Notice

Understanding Whole Body Vibration: Competition Document

Updated 18 January 2023

Please note the submission deadline has changed to Midday on Tuesday 24 January 2023 (GMT)

1. Introduction

Whole body vibration (WBV) refers to vibration transmitted through the seat or feet and is often coupled with shock (sudden, unexpected impact that transmits energy to a device/person in a relatively short time interval). Exposure to WBV is highest in those working with large vehicles and machinery and has been linked to high rates of musculoskeletal pain and injury. However, WBV is poorly understood.

Military service personnel across the Front Line Commands experience WBV during training and operations, therefore, it is imperative that Defence furthers its understanding of WBV to prevent and mitigate its effects. The long term goal of Defence’s vibration research programme is to protect service personnel from injurious effects of WBV. Before this can be achieved however, we must be able to answer fundamental questions that are key to our understanding of the issue. For example:

• what is the scale of injury related to WBV and how does this affect deployability?
• how do we measure WBV exposure and its effects?
• how does vibration cause musculoskeletal injury?
• what happens when vibration and shock are combined with other environmental factors such as heat, cold, noise, altitude, etc?
• what are the operational effects of exposure to WBV and how do they differ between genders?

This DASA themed competition, funded by Defence Medical Services and Defence Science and Technology, aims to address these questions through leading-edge research and innovation founded on cross-disciplinary collaboration. Innovation within proposals can begin at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) between 1-5 but should aim to progress to TRL 6 – technology model or prototype demonstration in a relevant environment – by the end of the contract (47 months later). All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027.

Project outcomes should inform Defence policy regarding the assessment and effects of WBV. Realistic plans should be presented for how this policy impact might be achieved. Outcomes should also lay the foundations for future policy surrounding the design of vehicle platforms.

A subsequent programme – ‘protecting against whole body vibration’ – may be launched towards the end of this current competition, making use of the lessons learned. This will be open to all applicants, not solely successful suppliers from this phase of the work. It would be beneficial for proposals submitted into this competition to consider how outcomes might inform the future ‘protect programme’ deliverables, including: 

• the injury risk criteria that should be used to evaluate future vehicle design and protective equipment 
• the development of effective WBV mitigation technologies to reduce exposure and injury

2. Competition key information

Submission deadline

Midday on Tuesday 24 January 2023 (GMT)

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.

Total funding available

The total funding available for this competition is £2.5m (ex VAT). £925k of the total £2.5m must be spent within financial year 2023/2024 and deliverables must be planned with this in mind.

We expect to fund between 1-3 proposals over a 47 month period. All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027.

At least one funded proposal will be a multidisciplinary programme seeking to address all or the majority of the questions raised. Any remaining funding will be directed towards applications focusing on delivery against specific questions, e.g. development of dosimeter technology.

3. Webinar & Supporting events

Dial-in session

On Thursday 17 November 2022, DASA held a dial-in session providing further detail on the competition. Watch it below:

Whole Body Vibration: Webinar

One-to-one

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 relevant Eventbrite page: Tuesday 22nd November and Tuesday 29th November. Booking is on a first come first served basis.

Industry Collaboration Survey during Proposal Preparation

We encourage collaboration between organisations for this competition, particularly given the multidisciplinary nature of the challenges inherent to a programmatic proposal. To support this, we have a short survey to collect details of those who wish to explore collaboration possibilities. If you are interested in a collaboration, please complete the survey and your details will be circulated among other potential suppliers who have completed the survey and are interested in collaborating.

If you choose to complete the supplier collaboration survey, please be aware all of the information you submit in the survey will be provided to other suppliers who also complete the survey. All industry collaboration for proposal submissions is on an industry-industry basis. Inclusion or absence of any individual supplier organisation will not affect assessment, which will be solely on technical evidence in the proposal.

4. Competition Scope

4.1 Understanding Whole Body Vibration: A multi-disciplinary challenge

The Health and Safety Executive recognises two categories of vibration exposure: Hand Arm Vibration (HAV) and WBV. HAV is defined as exposure to vibration from mainly hand-held, hand-guided and / or hand-fed tools and can result in Hand-Arm Vibration Syndrome (HAVS). HAV is the most well-researched area of the various vibration exposure types and there is a direct link between vibration and injury (‘Vibration White Finger’ and/or neurological damage) with clinical tests, and grounds for a dose-effect relationship. Standards for different power tool types are well established. HAV proposals are not in scope for this competition. 

