Notice

Space to Innovate Campaign - Charlie Drop: Competition Document

Updated 27 June 2023

1. Introduction

1.1 Innovation through the Space to Innovate Campaign

The Space to Innovate Campaign was set up to aid UK Defence and Security to develop future space science and technologies. As the third drop in the Space to Innovate Campaign, Charlie Drop follows on from Alpha Drop and Bravo Drop, which between them addressed four challenges deemed to be of relevance to the Defence use of space. These challenges covered a large scope including visualisation tools for exploiting data from multiple sources, characterisation techniques, intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR) technologies and improving signal-to-noise performance of communications and tracking.

The ’campaign’ approach enables varied contract values and durations to be undertaken as part of the competition, which can provide larger and longer contracts for more mature technologies, whilst also enabling less mature innovations to be explored. The enduring campaign approach demonstrates Dstl’s ongoing commitment to the funding and support of space science and technology innovators.

Over the last two years, the publication of the Defence Space Strategy, the establishment of UK Space Command, a generational Defence investment in space in the integrated review (IR), and the re-emphasis of the central role of science and technology (S&T) in the IR refresh, have brought fresh impetus to the role of S&T innovation. This document outlines a broad call – Space to Innovate: Charlie Drop, centred on three space challenges. These challenges are explicitly linked to both the command’s strategic priorities, as set out in the strategy, and the Ministry of Defence Chief Scientific Advisor’s requirement to pursue generation after next science, technologies and innovations for the domain.

1.2 Focus of Space to Innovate Campaign: Charlie Drop

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that further space science and technologies which address themes set out by the Defence Space Strategy.

1.3 Funding of Space to Innovate Campaign: Charlie Drop

The £1.5 million available for the Charlie Drop competition is funded by MOD Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA).

Other funding from other MOD or wider government stakeholders may become available over time; if so, this will be reflected in a revised version of the competition document.

Proposals from Charlie Drop that are deemed to be ‘fundable not funded’ will be available for funding by any UK government stakeholder up to one year after the outcome decision is released to bidders.

2. Competition key information

2.1 Submission deadline

12.00 BST Midday on Wednesday 12 July 2023.

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.

Please note that for this competition your proposal will be restricted to a word count of not more than 2500 words for each of the feasibility and viability sections and a limit of 2000 words for the desirability section. Please ensure each section is focused and contains only the relevant, requested information.

2.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for Charlie Drop is £1.5 million (excl VAT). We expect to fund between 3 and 12 proposals over a 24 month period.

The initial £1.5 million for the Charlie Drop competition is funded by MOD Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). Funding from other MOD or wider government stakeholders may become available over time; if so, this will be reflected in a revised version of the competition document.

Proposals from Charlie Drop that are deemed to be ‘fundable not funded’ will be available for funding by any UK government stakeholder up to one year after the outcome decision is released to bidders. For the purpose of this competition your bid may be shared with experts in other government departments.

2.4 Follow-on work

Once the initial contract is completed there will be a decision point where the Authority will decide whether it wishes to progress this work further. There will be a mandatory deliverable for all contracted suppliers to provide costed options for one or more discrete, clearly bounded optional work packages up to a total of £4 million (excl VAT) per initial contract (for details see what your proposal must include).

Follow-on work will be considered on its own individual merits and is not subject to further DASA competition processes.

There is currently no funding allocated for follow-on work. The Authority will consider an allocation for additional options on completion of the initial contract. The Authority is under no obligation to undertake any of the costed options submitted for consideration as a contract deliverable, and reserves the right to end proceedings after the initial contract is complete. The supplier is under no obligation to undertake any of the proposed follow-on work and is entitled to end proceedings after the initial contract is complete.

3. Supporting events

3.1 Dial-in Session

On Wednesday 25 May 2023, DASA hosted a webinar to provide further detail on Space to Innovate – Charlie Drop and its challenge areas. Watch the webinar below.

Space to Innovate - Charlie Drop Webinar

3.2 Supplier one-to-one Sessions

A series of 20 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions. If you would like to participate, please register on the relevant Eventbrite page:

• Wednesday 31 May 2023

• Friday 2 June 2023

• Tuesday 6 June 2023

Booking is on a first come first served basis.

4. Competition Scope

4.1 Background

Developing future space science and technologies for UK Defence and Security

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition aims to attract novel scientific and technological solutions from a broad range of innovators, including academia and industry, in order to address some of the UK’s Defence and Security space challenges. Innovation is crucial to advance solutions towards these challenges, for example acquiring a greater detail of intelligence, enhanced protection of our space-based assets and further advancements in the underpinning ground segments.

