the associated logistical burden. Whilst alternative destruction technologies exist, they are also not appropriate for use in all circumstances.

Through this DASA competition, we want to identify novel technologies or existing technologies that can be used in a novel way, to apply to this problem space. These improved capabilities will allow us to address a greater breadth of threats in a wider range of circumstances meaning we can disable or destroy these hazardous devices more quickly and efficiently.

3. Competition scope

Key limitations of applying traditional large-scale destruction technologies to smaller caches in challenging environments include:

• significant logistical burden (requiring large equipment (size and weight) to be transported and/or a specific facility to be set up)
• resource intensive (such as requiring large amounts of electricity or water)
• manpower intensive (requiring significant set-up time or manual operation)
• low throughput and not designed for small-diameter or irregularly shaped items
• large quantities of waste generated

We are seeking novel and innovative technologies and approaches that will overcome these limitations and enhance the range of tools available for dealing with these types of devices in challenging environments. We’re not anticipating a one-size-fits-all solution and envisage that approaches will result in a set of tools or systems capable of addressing a range of scenarios. We expect these tools will ultimately enable destruction methods to be more rapid, effective and flexible than those used for large stockpiles, and reduce logistical support requirements, whilst maximising ease of operation, transportability and ruggedness of the equipment.

We are looking for technologies that are adaptable to varying munition and container sizes and shapes, have higher throughput and can destroy a range of devices either in situ or with minimum displacement. The solution does not necessarily need to be reusable – it could be a sacrificial single-use approach. Your proposed technical solution must minimise the impact of any hazardous materials generated.

As well as truly novel solutions, we are also interested in proposals that develop existing technologies used in other sectors for different purposes that can be adapted for use in a scalable and novel way to this problem set.

4. The Competition Challenges

This call has three challenges. In this phase, we are looking for proposals which address the access challenge as well as disable and/or destruction. Whilst proposals addressing a single challenge may still be considered, preference will be given to those proposals developing a system solution and addressing multiple challenges.

1. Access – we are looking for novel and innovative technologies and approaches that can access munitions, IEDs and containers of bulk agent without relying on the original design features, such as filling ports, which may or may not be present. A filling port is an access hole into a munition or container that enables it to be filled or drained
2. Disable – We are seeking novel and innovative technologies and approaches that prevent munitions, IEDs and bulk agent being used as intended. Your proposed technology or approach must prevent these munitions, IEDs or bulk agent from being used for their intended purpose either temporarily (to prevent imminent use) or, if possible, permanently
3. Destroy – We are looking for novel and innovative technologies and approaches that permanently and irreversibly destroy munitions, IEDs and bulk agent

The devices to be accessed, disabled or destroyed may be munitions, IEDs or containers filled with chemical or biological agents. The munitions may be as large as 175mm projectiles and may contain explosive materials, which could be unstable. The IEDs may be irregularly shaped and may also contain explosive materials. The containers may hold up to 1 metric tonne of bulk chemical agent. Biological agents would be found in much smaller bulk quantities, and unlikely to exceed 30 litres. The chemical agents may include the toxic chemicals and precursors listed in Schedule 1 and Schedule 2 of the Chemical Weapons Convention, which may be liquids, solids or gases. The biological agents may include any disease-causing organism or toxin covered by the Biological and Toxin Weapons Convention, and may be liquids or solids.

We are seeking solutions which are readily transportable and satisfy one of two conditions:

• man-portable – the system and consumables fit in two standard military backpacks, and can be carried by two people; or
• mobile – the system and consumables must fit within the size and weight constraints of a single NATO 463L pallet, and should be transportable by vehicle (land or air)

Ideally your solution would be capable of accessing, disabling or destroying up to one metric tonne of bulk chemical agent or up to 30 litres of biological agent. In addition, the solution should be able to access, disable or destroy up to 48 munitions (as large as 175mm calibre) within 12 hours (in hostile territory) or 72 hours (in non-hostile territory), inclusive of equipment set-up and tear-down time.

