Notice

Competition Document: Innovation in Support of Operations

Published 18 July 2024

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that can make a real-world difference, fast and at scale. We are looking for scalable proposals, designed for manufacture, at market-leading prices, that can be demonstrated in a relevant environment three months from the date of contract in support of future contracting decisions.

This is a rapid, multiple cycle competition. The competition will run for three cycles, open continuously from 18 July 2024 until 3 December 2024. Proposals submitted by the cycle deadline will follow the DASA “How your proposal will be assessed” process with contracting immediately afterwards for successful proposals.

DASA reserves the right to amend challenge areas between cycles as operational needs evolve.

Further to this multiple cycle DASA competition, viable proposals may be taken to higher TRLs and/or manufacture phase the Authority (Secretary of State for Defence, acting on behalf of the Crown). In this circumstance the Authority will undertake appropriate procurement activity to ensure value for money and subject to any applicable Regulations that may pertain.

2. Competition key information

2.1 Submission deadline

Cycle 1 - 12:00 Midday on 10 September 2024 (BST)

Cycle 2 - 12:00 Midday on 22 October 2024 (BST)

Cycle 3 - 12:00 Midday on 03 December 2024 (GMT)

2.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

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

It is recommended you thoroughly check the mandatory criteria for this competition before you submit your proposal.

2.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for all successful bids, across all three cycles in this competition is £2 million (excluding VAT).

Funded proposals are expected to be in the range of £50,000 to £200,000.

A number of proposals may be funded.

2.4 What technology readiness level (TRL) is being sought?

For this competition we are seeking technology output and demonstration at technology readiness level (TRL) 6 as a minimum no later than three months of the contract start date.

You will be required to conduct demonstrations in the UK for the MOD customer. These demonstrations must be self-supporting and are not to require MOD assets or support to deliver.

This competition is designed to identify innovations that could potentially be deployed, at an appropriate scale, in an operational theatre within 12 months. This will be a key focus of our assessment.

3. Support Opportunities

3.1 Expressions of Interest

We invite Expressions of Interest where there are sensitive questions that you would prefer to pose either about the competition or the scope of your proposal. DASA has a team of Innovation Partners that can provide you with support in working with DASA. If you want to submit a maximum 500 word expression of interest we encourage you to speak to your local DASA Innovation Partner.

Your expression of interest should include:

• what your idea is
• which challenge you are interested in
• what problem does it solve for defence and how innovative it is

Please send one idea per expression of interest.

Expressions of Interest must be submitted to your DASA Innovation Partner at least three weeks before a cycle closing to get a response for the current cycle.

3.2 Industry collaboration survey during proposal preparation

We encourage collaboration between organisations for this competition. 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 supplier collaboration survey and your details (including your business email address) may be circulated among other potential suppliers who have completed the survey and are interested in collaborating. The sharing of details will only be done after an initial screening process has taken place, we reserve the right to not share all details.

If you choose to complete the supplier collaboration survey, please be aware all the information you submit in the survey may 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 Background: Can you make a real-world difference, fast and at scale?

The UK Government is continually assessing lessons from world events. From these lessons, we seek to rapidly adopt solutions that enhance our military and economic advantage. This competition intends to identify nearly ready solutions and techniques that can be accelerated into scalable and deliverable effect faster than our adversaries.

4.2 Scope:

Our areas of interest are; 

• Novel and enhanced scale complex manufacture of materiel
• Autonomous system navigation and applique options
• Wide-area sense and detect
• Innovative solutions for minefield breaching

DASA reserves the right to amend challenge areas between cycles as operational needs evolve.

These challenges are designed to identify innovations that could be deployed, at an appropriate scale, in operational areas within 12 months.

It is therefore essential that proposals include not just what is proposed, but also demonstrate that viable solutions could be manufactured and scaled up for employment in a relevant timeframe.

To be eligible to submit a proposal into this competition you must be a UK business registered at Companies House, with UK ownership. You must be based in the UK and intending to carry out project development activity in the UK.