4.2 Scope

Objective

The objective of this campaign is to fund research into space science and technologies that may not otherwise be developed within the civil space industry and academia. This will address a set of specific problems in the space domain, as outlined in the campaign challenges.

Expected TRL by the end of a contract

Funded projects are expected to achieve at least Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 3 (proof-of-concept) to TRL 6 (demonstration in a relevant environment) by the end of contract. Solutions currently at or above TRL 6 in a civilian environment may be eligible for funding where the technology requires development to operate in a Defence and Security environment (potentially lowering the TRL).

Encourage range of applicants

We welcome proposals from across the full range of innovators including academia, small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs) and large companies, from both the UK and overseas. We also welcome joint bids which bring together the strength of different industrial or academic partners.

The campaign is open to innovators from both the existing space sector and those who have not traditionally worked in this domain. Previous experience of Defence and Security work is not a requirement.

5. Competition Challenges

This competition has three challenges. The following contracts are available across all challenges:

• up to £125,000 (excl VAT) for 6 (six) months

• up to £200,000 (excl VAT) for 12 (twelve) months

• up to £400,000 (excl VAT) for 18 (eighteen) months

• up to £500,000 (excl VAT) for 24 (twenty four) months

Projects are expected to reach TRL 3-6 at the end of the contract. This depends on the starting TRL and level and duration of investment.

Using the total available funding of £1.5 million (excl VAT) for the initial work, we expect to fund approximately 3 to 12 projects across all three challenges, over a 24 month period. This number will largely be driven by the value of each project.

The Authority or relevant partners across UK government may consider alternative funding for contracts that are deemed ’fundable not funded’. Proposals are valid for one year following the release of decisions to suppliers.

5.1 Challenge 1: Novel ways to achieve fine resolution collection for intelligence, surveillance & reconnaissance (ISR)

We are interested in technologies and scientific techniques to achieve fine resolution imaging for space-based ISR / Earth Observation, especially from non-Low Earth Orbit (LEO). This includes in the following areas:

• any part of the infra-red (IR) spectrum, from very near IR to long wave IR

• synthetic aperture radar (SAR) – including achieving fine resolution with high signal to noise ratios (e.g. by achieving long dwell times, large antenna or high powers)

• non-traditional parts of the electromagnetic spectrum (e.g. terahertz imaging)

• novel solutions to achieving large optical apertures (or effective apertures); this includes innovative ways of deploying mirrors or antennae

5.2 Challenge 2: Technologies and techniques to alert, protect and defend satellites

We are interested in methods to provide warning of threats, and types of threats to critical Defence and Security assets in space, including:

• techniques to quantify, characterise and / or maintain custody (i.e. maintain accurate object count and orbital parameters for each) of unresolved objects

• technology and techniques to determine the functions and capabilities of potential threat systems

• techniques to identify separating object events and payload deployments

• techniques to qualitatively or quantitatively assess the ability of objects to perform manoeuvres

• technologies to provide local situational awareness in the vicinity of key assets

Furthermore we are interested in technology for protecting satellites and avoiding hazards and threats, such as:

• approaches to detection and attribution of emissions across the electromagnetic spectrum from natural and artificial sources

• hardening of electronic and radio frequency systems in stressed space environments

• on-board defensive technologies

Examples of the types of threats considered by other nations, available in open publications:

• Centre for Strategic and international Studies (CSIS) Space Threat Assessment 2023

• Secure World Foundation (SWF) Global Counterspace Capabilities 2023

5.3 Challenge 3: Satellite and ground segment technologies for future Defence and Security operations

This challenge seeks to develop technologies for satellite platforms and ground segments of specific relevance to Defence and Security applications. We are interested in satellite technologies, and the development of the underpinning science required for both next generation, and generation-after-next Defence and Security applications, including:

• science and technology to enable high-agility satellites and high positional self-knowledge, including pointing accuracy

• integration of satellite functions (e.g. power and communications) to make platforms more resilient to disruption or degradation, including novel technological approaches to redundancy

• technology approaches to providing high levels of assurance for LEO / Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellite constellations. This includes protection of telemetry, tracking and control (TT&C) systems and also novel fault and interference detection

• technologies for high demand power systems – moving from a solar power paradigm to other methods of power generation