4.1 Clarification of what we want

For this competition we are interested in proposals that:

• describe novel and innovative technologies and approaches (which may include advancing work initiated in phase 1); or
• develop or apply existing technologies in a new way

These proposals will:

• provide a complete system solution; or
• comprise a single component part which will contribute to a system solution or a suite of tools

Where phase 1 funded proposals were focused on single component parts, phase 2 projects should ideally develop a system solution or form part of a wider tool kit either by collaboration with other partners or by integration into existing technologies. We’re looking for proposals from both traditional defence suppliers and non-defence suppliers. This could include, but is not limited to, the following industry sectors:

• oil and gas
• aerospace
• nuclear
• hazardous waste management
• mining
• subsea

Criteria to meet

Your proposal will need to meet a number of minimum threshold criteria to be funded in phase 2 and should aim to meet (or exceed) as many of the objective criteria as possible. The minimum acceptable threshold levels and objectives are summarised in the table below:

Parameters	Threshold Criteria	Objective Criteria
Challenge addressed	Single component solution to access, disable or destroy	System solution to access and destroy
Access	Munition: 16mm wall thickness steel Container: Dependent on material*	Munition: 23mm wall thickness steel Container: Dependent on material*
Disable	Rendered unusable for its intended purpose temporarily	Rendered unusable for its intended purpose permanently
Destroy	99.9% destruction of payload	99.99% destruction of payload
Throughput	Munitions: 48 Bulk agent: 1 metric tonne (chemical); 30 litres (biological) Timescale: 72 hours	Munitions: 48 Bulk agent: 1 metric tonne (chemical); 30 litres (biological) Timescale: 12 hours
Target type	Munition: 155mm projectile Container: 5 litre container	Munition: 175mm projectile Container: 1 metric tonne
Net explosive quantity	Munition: 1.1kg Container: N/A	Munition: 3.2kg Container: N/A
Agent quantity	Munition: 5.3kg Container: 5 litres	Munition: 6.7kg Container: 1 metric tonne

*These criteria will vary according to the material of construction of the container. This can be discussed further with the competition technical team.

Prototype testing and demonstration

At the end of phase 2, we expect you to demonstrate the success of your solution against the above criteria, and show it has reached an appropriate TRL, ideally TRL 6, by testing a full-scale prototype against appropriate agent simulant(s) in surrogate targets (i.e. munitions and/or containers). The demonstration will take place outdoors at your facility, or an alternative agreed facility. Your prototype should be a working system that closely resembles the final design concept in configuration (size, weight and packaging) and capability (i.e. performance).

The most appropriate agent simulant and surrogate targets will depend on the destruction technology employed and must be agreed by the competition technical team during one to one calls. It is strongly recommended that you discuss your proposal with the technical team during the 1 to 1 teleconferences in October so that the required type of surrogate targets, and the type and quantity of simulant can be accurately costed into your proposal.

4.2 Clarification of what we do not want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• purely identify the agent and/or deliver non-destructive evaluation
• will have a heavy training burden for end users
• provide incremental improvements in current destruction solutions for chemical and biological weapons, unless these are innovative and show significant added benefit
• cannot demonstrate feasibility within the timescale of the phase of the competition
• lack clear detail on the metrics which will be used to define the success of the solution
• are unaffordable (for example a single-use sacrificial system which is so expensive as to be cost-prohibitive)
• provide just consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews – we are looking for a prototype that ideally reaches TRL 6 by the end of this phase

5. Exploitation / Transition

Over the lifetime of DASA competition phases, ideas must be accelerated towards appropriate end use to enhance capability. How long this takes will be dependent on the nature and starting point of the innovation. Early identification and appropriate engagement with potential users during this competition and subsequent phases is essential.

All proposals to DASA should articulate the development in TRL of the output over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved operational capability. For this competition, it is envisaged that proposals will achieve delivery of a prototype at TRL 6. The deliverables in your proposal (especially the final prototype demonstration) should be designed to provide evidence that you have reached the intended TRL (TRL 6) by the end of the contract. The final prototype demonstration should evidence that full development of the solution would indeed provide improved operational capability to the user. The evidence generated at phase 2 should also highlight the innovative elements of your proposal in order that wider routes for exploitation / transition may be easily identified.

You may wish to include some of the following information to help the assessors understand your exploitation / transition plans:

• the intended defence and/or security users of your final product and whether you have engaged with these end users or their procurement organisation
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end user procurement programmes
• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time or improved capability) 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 or environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and markets for exploitation / transition
• wider collaborations and networks you have already developed or any additional relationships you see as a requirement to support exploitation / transition
• any specific legal, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation / transition

6. How to apply

Proposals for funding to meet these challenges must be submitted by 1700 GMT (1200 ET) on 9 January 2020 using the DASA submission service for which you will be required to register.