WBV is defined as vibration usually transmitted to the whole body from the supporting surface or a platform involving standing, seated or recumbent persons.  

It is generally accepted that excessive WBV exposure is associated with injury, especially if linked to poor posture, but causation and dose-effect relationships have not been clearly established. The injuries that can be caused by WBV are less clearly defined and are often non-specific, for example, neck pain, back pain or dizziness. These symptoms – most frequently low back pain – are common and more difficult to attribute directly to levels of WBV exposure. 

The operation of wheeled or tracked vehicles over rough tracks or the operation of small boats are scenarios where WBV exposure may be significant. The testing of new platforms by service personnel involves such WBV exposure.  

Shock is a sub-category of WBV and is defined as a sudden, unexpected impact that transmits energy to a device/person in a relatively short time interval. Injury is dependent on the impact force of the shock together with the positioning of the person in relation to the shock. In addition to acute injuries, long term exposure to even moderate levels of repeated shock may lead to chronic injuries to the spine.  

Exposure to severe, repeated shocks is experienced in highspeed craft at sea and in off-road vehicles travelling at speed over rough terrain. Such exposure is associated with acute injury, e.g. wedge fractures of the spine. Lower grade chronic exposure may be expected to lead to progressive damage. The effects of an interaction between shock and low level vibration are poorly characterised.

Much of the evidence for the impact of WBV is anecdotal and associative. Countering this requires detailed epidemiology, leading-edge engineering, robust experimentation and modelling and close collaboration between academia, industry and Defence clinicians and policy makers.

5. Competition Challenges

This competition has three challenges.

5.1 Challenge 1: Define the size and nature of the problem

There is no definitive data on the prevalence and severity of WBV in service personnel working with armoured vehicles or boats. Data is likely to be an underestimation of the problem for several reasons. Firstly, symptoms of WBV such as lower back pain and joint pain are associated with multiple activities within military working life: there is therefore likely to be an under-reporting of vibration related symptoms into the primary care database. Secondly, the lack of awareness of the effects of WBV may mean that service personnel are not aware that their symptoms could be ascribed to WBV. In parallel, a lack of awareness of WBV amongst medical personnel may result in under-reporting of WBV on current primary care databases. Therefore, to gain a better understanding of the epidemiology and injury burden associated with WBV, focused clinical studies assessing service personnel that routinely use armoured vehicles or small boats is required.

Epidemiology will play a critical role in defining the size of the problem posed by WBV, but to fully understand the nature of WBV we must be able to model the mechanisms of its effects either in vivo, in vitro, or in silico. This mechanistic knowledge will underpin the future development of technology to protect and mitigate against injurious effects of WBV.

Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:

• use of machine learning algorithms to mine clinical databases in order to establish patterns of injury presentation in at-risk groups.
• development of in vivo, in vitro or in silico mechanistic models that increase understanding of how WBV and shock cause musculoskeletal injury in males and females and are able to predict and prevent future injury.

5.2 Challenge 2: Quantify exposure to WBV

To determine a dose-response relationship between WBV and injury, it is critical to capture the level of exposure an individual experiences. This is true for both one-off exposures, for example, a soldier post-transit, and cumulative exposure, or a small boat pilot doing repeated journeys. In both cases, quantifying exposure will enable boundary conditions to be set that determine the level of exposure that cannot be exceeded to avoid short-term operational effects. Importantly, it is likely that these levels will differ between individuals of different sexes, sizes, and shapes and boundary conditions must be sensitive to this.

Whilst there is significant knowledge around the instrumentation and measurement of vibration at a vehicle level, there is a lack of knowledge on how that shock is transmitted to the individual and what impulses are experienced by the service person. These difficulties have been ascribed to the lack of wearable sensor technology that can apply to the vehicle occupant without being overly cumbersome. As sensor technology continues to advance and lessons are learned from other settings (e.g., concussion sensors in professional sports), the assessment of personal exposure to WBV and shock comes within closer reach.

Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:

• the development of a suite of platform agnostic wearable sensors to evaluate personal exposure to WBV and shock.
• platform instrumentation that is able to capture and transmit vibration and shock signatures for reproduction in research and development settings.

5.3 Challenge 3: Establish the short-term effects of WBV on performance of duties

Although the mechanisms of WBV-related injury are not fully understood, it is accepted that spinal compression, tension, rotation and flexion, can engage the back muscles and lead to fatigue. This fatigue could ultimately lead to decreased physical performance and possible injury. This is particularly relevant to military dismounted ground combat troops who are required to complete physically demanding activities on immediate dismount from a vehicle platform.   