Furthermore, the ground segment is a key enabler. We are interested in innovations relating to:

• secure exploitation of commercial ground station services in the non-civilian domain

• pre-processing technologies and services deployed on EDGE Processors that optimise data distribution across low bandwidth networks

• novel autonomous algorithms, technologies and applications to enhance satellite monitoring and control (reducing operator burden)

• developing and deploying custom waveforms for transmission security (TRANSEC)

5.4 We are interested in…

We want novel ideas to benefit users working in UK Defence and Security. Your proposal should include evidence of:

• scientific and theoretical development, methodological advancement or proof of concept research which can demonstrate potential for translation to practical demonstration in later work

• an innovative or a creative approach

• a clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to any Defence and Security context

5.5 We are not interested in…

For this drop we are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute consultancy or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future development

• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without significant modification

• present more than one bid with the same technical idea amended for different contract lengths

• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)

• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into UK Defence and Security capabilities

• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

• do not fall clearly into one of the challenges as outlined above

• need an extensive requirements development phase

For space-specific aspects, we are not interested in:

• technologies or systems relating to space launch vehicles

• proposals looking at general space surveillance and tracking (SST) or visualisation of objects in space

• space technologies where the commercial market is already strongly invested or interested (e.g. general satellite communications or solar power systems)

• proposals relating to human space flight and exploration

• proposals which could be considered an irresponsible use of space (e.g. generating unnecessary debris, or violating international treaties)

• methods of processing space-derived imagery or data, e.g. through artificial intelligence (AI) or machine learning (ML) methods

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, ensure your deliverables are designed with the aim of 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 there should be no correspondence between innovators and DASA other than via the DASA helpdesk email at accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, or their 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.

6.2 How to outline your exploitation plan

A higher technology maturity is expected in subsequent work. 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 works

• 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.

The outputs of any supplier contracts may be shared in accordance with the rights secured under DEFCON 705, which may include sharing through the strategic relationship between Dstl and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology. In addition the outputs may be shared with UK allied partners under the FVEYS (The Five Eyes is an intelligence alliance comprising Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and the United States) Defence community agreement TTCP (The Technical Cooperation Program) and the FVEYS intelligence community (SQUARE DANCE).

7. How to apply

7.1 Submission deadline

12.00 BST Midday on Wednesday 12 July 2023.

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.

Please note that for this competition your proposal will be restricted to a word count of not more than 2500 words for each of the feasibility and viability sections and a limit of 2000 words for the desirability section. Please ensure each section is focused and contains only the relevant, requested information.

7.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for Charlie Drop is £1.5 million (excl VAT). We expect to fund 3 to 12 proposals over a 24 month period.

The initial £1.5 million for the Charlie Drop competition is funded by MOD Chief Scientific Adviser (CSA). Other funding from other MOD or wider government stakeholders may become available over time; if so, this will be reflected in a revised version of the competition document.

Proposals from Charlie Drop that are deemed to be ‘fundable not funded’ will be available for funding by any UK government stakeholder up to one year after the outcome decision is released to bidders. For the purpose of this competition your bid may be shared with experts in other government departments.

7.4 Follow-on work

Once the initial contract is completed there will be a decision point where the Authority will decide whether it wishes to progress this work further. Follow-on work will be considered on its own individual merits and is not subject to further DASA competition processes.

Any follow-on work will be contracted via costed options for one or more discrete, clearly bounded optional work packages up to a total of £4 million (excl VAT) per initial contract, built into the original DASA contract. As part of the proposal for the initial agreement, the supplier should include a deliverable for unspecified costed options that will not exceed a total of £4 million (excl VAT). This work, if funded, would be in addition to the funding required to deliver the initial work. The total value of the contract would thus be up to £4 million plus the value of the initial work, assuming all follow-on work was funded. Please note that suppliers should not include the costs of follow-on work in the finance table, but should only request costs that are for the initial project.

All costed proposals for follow-on work should be valid for one year from their submission. The scope of work for any costed options must be within the technical scope of the original proposal. No work under this contract should exceed TRL 6.

There is currently no funding allocated for follow-on work. The Authority will consider an allocation for additional options on completion of the initial contract. The Authority is under no obligation to undertake any of the costed options submitted for consideration as a contract deliverable, and reserves the right to end proceedings after the initial contract is complete. The supplier is under no obligation to undertake any of the proposed follow-on work and is entitled to end proceedings after the initial contract is complete.