A key assessment criteria for this competition will be around robustness of the supply chain. Your proposal must detail overseas supply chain dependencies that if disrupted would impact the ability to deliver your proposed solution at scale, and if appropriate how these dependencies could be mitigated.

5. Competition Challenges

This competition has four challenges. As well as brand new innovations, this competition welcomes proposals that outline an innovative approach to re-using existing products, which may not yet have been tested for these purposes, but which it is expected could be successfully applied to these challenges.

5.1 Challenge 1: Novel and enhanced scale complex manufacture of materiel

This challenge seeks to develop enhanced technology or enable manufacturing and production methods that improve capability and performance, generate increased quantity, reduce initial acquisition cost or extend the service or shelf life of materiel in the following areas: 

• energetics (including novel formulations and materials)
  • warhead fill including initiators
  • artillery Propellant
  • energetic propulsion compounds
• shell cases (currently metal casting / pressing) or propellant cases including polymer cartridges
• shell fuzes (complex electro-mechanical mechanisms)
• seekers and terminal guidance units, used against:
  • RF transmitters (but not exclusively)
  • UAS (or in the Air Defence role)
  • medium to large maritime targets
• one-way effector / drone motors – electric or otherwise. 
• image intensifying tubes for night vision applications, at increased capability and scale and/or reduced cost

While proposals in this section are expected to include things that an innovator will scale themselves, proposals could also include new processes that through an appropriate mechanism could be adopted and scaled through a third party or more widely.

Ideas that might help solve this challenge area may include (but are not limited to):

• redesign of an existing product for more massive manufacture with a very clear idea of how the unit price point will be affected
• new processes to manufacture that require simpler equipment, use cheaper and more readily available input materials, exercise mass manufacture techniques.

5.2 Challenge 2: Autonomous system navigation and applique options

We are seeking ways to make legacy ground vehicles (military, agricultural and construction) operate with basic autonomy. Ideally able to function in communications and GNSS denied or degraded environments.

Additionally, we are seeking new UAS navigation solutions that can interface with industry standard architecture (for example CubePilot Cube Orange). The UAS must be able to operate in a GNSS denied or degraded environment and determine own position without manual input to within 50m accuracy minimum, with an objective accuracy of 5m. Systems will be evaluated against cost and capability of current systems, proven over land or a combination of land and water with a stretch target of open water. 

We are not seeking new UAS platforms, but for the purposes of demonstrating the UAS navigation innovation, the innovator is to provide the demonstration platform. It is recognised that for demonstration purposes it may be desirable to utilise a sub-25kg UAS. For indicative purposes only, the likey maximum size of future platform for which use is envisaged is a fixed-wing, 25kg payload UAS with a 4m wingspan. Maximum allowable weight for the navigation unit is 1kg.

5.3 Challenge 3: Wide-area sense and detect

We are looking for reduced cost, low probability of intercept, wide-area sense and detect including (but not limited to) air search (including passive) and the function of 3D counter-battery radar.

Potential threats to be detected include adversary RF emitters; adversary ISR assets e.g. drones, vehicles or personnel; adversary weapons in flight such as mortars, rockets, and artillery.

We are not seeking solutions that place a heavy conceptual and supporting burden on the force using the solution. Solutions proposed must be as self-contained and low impact to use as possible, placing particular emphasis on the protection and vulnerability of any users of the solution. We are also not seeking offers of integration or analysis of existing sensors or data as a service. The solution needs to bring newly collected, timely, and accurate data to the users in the most cost-effective method.

5.4 Challenge 4: Innovative solutions for minefield breaching

Innovative methods to effect a breach of conventional but deep and extensive, and heavily protected minefields quickly, cheaply, and with sufficient regard for personnel protection. Proposals could utilise mechanical, explosive, or a combination of these or other methods to produce a ‘safe lane’ to allow follow-on forces to conduct opposed offensive operations at scale.

 The final product will eventually have to consider the full range of Defence Lines of Development (DLOD), but should focus on the ability to generate high numbers of breaching systems generated from cheap and available input resources.