There is some evidence for the effects of vibration exposure on human performance, including reduced visual tracking ability, cognitive skills, and physical performance. This evidence often stems from studies with small sample sizes – the results of which have been hard to replicate – and use outcome measures that rarely reflect tasks a service person might have to perform in an operational situation. As a result, there is little evidence available to inform Command decisions on risk associated with completion of operational duties upon disembarkation from a vibrating platform.

It is difficult to run controlled WBV experiments in the field. Once boundary conditions are established, technology can mimic the vibration signatures experienced on various platforms and enable laboratory assessment of short-term effects on service personnel.

Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include:

• development of military-specific, validated outcome measures that are sensitive to the influence of WBV exposure.
• development of technology able to reproduce under experimental conditions the vibration and shock signatures experienced by individuals across different platforms to allow direct study of realistic exposure on short-term performance of duties.

5.4 We are interested in…

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

• a clear pathway to impact for translation of findings into Defence policy and practice
• a realistic plan to build individual skills and capability amongst early career researchers within Defence and academia, to design, conduct, and lead research, including via higher degree study where appropriate.
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to challenges faced by DMS and Front Line Commands

5.5 We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation
• focus on hand-arm vibration (HAV)
• focus on shock alone, e.g. a road traffic accident of a land vehicle. Proposals should consider shock when coupled with whole body vibrations.
• include work that requires MOD Research Ethics Committee (MODREC) review but does not account for the time required to achieve favourable opinion in their project timeline (approx. 5 months including mandatory Scientific Assessment Committee review prior to MODREC submission).
• do not address appropriate ethical and legal requirements for any proposed in vivo work to take place in animal models. For more information see ‘7.1 what your proposal must include’.
• an unsolicited resubmission of a previous DASA bid
• 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 defence and security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

6. Accelerating and commercially 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 commercial exploitation

For DASA to consider routes for commercial 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 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 operational capability against the current known (or presumed) baseline.

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 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 research project and associated technology development.

Include project specific information which will help exploitation. 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

Submission deadline

Midday on Tuesday 24 January 2023 (GMT)

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.

Total funding available

The total funding available for this competition is £2.5m (ex VAT). £925k of the total £2.5m must be spent within financial year 2023/2024 and deliverables must be planned with this in mind.

We expect to fund between 1 to 3 proposals over a 47 month period. All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027.

At least one funded proposal will be a multidisciplinary programme seeking to address all or the majority of the questions raised. Any remaining funding will be directed towards applications focusing on delivery against specific questions, e.g. development of technology to reproduce vibration and shock signatures.

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.

7.1 What your proposal must include

• 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 competition is £2.5m. Proposals will be rejected if the financial cost exceeds this capped level.
• 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 well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase; they must include a final report.
• You should also plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting at the start of the project, a mid-project event and an end of project event, 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.
• Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (47 months). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant. All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027.

7.2 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 phase.

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. 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 theMODREC Guidance for Suppliers or contact your Innovation Partner for further guidance.

All proposals submitted that contain animal work will be reviewed by a Dstl veterinary surgeon and will be considered non-compliant without inclusion of appropriate information. For UK locations that are proposing use of animals under ASPA (Animals (Scientific Procedures) Act 1986) as part of work under DASA, the location must demonstrate that they hold a Project Licence that covers the work proposed, and Establishment Licence for the location and Personal Licences for anyone carrying out the regulated procedures. International innovators proposing animal work under AAALAC should provide the equivalent documentation. For locations outside of the UK that do not have AAALAC, proposal assessment will need to include a Dstl veterinary surgeon making custom assessment of the location’s applicable national regulations, any other accreditations held by the location and the local governance systems for the location.

Requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, personnel, materials and facilities, may be included in your proposal. Innovators are responsible for arranging access to any GFA required. 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.

7.3 Cyber risk assessment

Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ)

Innovators must complete a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ), using the DASA Risk Assessment Reference (RAR) for this competition: RAR-613591261 and answer questions for risk level “Very Low”.

DASA has completed a Cyber Risk Assessment (CRA) for this competition. In order to submit to this competition innovators are required to work towards cyber resilience. If selected for funding, the innovator must prove cyber resilience before a contract will be awarded.

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 completed SAQ form and resulting email response from DCPP must be downloaded and included within the DASA submission service portal when the proposal is submitted. Please allow enough time to receive the SAQ reference number prior to competition close at midday on Tuesday 24 January 2023 (GMT).