7.5 How many proposals will DASA fund

Using the total available funding of £1.5 million (ex VAT), we expect to fund between 3 and 12 projects across all three challenges at the Decision Conference. This number will largely be driven by the value of each funded project.

It is possible that all funding could go to one of the three challenges. There is no minimum number of projects that will be funded per challenge and there is no obligation to fund projects in all three challenges.

7.6 For further guidance

Click here for more information on our competition process and how your proposal is assessed.

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

7.7 What your proposal must include

• The proposal should focus on one or more of the three challenges in this competition.

• 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.

• Completed proposals must comply with the financial rules set for this competition. The upper-limit for this challenge drop is £500,000 (excl VAT) for a 24 month project. Proposals will be rejected if the financial cost exceeds this capped level or if the cost and duration do not match one of the categories outlined in Competition Challenges section.

• Your proposal will be restricted to a word count of not more than 2500 words for each of the feasibility and viability sections and a limit of 2000 words for the desirability section; please ensure each section is focused and contains only the relevant information.

• 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 milestones and deliverables must be provided. Deliverables must be very well defined to high levels of precision and detail with no ambiguity as to what will be delivered. The deliverables should be designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this work; they must include a final report.

• You should also plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting at the start of Charlie Drop, a mid-project event and an end of project event at the end of Charlie Drop, as well as regular reviews with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager; all meetings will be in the UK. Meetings may also take place virtually over Microsoft Teams.

• Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (up to 24 months). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant.

• Your proposal must including the following three mandatory deliverables:

    • Outline draft of the skeleton structure of the final report at the third formal meeting after the contract kick-off meeting. As a minimum this should include:

          • section headings and notional planned contents

          • completed Report Document Page

          • marking in accordance with the marking schedule in the Terms and Schedules

    • Costed options for follow-on work - options will be valid for one year from their submission. The supplier is to provide one or more fully costed recommendations for discrete, clearly bounded optional work packages. These optional work packages will support risk reduction activities which, if the Authority finds acceptable would be undertaken as follow-on work.

The supplier’s detailed, prioritised and costed proposal for each optional work package shall include:

          • the overall approach to conducting the work including a description of the supplier’s proposed team (including partners / sub-contractors); breakdown of the estimated resource required to undertake the work (rates / grades) and any sub-contract, material costs estimated

          • a work breakdown structure

          • a technical description of the research activities to be conducted under each work package and the output

          • a schedule of events (Gantt Chart)

          • a list of dependencies, assumptions, risks and exclusions (DARE) associated with the delivery of the work

          • to ensure optimum use of available funding it is recommended that the supplier engages fully with the Authority throughout the development of the optional work packages.

    • Progress reports covering technical and project performance. These shall be delivered to Authority at least five working days before any associated progress review meeting. The progress report must contain sufficient detail such that the Authority is sufficiently abreast of all progress to date before arriving at the progress meeting. This will allow the Authority to consider and form a view in advance of the meeting rather than at (or after) the event.

The contents of the progress reports will be agreed at the kick-off meeting, but will include as a minimum the items listed here. Indicative frequencies are below but will be agreed at the kick-off meeting:

          • monthly for projects up to 6 months duration

          • quarterly for projects from 12 to 24 months duration

7.8 What your resourcing plan should include

Your resourcing plan must identify, where possible, the nationalities of proposed employees that you intend to work on this contract.

If your proposal is recommended for funding

In the event of a proposal being recommended for funding, the DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed employees. 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. MODREC approvals can take up to 5 months therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. 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, may be included in your proposal. DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available. If you apply for GFA, you must 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.

7.9 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.

7.10 Cyber risk assessment

Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ)

On receipt of a ‘Fund’ decision, successful suppliers must prove cyber resilience data 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-587775447 and answer questions for risk level “Very Low”.

Defence Cyber Protection Partnership

The Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) will review your SAQ submission and respond with a reference number within 2 working days. 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 midday on 12.00 BST Midday on Wednesday 12 July 2023.

If the proposal is being funded, the SAQ will be evaluated against the CRA for the competition, and it will be put it into one of the following categories:

1. compliant – no further action
2. not compliant – 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 enter 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 without it. This process does not replace any contract specific security requirements.

Further guidance for completing this process can be requested by emailing the DASA Help Centre: accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

Additional information about cyber security can be found at: DCPP: Cyber Security Model industry buyer and supplier guide.