Subject to funding and contract, the phase 2 funding of up to £1.5 million (ex VAT) is anticipated to fund up to 3 proposals, starting at TRL 3 (or above). If successful, contracts will be awarded for a duration of 12 months from the start of the contract. Funding is due to be approved before the competition closes.

You will bear all costs associated with preparing and submitting your Tender. If we terminate or amend this competition process, we will not reimburse you. The release of this Competition Document is not a commitment by DASA to place a contract as a result of this competition or at a later stage. Any expenditure, work or effort undertaken prior to any offer and subsequent acceptance of contract, is a matter solely for your commercial judgement.

Further guidance on submitting a proposal can be found on our Website.

6.1 What your proposal must include

The proposal should focus on this prototype phase but must also include a brief outline of expected additional work required beyond the end of the contract to develop an operationally deployable commercial product.

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. It is helpful to include a list of other current or recent government funding you may have received in this area if appropriate (excluding phase 1 funding), making it clear how this proposal differs from this work.

Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all research and development activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales. A project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must also be provided. Milestones and deliverables must be well-defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase. Proposals with any deliverables outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant. In addition to your project-specific deliverables, we also expect you to include the following costed deliverables in your proposal:

Deliverable	Delivery date (Expressed as weeks / months from contract award)
Progress Reports	Brief (two-page) monthly progress report by end of each calendar month to the Project Manager (via Technical Partner). A template will be provided to successful suppliers
Conference Presentation	Participation at the 23rd International Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation Conference, London, UK (20-22 May 2020) providing a 20-minute presentation and poster of your work. Registration costs, per person, are £550 (speaker fee) or £700 (non-speaker fee) for the full conference, including welcome social event and conference dinner, or £350 for single-day attendance only (no conference dinner included)
Progress Conversations	Monthly progress conversations with assigned Technical Partner(s)
Demonstration Test Plans and Associated Risk Assessments	Delivered to the Project Manager (via Technical Partner) 2 weeks before the formal demonstration
Demonstration Reports	Delivered to the Project Manager (via Technical Partner) 2 weeks after the formal demonstration
Final Prototype Demonstration	To the Project Board at your facility, or an alternative agreed facility before the completion of the contract (within 12 months from contract award)
Final Technical Report	To the Project Manager (via Technical Partner) before completion of the contract (within 12 months from contract award)

Please provide details in your proposal of how you intend to demonstrate the functionality and capability of your development, including any materials you plan to use to represent the threat materials.

A resourcing plan must also be provided that identifies, where possible, the nationalities of those proposed research workers that you intend working on this phase. In the event of proposals being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed research workers. 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/environmental factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed, including break points in the project if approvals are not received. Further details are available in the DASA guidance. MODREC approvals can take up to 5 months therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. Further details are available in the DASA guidance. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further guidance.

In addition, requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA) must be included in your proposal with information on how you intend to access them and any steps you have already taken to achieve this.

Export controls

All bidders must abide by the export control requirements of their originator country. All relevant export control regulations will apply if a company ultimately wants to sell a developed solution to a foreign entity.

All bidders 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 US. Our usual proposal submission window has been increased to accommodate this requirement. If you cannot confirm your ability to gain the requisite licences, your proposal will be sifted out of the competition. Additionally, if the Project Board believes 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.

Specific to U.S. applicants: U.S. bidders must obtain the proper requisite export licence before submitting technical information to the DASA. The Department of State’s Directorate of Defense Trade Controls (DDTC) has been advised of the competition and is prepared to facilitate rapid processing of these licences. In addition, bidders are strongly encouraged to review relevant export control sections of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR), to ascertain if any sections pertain to the requested activity, noting that recent amendments expedite processing of licences for export to the UK. Pertinent information should be referenced in the applicant’s transmittal letter and in Block 20 (Purpose) of the permanent export licence form (DSP-5) before submitting application to the DDTC. The bidder may wish to review the guidelines for an export licence request prior to submission. This information can be found on the DDTC website.