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.

7.4 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.

7.5 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	Pass / Fail
The proposal clearly details a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan to complete the work proposed in Phase 1	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of proposal is £2.5m (ex VAT)	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities / services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed within 47 months from award of contract (or less). All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027	Pass / Fail
The bidder has obtained the authority to provide unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.	Pass / Fail
The bidder has done all of the following: submitted a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ) number; attached the email from DCPP; attached the submitted SAQ form	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.

7.6 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, the value of your proposal will determine which contract terms apply to you: if your proposal is £1m or less we will be using the Innovation Standard Contract (ISC) Terms, or if it is over £1m we will be using the SC2 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.

For this competition, £2.5m is currently available to fund proposals over a 47 month period. All contracts must complete by the end of March 2027. 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.

8. Key dates

Dial-in	Thursday 17 November 2022
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	Tuesday 22nd November and Tuesday 29 November
Competition closes	Midday Tuesday 24 January 2023 (GMT)
Feedback release	31 March 2023
Contracting	Aim to start 1 May 2023. Contracts must finish by the end of March 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.

10. Questions from the Q&A Event - 17 November 2022

Q: Regarding the smaller projects, it might help interested parties if some sort of expectation was set in terms of proposal value?

A: A likely value would be around £100k. However, this is a difficult question to answer without knowing the details of the multidisciplinary programme proposals. If a successful programme proposal costs the full £2.5m, there will be no funding remaining to support smaller scale projects. Those that are fundable but not funded may be considered for future funding should it become available.

Q: Do you envisage that the ‘multidisciplinary programme’ will be a collaborative study between industry/academia/SMEs, rather than a single institution?

A: That would be the expectation. If funded, the lead organisation would be contracted through DASA and that organisation would be in charge of subcontracting those partner organisations named in the proposal. DASA has set up a collaboration survey to aid collaboration between innovators.

Q: How do innovators access the data sets highlighted in the presentation?

A: Defence Medical Services can broker that access through existing relationships with the organisations that hold the data, e.g. Defence Statistics (Health). If the proposal was funded, we would help make those arrangements and these requests should be included in a proposal as Government Furnished Assets (GFA). Please note, if you apply for GFA, you must include an alternative plan in case it is not available.

Q: What type of data and parameters are available in your datasets? Are you interested in specific physiological information?

A: No physiological information in the data sets, at present. The data sets have the vibration signatures from selected land platforms.

Q: Is the scope of the programme solely research focused and will the findings throughout the programme then be used to develop technologies regarding WBV?

A: This programme is more research focussed than a typical DASA call, but we anticipate technologies to be developed to help understand the problem, e.g. development of instruments to aid in measuring exposure to whole body vibration. The intention is to use what we have learned in the ‘understand’ programme in the subsequent ‘protect’ programme, which may be more innovation focused.

Q: For the multidisciplinary programme, are you looking for all the three challenges to be met?

A: Yes, we think it is realistic to address the majority of those challenges with the funding available under one programme. We would also hope that the successful programme could leverage additional support from other funders.

Q: One big programme to address the varied requirements of this whole body vibration project requires a diverse collection of skills and partner organisations. Do you anticipate hosting a brokerage event?

A: DASA and the Defence Medical Services don’t have plans to host a brokerage event. However, in the competition document there is a collaboration survey to facilitate this. Innovators have the option to submit their details to their survey, along with their areas of interest. This information is then collated and circulated every Friday amongst other interested parties for them to contact each other.

Q: Challenge 3 mentions ‘technology that can reproduce experimental conditions’. Are you hoping to use existing facilities, as building something would be costly?

A: This competition is not looking to reinvent anything that already exists. This technology is not available in Defence, but if an innovator is aware of this technology elsewhere and has access to its use, there is no reason why it shouldn’t be included in a proposal.

Q: Would university fees, such as international student fees, be an appropriate cost to include in a proposal?

A: Yes, university fees can be included in the costings of a proposal. However, ‘in kind’ contributions in a proposal (for example waiving of university fees by a university), would be looked on favourably. It is also important to consider value for money when costing a proposal submission, as this is part of the assessment criteria. The DASA assessment criteria can be found here.

Q: Is it the expectation that a single organisation would be contracted to undertake the multidisciplinary programme outlined in “UNDERSTAND”? It may be challenging for small and medium size enterprises (SME) to run the whole project.

A: The intention is to award this contract to a single organisation that is working in collaboration with other organisations, such as SMEs and academia. Any remaining funding will be directed towards applications focusing on delivery against specific questions, e.g. development of dosimeter technology.

