Competition: Innovation in dermal protection against liquid chemicals
This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is to develop technology providing dermal protection against liquid chemicals.
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Introduction
This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that will address the challenge of developing a solution to the problem of providing dermal protection against liquid chemical contamination. We are interested in treatments, fabric design, novel constructions or any other approach that prevents the penetration of low surface tension liquids.
The overall objective of this competition is to allow the manufacture of protective suits that meet the essential criteria against liquid and vapour given in NATO Standard AEP-72 Volume I - Recommended chemical, biological and TIC challenge levels. Additionally, products should meet the robustness testing detailed in “BS 8467:2006 - Protective clothing. Personal protective ensembles for use against chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear (CBRN) agents. Categorisation, performance requirements and test methods”.
This competition is interested in solutions that move towards this goal. There are two separate Challenges in this competition.
Proposals submitted under Challenge 1 should detail a programme of work to demonstrate basic liquid protection properties, with potential to be progressed further towards the specific chemical warfare protection requirements, specified in Challenge 2. All proposals funded under this challenge will be invited to submit an additional proposal meeting the requirements of Challenge 2
Proposals submitted under Challenge 2 should detail a programme of work to demonstrate a more comprehensive chemical agent challenge. The Technology Readiness Level of the final output for this work should be at least TRL5.
Total funding available
The total possible funding available for this competition is £2.6 million (excluding VAT).
We anticipate to fund up to 10 proposals for each challenge. We are expecting proposals to cost no more than £100,000 for Challenge 1 and £200,000 for Challenge 2 , but we reserve the right to fund proposals higher than these amounts.
Submission deadline
12:00 Midday on 15 April 2025 (BST)
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.
You must not submit any information classified above Official. If you wish to add supporting information which might be Official-Sensitive or Secret you should contact DASA(accelerator@dstl.gov.uk) in advance and we will discuss solutions with you.
Updates to this page
Published 18 February 2025Last updated 20 February 2025 + show all updates
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Clarifications made concerning requirement to access NATO AEP-72 document
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First published.