7.11 Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a title and a short abstract. The title 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. The proposal title will 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. As this information can be shared, it should not contain information that may compromise Intellectual property.

7.12 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 that demonstrate compliance against the competition scope and DASA mandatory criteria will be taken forward to full assessment.

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 and does not exceed the maximum permitted word counts of 2000 for Desirability, 2500 for Feasibility, 2500 for Viability

Pass / Fail

The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed

Pass / Fail

The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval

Pass / Fail

The proposal identifies any GFA required. If applying for GFA, an alternative plan is included in case it is not available.

Pass / Fail

Maximum value of proposal is £500,000 for a 24 month duration contract (less for shorter duration contracts; proposal must match one of the categories outlined in Competition Challenges)

Pass / Fail

The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities / services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed within 24 months from award of contract (or less) Pass / Fail

The bidder has obtained the authority to provide unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.

Pass / Fail

The proposal contains all mandatory technical deliverables, listed in What your proposal must include, as outputs: 1) a final report outline, 2) costed options for follow-on work, 3) progress reports, 4) kick-off meeting, mid-project event and end of project event

Pass / Fail

The proposal includes a deliverable for optional follow-on work, which will comprise unspecified costed options of work up to a total of £4 million (excl VAT)

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 the 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 (including information identified by the innovator 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 innovator’s proposal. In providing such information the innovator 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.

Innovators are not permitted to attend the Decision Conference.

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

8. 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 Standard Contract 2 (SC2), link to the contract: TERMS and Schedules. We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions; if applicable, please ensure your commercial department has provided their acceptance.

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to run the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation including, when appropriate, introductions to end-users and business support to help develop their business.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions. Bidders should note that the ‘Authority’ for the purposes of DEFCON 705 shall be deemed to be the Secretary of State for Defence, the Secretary of State for Science, Innovation and Technology, the Secretary of State for the Home Office and the Secretary of State for the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.

For this competition, £1.5 million is currently available to fund proposals. There may be occasions when additional funding may become available to allow us to revisit proposals deemed suitable for funding. Therefore, DASA reserves the right to keep such proposals in reserve. In the event that additional funding becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms.

9. Charlie drop key dates

Dial-in

25 May 2023

Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions

31 May 2023 / 02 June 2023

Competition closes 12.00 BST Midday on Wednesday 12 July 2023

Feedback release

03 November 2023

Contracting

Aim to start December 2023

10. 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.

11. Launch Webinar Questions & Answers

11.1 General questions

Q. Do bidders need to submit details of the follow-on work at the time of submitting their main proposal?

A. You will need to include in your submitted proposal a deliverable for your proposed follow-on work. If your proposal is funded, you will need to provide details of your proposed follow-on work (i.e. costed options for one or more discrete, clearly bounded optional work packages up to a total of £4 million (excl VAT) when the deliverable is due. This is expected be towards the end of the project, when the findings from the project can be incorporated into the proposed follow-on work. No details of the proposed follow-on work are required for the initial submission, but you will need to add a deliverable entitled ‘optional follow-on work’. Please do not add a line to the finance table for the follow-on work.

Q. Is there someone who can help me with my proposal?

A. DASA has regional Innovation Partners who can support you. While they are not allowed to help you write the application or proof read it, they can answer questions about the suitability of your proposal for the competition, or about the application form or the DASA application process. Contact your local Innovation Partner here.

Q. Can DASA funding be used to pay salaries of the team working on the DASA funded project?

A. Yes this is allowed. We ask you to justify what the staff roles would be and to include the nationalities of the individuals where possible. We recognise that you may need to hire additional staff for the project, so may not have all the information at the time of submitting. In this case, please state what roles will be hired at later time e.g. technician or research worker. The salaries of any type of staff can be requested, e.g. academic, research workers etc.

Q. Are international collaborators welcome?

A. Yes, international collaborators are welcome. Bidders can also be solely from outside the UK.

Q. The opportunity is open to foreign companies, but does any element of it have to be fulfilled in the UK?

A. You can propose a project that will take place solely outside of the UK, it will be assessed in exactly the same way as the others. If deemed fundable then it will be funded.

Q. Are letters of support from MOD required / seen favourably when scoring proposals?

A. This is not required; you can include a letter of support, but it is not required. The most important thing will be to answer the questions outlined in the proposal template; the answers to these questions should demonstrate the need for your innovation.