Q: You mention previous platform data sets? Would your preference be to recapture vehicle and on-body data sets at the same time?

A: Ideally, yes.

Q: There was a mention of leveraging additional funding. Is this expected to be in place before commencing the project?

A: No, just a plan for how further funding would be leveraged.

Q: Do you expect bids to include plans for recruiting/training new researchers?

A: This would be more relevant to bids from academic institutions. There does need to be some provision for early-career research opportunities to develop understanding in this area.

Q: Could you please explain what you mean by platform conditions and testing?

A: Broadly speaking, a platform would be a landing craft, rotary-winged aircraft or small boat. The vibrations are those you can collect by instrumenting the platform itself or through the personnel on board.

Q: Might this competition include the supply of person-carried instrumentation hardware providing recording and real time telemetry of physiological parameters?

A: Yes, as long as the physiological parameters are providing useful and relevant data.

Q: Is this competition only open to UK businesses?

A: No, it is open to international innovators and not just limited to UK businesses. It is open to all innovators, including SMEs, academia and business.

11. Questions from the 1-2-1 Sessions - 22 November 2022

Q: Where should we detail the members of our consortium in the application form?

A: This should be explained in the the viability section, resource section and finance section. If you need guidance on how to fill out the form, please contact your regional Innovation Partner.

Q: Academic institutions often request money upfront. Is this an issue?

A: As detailed in the DASA Standard Terms and Conditions, payments are made on delivery, not on costs not yet incurred.

Q: What reports do you expect to receive during the project?

A: This depends on the format of your project’s deliverables. Please refer to Section 7.1 What your proposal must include. In addition, we would expect suppliers to report to the Defence Medical Services Environmental Threats Research Theme Working Group twice a year. This working group consists of Defence experts across the spectrum of environmental health. It coheres research activity by receiving verbal reports from active projects and promoting collaboration between researchers.

Q: Are sub-contractors required to complete an SAQ?

A: Yes. It is the lead organisation’s responsibility to make sure the sub-contractors complete an SAQ and provide these details to Dstl commercial, if the proposal is successful.

Q: Can organisations of any size submit a proposal?

A: Yes. Within your proposal, you should detail your team’s expertise. This will give confidence to the assessors that you can deliver what you say you can.

Q: Is there a word limit on the three main criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) in the application form?

A: No, however, be concise. Each assessor should be able to read, understand and assess your proposal within 1 hour and 30 minutes.

Q: Will there be access to MOD end users and platforms?

A: We would like to see you have some realistic plans for this engagement in your proposal. If it is funded, we will try to help facilitate what you have proposed.

Q: We have data from a related sector who experience WBV similarly to Front Line Commands in Defence. Could we utilise this during our research?

A: We are interested in understanding WBV experienced by Service personnel. However, if you can demonstrate that your existing data replicates the WBV signatures experienced by Service personnel, there is no reason you cannot use the data.

Q: Do we need to find partners upfront or could we find them once the project starts?

A: You need to create the partnership before submitting your proposal. Between you, you need to decide who will be the lead supplier, everyone else should be listed as sub-contractors.

Q: Do we need to define the size of the problem using your existing data? What is the quality of the data?

A: We should be able to provide clinical anonymised data from Units with high average exposure to WBV and another similar demographic that are not regularly exposed to WBV. Information will be at individual level comprising age, gender, rank, unit, location of clinical contact, and all of their read codes, e.g. ‘lower limb injury’. As outlined in the competition document, there are numerous reasons primary care data might under-represent WBV-related injury. It is important, therefore, that focused clinical studies are also planned to complement the large-scale epidemiology.

Please clearly detail in your proposal what data you would like access to under the ‘Government Furnished Assets (GFA)’ section on the submission form. 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.

Q: You have a dataset saying a person has back pain. Does it also include what they have done to infer exposure? Hours spent on a particular platform?

A: All we can say is that the Service person is part of a Unit that is exposed to high levels of WBV. We could not quantify personal exposure from existing data. The data is ‘noisy’ but by making ‘big data’ available we hope to detect some signal from the noise.

Q: Where do we draw the line regarding to time for acute effects?

A: To mirror operational conditions, we would expect acute effects to be assessed within one hour of vibration exposure. It is worth bearing in mind that acute effects might alter in response to repeated exposure over the course of days or weeks. We are not looking at chronic exposure e.g. 5 years down the line.

