Notice

PYRAMID for avionics and mission systems (Phase 1): Competition Document

Published 5 November 2024

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is concerned with adoption of and compliance with the PYRAMID Reference Architecture (PRA) in avionics and mission systems, making them align with the high profile initiative to deliver rapid adaptability and systematic reuse.

This DASA competition is to provide funding into industry owned and led product development programmes specifically for incorporating, utilising and adopting the PRA within said programmes, and providing lessons learnt, via reports and access to progress meetings and reviews. For clarity, the funding is available to encourage industry adoption of the PRA rather than to cover development costs for new systems, or modification of existing systems as such. Consequently, full mission systems or sub-systems are not required to be delivered to the Authority at the end of the contract period, but reports detailing the journey in adoption and demonstrating PRA compliance.

This DASA competition is run on behalf of the Royal Air Force’s Rapid Capabilities Office.

Introduction to PYRAMID

In 2014 the MOD launched PYRAMID, an initiative to design and develop an Open System Architecture (OSA) for all Air Mission Systems that would enable a step change in affordability and rapid adaptability. The project aimed to mature not only the technical solution for a comprehensive air system architecture applicable to new and extant systems, but also address the business change within MOD and UK companies, and demonstrate compliance with airworthiness certification and security accreditation regulations. 

The PYRAMID technical solution, based around the PRA, was released in early 2022 and, as an indication of Air Command’s Commitment to the programme, it moved into the Transition Phase which is focused on the national and international adoption of PYRAMID. The PRA and associated documentation has been issued under the Open Government Licence and is already being exploited through mandates on specific projects including the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP). International adoption is largely being addressed through Project Arrangements for international collaboration and close working with international acquisition programmes.

PYRAMID has been shown to be fully compatible with major international initiatives and standards including the Future Airborne Capability Environment (FACE®) Technical Standard.

An E-Learning package is being developed which will be available for successful bidders and may be supported by a 2-3 day tutor led virtual training course.

A Single Statement of User Need (SSUN) (Figure 1) was established to set the overarching goal for PYRAMID, which was focussed on delivering operational effectiveness through life by enabling rapid adaptability.

Figure 1  - The PYRAMID Single Statement of User Need

The adoption of PYRAMID for air platforms offers, in conjunction with good engineering practice and the adoption of modular open standards principles, unparalleled adaptability and exploitation of advanced software mission system capabilities, at the speed of relevance across the UK defence capability spectrum and with allies.  It is a critical enabler for UK Air Power.

The PYRAMID Programme intends to encourage this exploitation further through multiple industry suppliers with a view to establishing the widespread adoption of the PRA and influencing associated national and international programmes.

This DASA Competition will give you the opportunity to align new, or modify existing, programmes to demonstrate compliance with PYRAMID, providing not only the benefits that come with this approach but enhanced compatibility with major air programmes.

In return, the Authority seeks access to the learning accrued during the journey in adoption and compliance with the PRA, including lessons learnt, challenges faced in the adoption, suggestions for potential improvements, and implications to your systems, including information/data, as applicable, with suggested refinements and updates to the PYRAMID Reference Architecture and associated documentation.

The purpose of this DASA Competition is to provide financial support for the adoption of PYRAMID and to receive reports detailing the adoption journey and lessons learnt from this.  

We are looking to support adoption across a range of technology/application areas, sizes, safety criticalities etc. Figure 2 identifies the component set.

Figure 2 – PRA Component Set. For further information on PYRAMID please see the PYRAMID Exploiters’ Pack and associated Annexes

2. Competition key information

2.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on 14 January 2025 (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.

Please note that the submission form for this competition has additional questions on top of those listed on the Submit a proposal web page. These questions ask you to confirm that you have understood and adhered to the mandatory requirements (duration, deliverable schedule etc.) of the competition.

2.3 Total funding available

The total possible funding available for this competition is £4 million (excluding VAT).

It is expected that we will fund a number of proposals with a maximum duration of 22 months. It is not expected that all projects will last this long.

3. Supporting events

Dial-in session

14 November 2024 – A dial-in session providing further detail on the competition and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

One-to-one teleconference sessions

22 November 2024 – A series of 15 minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific technical questions to the competition team in a closed forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page but please note that you will not be able to reserve slots until after the webinar event on 14 November.

Please attend the dial in session or reach out to your local Innovation Partner if you have more general questions on DASA or the application process.

Non organisation specific information disclosed during the webinar event and the one-to-one teleconference sessions may be published as clarifications on the competition site.

Expression of Interest

If you are uncertain of the relevance of your innovation, you are strongly recommended to contact your Innovation Partner to discuss sending a 500 word Expression Of Interest (EOI). Once your EOI has been submitted via your Innovation Partner, you should receive a response within 2 weeks, confirming whether or not your idea is in scope. DASA cannot guarantee a response to an EOI submitted after the 16 December 2024, 4 weeks before the competitions closes.