Q. Is the competition open to suppliers that did not submit into Alpha Drop or Bravo Drop?

A. Yes it is open to any innovator wishing to submit.

Q. Is there a limit to the size of SME that can apply?

A. No. DASA competitions are open to all innovators, including sole traders, micro organisations, small and medium enterprises, large business and academia, however small or large. Any size of SME or business can apply.

Q. Can a proposal address multiple challenges?

A. Yes, that is allowed; please ensure you tick the challenge(s) that your proposal is applicable to when you submit your proposal.

Q. Is there a limit to the number of submissions that can be made?

A. There can only be one submission for each innovation; you would not be allowed to submit the same innovation more than once, e.g. with different durations of project. You can make multiple submissions if each one is for a different innovation. However, please consider resourcing, especially for smaller companies - it might be worth discussing this with your Innovation Partner who might be able to offer advice.

Q. Are resubmissions from previous challenge drops allowed?

A. If you have previously submitted a proposal which was unsuccessful, please do not resubmit this proposal, unless your feedback specifically requests it or you are proposing a different project using the same idea. Please refer to our guidance on resubmission and ensure that any submission clearly addresses one or more of the challenges outlined in the competition document.

Q. Will the slides and webinar recording be shared?

A. Yes. Slides will be sent to those who had registered for this webinar and the presentations from the webinar have been uploaded to the competition web page.

Q. Can any profit be added to these projects?

A. Funding will be for the work to be completed and there can be an element of profit in that.

Q. Is the potential follow-on project funding still 100% FEC funding?

A. Yes, as the follow-on work would be a DASA project, it will also be 100% FEC funding.

11.2 Scope questions

Q. Is machine learning for space image processing allowed if it is real time?

A. If it is part of the space system then yes, but not if it is part of post-processing. We are fundamentally interested in technology to improve native resolution, rather than the post-processing of data applied on the ground segment.

Q. Will projects involving artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning be considered?

A. As long as the techniques are applied to solve the challenge as written in the competition document, yes.

Q. Is processing on the ground / basestation, as part of converting raw satellite RF data into actionable / interpretable imagery, considered post-processing?

A. This would not be excluded, but the key point is that the innovation needs to address one or more of the three challenges.

Q. Would any hardware purchased for the project belong to DASA?

A. If you purchase capital equipment as part of the project, it becomes government (MOD) owned and should be marked accordingly. Once the contract is completed an agreement shall be reached as to the best possible use of the equipment post contract. This could include the equipment remaining in the possession of the contractor on loan, or the equipment being transferred, or possibly being sold for scrap.

Q. Would any hardware produced by the contracted supplier as part of the project belong to DASA or can it be used for other purposes by the supplier?

A. If the hardware has been developed by the supplier as part of the DASA-funded project then it belongs to the supplier, but MOD has rights to is, as per DEFCON 705.

Q. What are the IP conditions for the competition?

A. The contract for this competition includes the IP condition DEFCON 705. DEFCON 705 vests ownership of IP with the contractor, with UK government securing user rights. Thus, the IP is owned by the contractor, and consequently the innovator can use the IP it generates in the future.

Q. Machine learning and AI for space derived imagery is out of scope, but if they are used to help form space imagery (e.g. computational imaging for SAR) would that be acceptable?

A. Yes. The main point is to address the challenge. For challenge 1 we are interested in the native resolution and improving the fundamental fine resolution for ISR.

Q. Is the expectation that successful proposals will be centred on physical systems and sensors rather than pure software solutions?

A. Pure software solutions would not be excluded; please state clearly how the innovation addresses one or more of the three challenges.

12. Supplier 1-1 Session Questions and Answers

12.1 General

Q. Would it be better to submit for one of the longer contract durations?

A. Not necessarily, it is all about the idea. Choose the length of the project needed to progress your idea. By the end of the contract, the TRL must have reached at least TRL 3 and no more than TRL 6.

There is the possibility of follow-on work as part of the same contract; to allow for this all suppliers are required to include a mandatory deliverable for potential follow-on work in their proposals.

Q. Will data sets be made available to us?

A. You can request Government Furnished Assets (GFA), but always assume they will not be available. Put a contingency plan into your risk register and mitigate the impact of not having access to GFA.

A joint submission with someone from the Space industry might help you access the information you need.

Q. Does it matter if we have no space background?

A. Not necessarily. If you do not need a space background to prove your innovation in a space context, it will not matter.