Q: You mention musculoskeletal in the competition document. Are you looking at bloods etc as well?

A: We are interested in understanding the effects of WBV on the human body. Most likely, these will be musculoskeletal in nature but could also be detected through other tissues, including blood.

Q: With regard to developing technology, are you expecting us to develop something bespoke for this setting. Or is there no need if it already exists?

A: We expect to see some form of innovation and development of the technology, we would not just fund something off the shelf. Developing models is considered research and innovation.

Q: There are many potential biomarkers. How much exploration of the options do you want us to do?

A: Basic research to identify potential biomarkers of WBV-related injury is within scope of the competition. We would expect you to present a pathway to impact for how that biomarker might be translated into frontline operation.

Q: Would it be fruitful to look at the mechanistic side of WBV?

A: Yes, Challenge 1 incorporates better understanding of how WBV might lead to injury. This will likely depend on the development of in vivo, in vitro, and in silico mechanistic models.

Q: Does the MOD have an existing Internet-Of-Things infrastructure we should plug a sensor into?

A: At this stage, where solutions rely on information technology, we would expect them to be compatible with generic underlying networks, data capability, and infrastructure.

Q: Would the MOD be interested in a diagnostic that can determine which personnel are most at risk of WBV-related injury?

A: Yes, but other than early biomarker validation, the majority of that work would fall outside the remit of the UNDERSTAND programme and within the remit of a future PROTECT programme.

12. Questions from the 1-2-1 Sessions - 29 November 2022

Q: What are the Intellectual Property (IP) considerations for this competition? Can the research from the projects be published?

A: The IP that is developed remains with the supplier, but the Ministry of Defence (MoD) get user rights to that IP. You are permitted to disseminate your activity (e.g. via academic publication) once Defence has had the opportunity to review for sensitive material.

Q: How would we measure the level of vibration?

A: If successful for funding Defence Medical Services (DMS) help can link you up with organisations that have access to the vehicles creating the vibration signature. However, DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available. If you apply for GFA (such as access to vehicles), you must include an alternative plan in case it is not available.

DMS is also exploring whether existing ad hoc vibration signatures can be shared with the winning bid.

Q: What format would this data be presented in?

A: Most likely, CSV format.

Q: What level of cyber risk assessment (CRA) do we have to achieve for this competition? Is this a UK standard or non-UK equivalent?

A: Details on the CRA can be found here in the competition document. The risk level for this competition is “Very Low” and the process will inform you if you have achieved this level or an equivalent level.

Q: How does DASA handle resubmissions or proposals?

A: If the proposal has been suitably reworked to fit the scope of the competition and take into account the feedback provided when it was previously submitted, then that would be acceptable.

Q: Are the symptoms of WBV well established?

A: No, hence Challenge 1.

Q: Should the project cover all types of platforms or is a land platform more valuable?

A: Defence Medical Services (DMS) works across Navy, Army and Air Force so there will be an equal interest in all types of platform.

Q. Would a clinical partner be a good idea and is the NHS an acceptable clinical partner?

A: If submitting a programme proposal, clinical input will be required, for example, to understand patterns of injury. This may be an NHS clinician where their expertise meets the requirement.

Q. Can personnel and environments for testing during the project be provided by Defence Medical Services (DMS)?

A: If successful for funding, DMS can link the successful organisation with sectors of the MoD that can facilitate access to personnel and environments for testing. Please detail all requirements in the proposal submitted. However, 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.

If testing is going to be conducted on personnel, please ensure MODREC requirements have been considered and clearly laid out in the proposal.

Q. What temperature lows could personnel be exposed to when experiencing WBV?

A: Personnel could experience lows of approximately 2-4 degrees centigrade.

Q: The Competition Document states in Section 12 , that if successful, DMS can help link innovators with organisations that have access to vehicles – however GFA cannot be guaranteed. Since this data is pivotal to the execution of the program, is it possible to get further information about the logistics and costs involved in what DMS could provide?

A: DMS have established a relationship with Defence Equipment & Support who are overseeing trials of Land platforms at Hurn proving ground. This is to collect noise data with Qinetiq as the contractor. There is the opportunity to leverage these trials to capture vibration data provided the ongoing work is unaffected. There would not be any associated cost with platform access.

We also hold a dossier of reports on 12 land platforms from BAE Systems testing. We do not have access to the primary data but the reports provide vibration levels for different seat positions, terrain, and platform speed for each platform. Use of the data from these reports would mitigate the risk of the DE&S testing being unable to accommodate vibration data collection.