Your EOI should include:

• what your overall avionics system is
• The programme size and exploitation path
• How you intend to undertake the work necessary to demonstrate compliance with the PRA

You will be required to confirm whether or not you have submitted an EOI and what the outcome was, when you submit your proposal. Submitting an EOI is not a mandatory criteria of this competition.

4. Competition Scope

4.1 Background: Why we invested in PYRAMID

Previous generations of aircraft have suffered from avionics design not optimised for the introduction of new technology; a problem set to get worse with the accelerating rate of technological change. Future combat aircraft will be more dependent on software than ever to deliver mission system capability with at least an order of magnitude increase in the quantity of software over the previous generation; and this trend is set to continue. This complexity needed to be managed, as was the ability to collaborate effectively with partners and allies on aircraft design, development, and through-life capability management.

Legacy approaches to software development have often meant that relatively small software changes can have wide reaching consequences across the aircraft, and the approach to software design and development has limited the scope for reuse both within the aircraft and across air vehicles. This problem has become even more significant with the rapid growth in the complexity of avionics and mission systems to meet capability needs. Current predictions are for 10s of millions of lines of code for the mission systems applications software, and with this comes an even greater burden associated with updating and inserting new functionality in this software.

Effective partnering, capability exchange, and interoperability between allies are essential for operational success. Modularity and open architectures have been identified as key enablers, but their consistent application across air platforms, and ensuring compatibility with other standards, must be properly addressed if the benefits are to be fully realised.

PYRAMID is a UK MOD initiative to develop rapidly adaptable avionics and mission systems designed to enhance collaboration through a suite of reusable, functional software components designed to operate within a well-defined software Reference Architecture enabled by systematic reuse processes and Model Based Systems Engineering. PYRAMID targets both future air systems and upgrades to legacy systems to deliver operational advantage, and to reduce the time and cost in implementing through-life capability enhancements.  The MOD has made a significant investment in this initiative, and is now working across national and international programmes, and industrial partners, to support adoption and realise the tremendous benefits that PYRAMD can offer to military capability, effective collaboration, and industry programmes.

CAS 2023 review and endorsement of the PYRAMID Programme

4.2 The exploitation environment

PYRAMID was designed for the modular and consistent development of avionics and mission systems applications, but also for their associated ground systems and synthetic training systems. It is expected that all exploitation proposals will be in this domain.

PYRAMID has also been designed, to be compatible with all safety and security assurance levels and it can be applied to individual software components as well as sub-systems and full systems.

4.3 The requirement

The project will require you to:

• adopt the PRA and demonstrate PYRAMID compliance for your avionics/mission system, whether that be for new or existing systems;
• provide a plan for the development of the PYRAMID compliant components, their integration into a deployable capability, and the proposed exploitation route;
• provide quarterly progress reviews as interim deliverables building up to a final report to include, but not limited to:
  • a general description of the avionics/mission system;
  • a description of the PYRAMID components developed, the PYRAMID concepts adopted, and how PYRAMID compliance has been achieved and assessed;
  • any additional resources required during the course of funded work under this project;
  • experiences in conducting the PYRAMID training and the effectiveness of the course including number of people trained;
  • potential improvements to the PYRAMID document set (clarity, detail, inclusion of worked examples);
  • lessons regarding the PYRAMID deployment process adopted;
  • initial views regarding the benefits of adopting PYRAMID;
  • level of reuse enabled by PYRAMID (for example multiple instantiations of components types, potential for product line engineering);
  • effectiveness of the PYRAMID Query Management Service (if required and used);
  • views regarding provision of components developed into a ‘PYRAMID Marketplace’ for wider exploitation.
• provide demonstrations of the development environment including any Model Based Systems Engineering processes;
• attend an end of project event to present your work to interested MOD stakeholders in a closed meeting and network with other suppliers funded under this competition.

DASA fully recognises that the duration of the product development programme will not necessarily align with any envisaged DASA contract award or completion date. Therefore, for programmes already in progress, DASA seeks to establish terms that permit suitable access to PRA related lessons which may have been identified prior to contract award. In addition, for those programmes with durations that extend beyond the contract end date DASA seeks to agree an enduring relationship, via a survival of terms clause,  in order to secure access to the lessons learnt over the duration of the programme.

Although not essential and possibly limited by classification, the Authority would welcome support for the promotion of PYRAMID.  This could include membership of the Team PYRAMID Community of Interest, the production of academic papers, conference briefings, and wider briefings across government and industry presenting the outcome of the work.

4.4 We are interested in…

For this competition we are interested in accelerating the adoption of PRA in the development of systems and understanding if there are any improvements that can be made to the architecture or training information. This will be obtained through the reports detailing the work you have undertaken and your experiences provided as deliverables.