Obfuscation of intent in the close and rear, ease of use, and robustness under both fire and electronic attack will be essential considerations so that the users and capability is as survivable as possible when in use.

5.5 We are interested in…

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

• how market-leading unit price and scalable manufacture is built into the proposal from the outset, clearly benchmarked against existing market solutions or closest substitute capabilities and how both the output and the manufacturing techniques can be demonstrated at not more than three months from contract award
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to a defence and security context, and how it can be exploited in phases of development beyond this DASA competition

5.6 We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• Cannot achieve TRL 6 minimum within the three-month contract period. Any proposals that are judged to be TRL 5 and below will be viewed as non-compliant and sifted out. Please refer to the TRL guide or contact a DASA Innovation Partner for guidance here
• have already been sold into the UK Defence Marketplace unless adapted or repurposed in an innovative way and this is made clear in your proposal
• are UAV Platforms
• rely on rare or exclusive means of manufacture that would preclude deployment at an appropriate scale in an operational threatre within 12 months – the ability to exercise existing industry is likely to be important
• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews which just summarise the existing literature without any view of future innovation
• are 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 in price, while maintaining enough performance to be relevant
• Integration or AI synthesis of existing data sets without bringing in new information to the user as the primary output

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. Innovators shall ensure that their proposal offers sufficient information for the Authority to enable exploitation of it via possible future phases of procurement, noting the Defence and Security Public Contract Regulations 2011 and Public Contract Regulations 2015 and The Single Source Contract Regulation 2014 that may pertain.

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

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

6.2 How to outline your exploitation plan

Include the following information to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans to date:

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

6.3 Is your exploitation plan long term?

It should be clear that there is credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

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

7. How to apply

7.1 Submission deadline

Cycle 1 - 12:00 Midday on 10 September 2024 (BST)

Cycle 2 - 12:00 Midday on 22 October 2024 (BST)

Cycle 3 - 12:00 Midday on 03 December 2024 (GMT)

7.2 Where do I submit my proposal?

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

This Themed Competition uses a different application form compared to previous DASA Themed Competitions. The application is shorter. For those proposals that meet the mandatory criteria, 60 minutes will be allocated for assessment. Please ensure your proposal can be read, in its entirety, within this time.

7.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for all successful bids, across all three cycles in this competition is £2 million (excluding VAT).

7.4 How many proposals will DASA fund

Funded proposals are expected to be in the range of £50,000 to £200,000.

A number of proposals may be funded.

7.5 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)

7.6 What your proposal must include

• the proposal should focus on the requirements to deliver to the (minimum  of TRL6) demonstration, but must also include an outline proposal for a 3-month refinement phase beyond the initial delivery – this should be presented as a costed option
• the proposal should demonstrate how it can be scaled in order to deliver at an appropriate scale in an operational theatre within 12 months. Measureable information on planned quantities, costs and timescales should be utilised to demonstrate scalability
• 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
• 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 that includes the following:
  • an executive summary of no more than 1 page
  • a clear summary of the source of the innovation background, with supplier background for context
  • a breakdown of the project work structure with the work covered under each task of the project
  • a full technical description of the work undertaken, with any supporting data that informs this included in the form of annexes to the report. Schematics and images of the innovation to be included, wherever possible
  • a full description of any trials work undertaken, including any supporting trials plan as an annex to the report
  • a clear section of conclusions and recommendations, being succinct on technical challenges that would need to be addressed by further development work *all proposed milestones for delivery of you proposal must be costed, with a clear breakdown of allocated costs
• you should also plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting at the start, a mid-project event and an end of project demonstration, 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. Any slides presented at these meetings need to be made available
• your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (three months). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant

7.7 What your resourcing plan should include

Your resourcing plan must identify the nationalities of proposed employees that you intend to work on this phase.

7.8 If your proposal is recommended for funding

In the event of a proposal being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed employees. 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.
You will be required to conduct demonstrations for the MOD customer in the UK, without specific MOD support to conduct that demonstration.