Q. Can we submit multiple proposals?

A. Yes, providing they are not interlinked and you have the capacity to support the proposals if they are all funded.

Q. I have recently submitted a proposal to another DASA competition. Can I submit it to this competition as well?

A. No, if you have already submitted a proposal to another DASA competition and you have not received an outcome, you will be unable to submit the proposal to this competition. If you were to consider resubmission our resubmission guidance would apply and we recommend that you speak to your Innovation Partner.

Q. What DEFCON will the follow-on work be under?

A .The follow-on work with be under DEFCON 705, the same as the initial work.

Q. Will the follow-on work cover full economic costs (FEC)?

A. Yes.

Q. How quickly will a decision about the follow-on work be made?

A. At this point there is no guarantee that funding for follow-on work will be available. The Authority will endeavour to make a prompt decision about follow-on work recognising the desire to move as seamlessly as possible from one contract phase to another. However, this will not always be possible, particularly where funding is not readily available. The proposal for the follow-on work is valid for a period of one year to allow additional funding to be found.

There will be an approval process to go through before follow-on work is offered to suppliers.

Q. How firm is the follow-on work required to be? It reads in the document as a commitment from the submission date, but is this the case?

A. While your proposal should include a deliverable for follow-on work, this does not mean you will have to deliver against it. Follow-on work will only be expected if both the Authority and the supplier choose to proceed with the funding and delivery of the costed deliverable.

The cost information for the follow-on work, which is to be supplied as part of the future deliverable (expected to be delivered towards the end of the project), will be important to Dstl as it allows us to consider how the technology might be matured even if it is not with the same supplier (subject to any IP limitations, etc.). Please do not enter a line for the follow-on work in the finance table.

Q: How should I enter the mandatory deliverable for follow-on work in my proposal?

A: In the Delivery Schedule, include a deliverable entry with the name, ‘Follow-on work’, and select ‘other’ for the Type. We suggest you use the last month of your project for the Month; this will be the time at which you submit details of the nature and price of your follow-on work. Stage Payment should be, ‘No’ and amount payable should be ‘£0’. Please enter in the Description box the following statement: ‘This is a mandatory deliverable for costed options for follow-on work; details (as outlined in the competition document) to be provided at the month stated above (project end).’ Please see below for how your proposal should look:

Screenshot of how the mandatory deliverable should appear in your proposal template (under the Finance and Delivery Schedule section); in this example the project has a duration of 6 months

Q. We have technology above TRL 6, but it has not been tested in the defence environment. Would transferring the technology into a defence environment lower the TRL?

A. Yes, the TRL can drop when a technology is transferred to the defence environment. Think about how you can take what you have already and develop something new that lowers the TRL and addresses one or more of the challenges.

Q. Is there any expectation for the starting TRL?

A. No. The requirement is that the innovation reaches the prescribed end TRL (at least TRL 3, up to TRL 6) in the given project duration.

Q. We have products already designed, but not built. Could we build them as part of this competition?

A. Yes, but remember that the defence element needs to be built in to the design.

Q. Do the cyber security measures apply to sub-contractors as well?

A. Yes. The contract will be between the supplier and DASA. Suppliers need to manage their own supply chain, which means you will need to complete your own cyber risk assessment for any part of the work that you plan to contract.

Q. Do I need a UK bank account to submit a proposal?

A. No, this is not a requirement. If your proposal is selected for funding and you are new to DASA, we will issue a form for you to complete for us to on-board you onto our e-commerce system.

Q. If I register for an account and start the application, can someone else complete it?

A. No, one person needs to apply to DASA (it does not matter who). If you created a login yourself you would need to give the login details to another person if you wanted them to finish the proposal and /or submit. We ask you to confirm in the application form that you have spoken to a commercial point of contact in your organisation and secured permission to submit the bid.

Q. Can we include information in the proposal that is at a higher classification than UK Official?

A. No, all information within the proposals needs to be at UK Official. If you have an item you want to include at Official Sensitive (for example a letter of support) you can email accelerator@gov.uk to request to email it across. Do not email anything that is at a higher classification than Official Sensitive.

Q. Do we need to submit research worker forms for sub-contractors in the application form?

A. No, we ask you to list in the application form all research workers and their nationality. Even if the individual person is not known you need to add in the role with unknown name. The research worker forms only need to be filled in if the proposal is funded. All research workers need to be approved by the Authority before they can start working on the project and any changes to research workers during the life of the contract also need to be approved. This might impact the project start time or its duration.