Funding through this competition is for adoption of the PRA and demonstrating PRA compliance in avionics systems. Anything other than this will be considered out of scope for this competition.

4.5 We are not interested in…

We are not interested in proposals that:

• are requesting funding towards developments that are not related to the adoption of the PRA
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development (unless applied in a novel way to the challenge)
• apply to systems that offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence and security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

5. 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.

We would therefore like to understand, in general terms, how you intend to develop and exploit your overall system to which work funded under this competition relates.

6. How to apply

6.1 Submission deadline

12:00 Midday on 14 January 2025 (GMT)

6.2 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 this competition has additional questions on top of those listed on Submit a proposal. These questions ask you to confirm that you have understood and adhered to the individual proposal cost cap and the duration requirements of the competition. These are part of this competition’s mandatory criteria.

6.3 Total funding available

The total funding available for this competition is £4 million (excluding VAT)

6.4 How many proposals will DASA fund

It is expected that we will fund a number of proposals with a completion date no later than 31 March 2027. It is not expected that all projects will last this long.

6.5 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

6.6 What your proposal should include

In this competition we are interested in understanding your journey towards implementing PYRAMID in your system. In your proposal we would expect to see:

• A description of the avionics or mission system to which PRA compliance is to be adopted;
• An indication of how far through the development cycle you are with the system   (e.g. current system Technology Readiness Level and the remaining cost/resource required. Please use the TRL questions in Step 2 of the submission process to indicate the current TRL of your project and where you expect it to be at the end of the DASA contract. If you do not expect an increase in TRL before the contract ends please select the level below your current TRL in the Current Technology Readiness Level field;
• The scale and timelines associated with any current development of the system, including the number of staff working on the development, and the number that are, and will be, directly involved in the PYRAMID adoption aspects of the work;
• A detailed project plan listing the activities you will undertake to adopt PYRAMID compliance, and to understand and record lessons and experiences regarding the suitability of the PRA and associated documentation. The plan shall encompass a consideration of how PYRAMID adoption aligns with current system development, and associated processes and tools, staff training requirements, activities to re-engineer non-PYRAMID compliant software to be compliant, and the integration and testing of PYRAMID Components;
• A plan to deliver quarterly progress reports detailing work towards adoption of PRA in the preceding quarter (add as specific deliverables in the submission portal);
• A statement of how and what you would present at the end of project event to demonstrate your journey.
• A completed proposal complying with the financial rules set for this competition.
• 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 plan to attend a kick-off meeting at the start of the contract and attendance at an end of project event at the end of the contract, 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.
• A demonstration of how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales. Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant

6.7 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.

For this competition we are not looking for any proposals that will require MODREC approval. 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 should 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.

6.8 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-240820B01 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 aim to respond within 5 working days with a reference number and an indication of your compliance status. They welcome emails if you think a response has not been provided in this time. 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 12:00 midday on 14 January 2025 (GMT).

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 CIP.

The CIP provides evidence as to how and when potential innovators will achieve compliance. Provided the measures proposed in the CIP do not pose an unacceptable risk to the MOD, a submission with a CIP 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.

6.9 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.

6.10 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 pre-sift criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. For more information on how your proposal will be assessed please read Assessment process and criteria.

Pre-Sift Criteria

Criteria	Measure
The proposal outlines how it meets the scope of the competition	Within scope (Pass) / Out of scope (Fail)
The proposal fully explains how it meets the DASA criteria (Desirability, Feasibility, Viability) in the relevant questions in Step 3 of the Submission process	Pass / Fail
The proposal must contain a financial plan, a project plan and a resourcing plan which demonstrate how the work proposed will be completed	Pass / Fail
The proposal confirms there is no need for MODREC	Pass / Fail
The final deliverable month indicated must be less than or equal to 22 months from T0 where T0 is the date the contract is agreed by both parties and complete by 31 March 2027	Pass / Fail
Your proposal deliverables include quarterly monthly reports and a final report covering the areas described in the Requirement section above	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.

6.11 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). We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions; if applicable, please ensure your commercial department has provided their acceptance.

Intellectual property

DEFCON 703 is the IP condition applicable to contracts funded through this competition.

More information on DEFCON 703 can be found by registering on the Knowledge in Defence site.

We will use deliverables from DASA contracts in accordance with our rights detailed in the contract terms and conditions.

Funded projects

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.

For this competition, £4 million is currently available to fund proposals. Where a proposal meets the fundable requirements for a competition, but is not funded, DASA may 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.

7. Phase 1 key dates

Event	Date
Launch dial in	14 November 2024
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	22 November 2024
Competition closes	Midday on 14 January 2025 (GMT)
Feedback release	14 March 2025
Contracting	Aim to start April 2025 and end up to 22 months later in March 2027

8. 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.