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

Following demonstration and completion of the three month contract, the project will either be allocated to a further development or procurement route, or cease as no longer required.

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. Additionally, information or materials utilised in the proposed solution may be subject to foreign export controls. All innovators must ensure that they can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can deliver to TRL6 demonstration timelines and 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 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-240619B04 and answer questions for risk level “Very Low”. In the form, for the contract name please use the competition title and for the contract description please use the title of your proposal.

Defence Cyber Protection Partnership

The Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) will review your SAQ submission and respond within 5 working days with a reference number and an indication of your compliance status. 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.

The SAQ will be evaluated against the CRA for the competition, and it will be put it into one of the following categories:

1. Compliance Status Met – no further action
2. Compliance status Not Met – if successful in competition and being funded, the innovator will be required to complete a Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP) before the contract is placed, which will need to be reviewed and agreed with the relevant project manager.

Innovators can submit a proposal without all controls in place, but are expected to have all the cyber protection measures necessary to fulfil the requirements of the contract in place at the time of contract award, or have an agreed Cyber Implementation Plan (CIP).

The CIP provides evidence as to how and when potential innovators will achieve compliance. Provided the measures proposed in the Cyber Implementation Plan do not pose an unacceptable risk to the MOD, a submission with a Cyber Implementation Plan will be considered alongside those who can achieve the controls.

A final check will be made to ensure cyber resilience before the contract is placed.  Commercial staff cannot progress without it. This process does not replace any contract specific security requirements.

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

7.11 Public facing information

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

8. 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 sections of the DASA submission service how it meets the DASA criteria	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities / services (including delivery of the final report and demonstration) will be completed within three months from award of contract (or less)	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 output will be TRL 6 or above	Pass/Fail
The proposal confirms MODREC and RIPA approvals are not required	Pass / Fail
There are no requests for GFA or GFX within the proposal	Pass / Fail
To be eligible to submit a proposal into this competition you must be a UK business registered at Companies House, with UK ownership. You must be based in the UK and intending to carry out project development activity in the UK.	Pass / Fail
The bidder has obtained the authority to provide unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract.	Pass / Fail

Proposals that pass Stage 1 will then be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria (Desirability, Feasibility and Viability) by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), other government departments and 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, which includes the full proposal, to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. In providing such information you consent to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place.

Further guidance on how your proposal is assessed is available on the DASA website.

After assessment, proposals will be discussed internally at a Decision Conference where, 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.

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

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

More information on DEFCON 705 can be found by registering on the Knowledge in Defence site.

Funded projects will be allocated 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.

The total funding available for all successful bids, across all three cycles in this competition is £2 million (excluding VAT).

Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, DASA will continue to seek funding from partners across government and shall consider your proposal fundable for 12 months from the date of the decision release. We will share the abstract, PVPS and title of your proposal with any other UK government departments that may express an interest in funding the proposal through DASA, in accordance with the competition document. If a budget holder within the MOD wishes to read the full proposal to decide if they will fund it, we will share it with them under these circumstances. If it is within 60 days of the original NOT FUNDED decision release date, we will share the full proposal with them without seeking your permission. If it is over 60 days since the original NOT FUNDED decision we will seek your permission before sharing the full proposal with them.

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

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

9. Key dates

Cycle 1
Competition closes	12:00 Midday on 10 September 2024 (BST)
Feedback release	End of October 2024
Contracting	Aim to start at the end of November 2024 and end three months later at the end of February 2025

Cycle 2
Competition closes	12:00 Midday on 22 October 2024 (BST)
Feedback release	December 2024
Contracting	Aim to start at the end of January 2025 and end three months later at the end of April 2025

Cycle 3
Competition closes	12:00 Midday on 03 December 2024 (GMT)
Feedback release	February 2025
Contracting	Aim to start mid March 2025 and end three months later mid June 2025

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 to receive future updates on this competition, please email the DASA Help Centre accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

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.