Q. What research worker nationalities are acceptable?

A. We do not exclude on nationality, but all individuals working on a project will be checked.

Q. Should bidders from academic institutions negotiate overheads with their institution?

A. Value for money is an important consideration when deciding what to fund, however we recognise that universities have overhead costs that need to be covered. If your institution gives a discount on the overheads that could be good, but you do not need to do this.

Q. What is the expectation about the exploitation and commercialisation of the innovation after the project has ended?

A. What we ask in the application form is for an idea of how the innovation would be developed beyond the project. It’s up to you what you choose, e.g. a spin-out, partnering with another company, a licensing agreement. We will not hold you to the plan, but we want to know you are thinking about it.

12.2 Scope

Q. For Earth observation, would a ground resolution of 100mm be of interest?

A. Yes, that would fit in challenge 1.

Q. For proximity imaging for geostationary satellites is resolution of 10mm at 20km range of interest?

A. We do not prescribe ranges. Your proposal should explain how your innovation can perform better than a standard optical telescope on a ground station. With respect to synthetic aperture in space, think about objects approaching straight on, as you cannot generate SAR for these.

Q. Does it make a difference if we are able to achieve 200mm resolution or 2mm resolution? What is your ambition?

A. The finer the resolution the more interesting. We are looking for technologies that can enable us to do things that we cannot do at the moment, show us how your technology is different.

Subject to time and money, outline what you could achieve now and explain how your technology might be scaled down to finer resolutions.

Q. For challenge 1, ‘space-based ISR / Earth Observation, especially from non-Low Earth Orbit (LEO)’ – are you interested in proposals that are for LEO and / or VLEO? Would the proposal be negatively affected for applying with a LEO or VLEO concept?

A. LEO and VLEO are in scope. Proposals for LEO and / or VLEO will not be negatively scored providing they are for innovations to improve the native resolution of the system.

Q. For challenge 2 are you are interested in the protection of humans?

A. No human protection is required.

Q. For challenge 2, are there any specific shielding materials that are used to protect satellites from radiation and other space environment threats?

A. There are specific materials already used to shield satellites. It is up to your judgment to identify materials that you thing would be useful and innovative.

Q. For challenge 2, does, ‘techniques to quantify, characterise and / or maintain custody (i.e. maintain accurate object count and orbital parameters for each) of unresolved objects’ include LEO to LEO, or LEO to MEO / GEO?

A. We are interested in all orbital regimes.

Q. For challenge 2 what detection range(s) does the following refer to, ‘techniques to identify separating object events and payload deployments’?

A. We don’t prescribe ranges to achieve this in operational contexts. Your innovation should explain how the events are determined including (if possible) likely detection ranges for any demonstration

Q. Challenge 2 states, ‘technologies to provide local situational awareness in the vicinity of key assets’. Does this refer to in-situ awareness or from another asset? And within what range should this be achievable?

A. We are agnostic of how the solution is achieved and are interested in both in-situ and from another asset. We don’t prescribe ranges to achieve this.

Q. In Challenge 3, how does Dstl define ground segment?

A. Fundamentally, we class the ground segment as being the ground station (antenna system), communications and control centre.

Q. What is the difference between the following bullet points in the competition document?

• Challenge 2 - technologies to provide local situational awareness in the vicinity of key assets

• Challenge 3 - science and technology to enable high-agility satellites and high positional self-knowledge, including pointing accuracy

A. The first refers to the environment and the situational awareness of objects around the satellite and whether there are any threats. The second is technology for the satellite platform itself in terms of pointing and agility.

Q. Are the satellites independent or networked?

A. We do not make any assumptions.

Q. Are you interested in proposals addressing protection against cyber-attack?

A. A cyber-attack falls under challenge 2, avoiding hazards and threats. Cyber-attack is a threat in all domains.

Q. How do we access testing of our technology if we are not a space based organisation?

A. It would be useful to speak to organisations within the space industry, see if you can use their facilities to carry our space testing.

Q. Are sub-components of interest?

A. Yes, but the question is, ‘how?’ You are developing a sub-component of a sub-system of a satellite, how does that perform the over-arching objective? What system of sub-systems will your technology support to meet the objective and how will it differ to what is already state-of-the-art?

Q. What are you looking for in terms of deliverables?

A. We are looking for evidence of reaching TRL 3 to TRL6, we need more than the theoretical and ideally sufficient evidence to support a phase 2.