6.2 Public-facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a proposal title and a short abstract. If your proposal is funded, the title and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments as appropriate, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. It will be used for inclusion at DASA events in relation to this competition and included in documentation such as brochures for the event. Your proposal title will also be published in the DASA transparency data on GOV.UK, along with your company name, the amount of funding, and the start and end dates of your contract.

6.3 How your proposal will be assessed

At stage 1, all proposals will be checked for compliance with the competition document and may be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply. Only those proposals who demonstrate their compliance against the competition scope and DASA mandatory criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against stage 1 will render your proposal non-compliant and will not be considered any further:

Mandatory Criteria

The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	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	Pass / Fail
The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed in phase 2	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for phase 2	Pass / Fail
The maximum value of proposal is £1.5m (excluding VAT)	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities/services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed within 12 months from award of contract (or less)	Pass / Fail
The bidder provides unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.	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 the MOD (including Dstl), other government departments and front-line military commands. You will not have the opportunity to comment on assessors’ comments.

DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from bidders during the procurement process (including information identified by the bidder as Commercially Sensitive Information in accordance with the provisions of this competition) to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of the bidder’s proposal. In providing such information the bidder consents 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, based on the assessments, budget and wider strategic considerations, a decision will be made on the proposals that are recommended for funding.

Proposals that are unsuccessful will receive brief feedback after the Decision Conference.

6.4 Things you should know about DASA contracts

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for suppliers. For this competition we will be trialling a new Standardised Contracting (SC) Innovation Contract - links to the contract can be found here: Terms and Schedules. You are required to confirm your unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions as part of your proposal submission. For the avoidance of any doubt, for this Themed Competition we are NOT using the DASA Short Form Contract (SFC).

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to run the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact) either from the US, UK or both. The Technical Partners will work with the supplier, acting as a technical reviewer of the deliverables and provide an interface between the UK and US stakeholder communities. In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions. Deliverables from DASA contracts will be made available to UK MOD, US DoD and Front Line Commands, and may be subject to review by relevant government departments.

For this phase/competition, subject to funding and contract, up to £1.5 million is currently available to fund proposals. Funding is due to be approved before the competition closes. There may be occasions where additional funding from other funding lines may subsequently become available to allow us to revisit those proposals deemed suitable for funding but where limitations on funding at the time prevented DASA from awarding a subsequent Contract. In such situations, DASA reserves the right to keep such proposals in reserve. In the event that additional funding subsequently becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms.

This competition is jointly funded by the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the US Department of Defense (DoD), and will operate under an extant memorandum of understanding between both nations. On this basis, under DEFCON 705 (Edn 11/02), Full Rights Versions of Deliverables delivered under any resultant Contract will be shared with US Office of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Threat Reduction and Arms Control) Combatting Terrorism Technical Support Office (CTTSO) under CB 4617 Task Plan of the Combatting Terrorism Research and Development (CTRD) MOU.

7. Key dates - phase 2

Event	Date
Competition opens	1 October 2019
Launch event	1 October 2019
1 to1 clarification sessions (pre-bookable teleconference)	29 and 30 October 2019
Competition closes	1700 GMT (1200 ET) - 9 January 2020
Anticipated contract placement	end April 2020 (subject to change)
23rd International Chemical Weapons Demilitarisation Conference, London, UK	20-22 May 2020
Practical demonstration of your phase 2 output at your facility, or an alternative agreed facility	March 2021

7.1 Supporting events

A launch event will be held on 1 October 2019 at Victory Services Club, London, W2 2HF and will include a presentation on the scope of the competition followed by an open forum for questions and discussion and a series of one to one meetings and small group activities. There will be an opportunity to “dial in” to the event and listen to the presentations whilst looking at the slide pack remotely. If you would like to attend the launch event (either in person or by telephone), please register on the DBI! phase 2 Launch Event Eventbrite page.

On 29 and 30 October 2019, between 1300 and 1700 BST (0800 and 1200 EST), we will hold a series of 20-minute 1-1 teleconference sessions giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions and discuss agent simulants.

If you would like to participate in any of these 1-1 events, please register on the DBI! phase 2 1-1s Eventbrite page. More information about 1-1 sessions will be provided during the 1 October 2019 launch event.

8. Support

Competition queries including on process, application, technical, commercial and intellectual property aspects should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title.

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 suppliers.