Notice

Competition Document: A Joint Effort - Phase 2

Published 8 October 2019

This document is for UK and other non-Australian applicants. Australian applicants please click here.

1. Introduction

Phase 1 of “A Joint Effort” was launched in November 2018 in parallel competitions led by Australia and the United Kingdom. The call sought innovative joining technologies to enable the use of advanced materials and/or designs on military platforms in land, sea and air environments. Proposals were received from industry and academia and 14 projects were funded, split evenly between the Australian and British competitions.

This call is being run as part of an ongoing partnership in Science and Technology within Defence. UK participation is being led by the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) Materials for Strategic Advantage Programme, with Australian participation led by the Defence Science and Technology Group (DST Group) and the Small Business Innovation Research for Defence (SBIRD), part of the Next Generation Technologies Fund.The UK government’s Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) is managing the call on behalf of both nations. We seek proposals from both industry and academia on the topic of novel methods for the integration of advanced materials onto military platforms.

This document outlines the requirements for all UK and the rest of the world (outside of Australia only) led proposals. All Australian-led bids should refer to the Australian requirements document. Collaborative proposals are highly encouraged and therefore prior to submission collaborators must identify which participant will act as the lead organisation. The proposal should then be submitted to the relevant competition based on the nationality of the lead organisation. If uncertain, please contact DASA to determine the best route.

Phase 2 continues to seek innovative technologies to address the challenging demands of the defence environment that we articulated in Phase 1 that will help to expedite the insertion of advanced materials into platforms, through innovations in joining technologies. Innovations should address the challenging demands of the defence environment and must therefore address one of the following:

• improve the durability of structures and joints to reduce failure and maintainability issues
• enable new design choices to be made for future military platforms to maintain a capability advantage
• provide new routes to create and manage joints across the life-cycle of a military platform

There is total funding of up to £500k available for the UK and Rest of World Phase 2 competition. In parallel, there is a Phase 2 competition for Australian-led proposals with funding of A$1m.

It is not compulsory to have been involved in the previous phase to apply, However, you should however make yourself aware of the previous competition and the proposals we funded. You can do this by joining the LinkedIn collaboration space. It is expected that work for this phase will reach higher maturity than work funded in Phase 1, reaching a minimum of Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 by completion.

The competition closes at 1200 (midday) GMT on Friday 31 January 2020.

2. Competition Scope

2.1 Background

Advanced materials offer significant benefits to military capability, for example through increased functionality, improved survivability, enhanced maintainability and reduced through-life cost. Military platforms across all operating domains (land, sea and air) need to incorporate an increasingly diverse range of materials to meet the complex and demanding requirements of the Armed Forces.

In order to exploit these benefits, advanced materials often need to be accommodated within existing designs or retro-fitted onto existing platforms, leading to a combination of materials and sub-systems on a single platform. Consequently joints and interfaces will often have challenging characteristics such as sharp changes in mechanical and physical properties, stress raisers, reduced structural integrity or susceptibility to environmental degradation. These issues are exacerbated by the diverse and intense operating environments that a military platform will be exposed to during a typical operational lifetime, including environments that were not of primary focus during manufacture. Therefore joining techniques must be robust, reliable and ideally tailorable to a range of operating scenarios.

We are interested in creating and maintaining joints and interfaces not just during manufacture, but throughout the platform life-cycle. Repair processes, whether emergency repairs on the front line or part of planned maintenance, must also keep up with advances in the manufacturing techniques used for the original structure. Innovations could either reduce the complexity or cost of repair processes, or allow greater flexibility in the materials/components being repaired.

2.2 Scope

This Phase 2 competition continues to seek innovations that will accelerate the integration of advanced materials onto military platforms. These materials may be monolithic, composite or functionally graded depending on the application. They may have been manufactured using conventional or advanced manufacture techniques, including additive manufacture.

Developments of particular interest for this competition include:

• enabling new material combinations
• novel approaches to the integration of advanced or novel materials
• increasing durability of joints in military operating conditions
• joints that allow easier modification/replacement of components or sub-systems on a platform
• health and usage monitoring of joints

3. Competition Challenges

Like Phase 1, Phase 2 intends to fund proof-of-concepts that address one or more of the challenges outlined below but to a higher level of maturity. Key requirements that apply across all the challenges for creating and managing joints on military platforms are:

• creating effective joints in real-world conditions (for example with surface contamination or repairing damaged material)
• developing techniques that are cost effective (whether this is by reducing manufacturing costs or via through-life savings)
• considering the fire, smoke and toxicity performance of materials and interfaces
• developing joining approaches that are light weight compared to current methods

3.1 Challenge 1 - Integration of Composites

Composites offer significant benefits including being lightweight, wear resistant and corrosion resistant. Composites have already been utilised on some military platforms in areas where they were sought for specific performance requirements, however, there remain significant blockers to composites being considered to other materials with equal weighting.

The requirement for reliable, cost-effective methods to joining composites to other materials is an important example. We are interested in developing a range of composite integration methods that address key performance criteria; specifically managing mismatches in properties (especially coefficient of thermal expansion) and having rapid methods to repair composite joints and interfaces. Currently the use of pre-impregnated composites for fast composite builds and repairs is common practice, however these materials require specific storage conditions which are burdensome during operations and so alternatives are sought.

As additive manufacture (AM) processes mature it is anticipated that they will be increasingly used to produce composite and metallic structures (including parts with graded surfaces and structures). We are interested in developing methods to attach a mixture of composite and metallic structures that will be manufactured by a combination of conventional and AM techniques. As it is anticipated that these joints and interfaces may be particularly susceptible to failure, we are also interested in developing techniques to understand the reliability of these joints.

3.2 Challenge 2 - Adhesives for Structural Joining

Adhesives are of increasing interest for military platforms due to benefits including weight savings, fatigue performance and the ability to join a range of materials. The rate of adoption has varied across the Armed Forces based on specific usage cases and design considerations; however, key developments must be made in order to accelerate their usage for defence applications.

Military platforms operate in a diverse range of challenging environments within their service lives, and require adhesives that perform beyond the requirements of many civil industries. We are interested in forming bonds which are effective in the environments commonly found during build, maintenance and operation. This will include the presence of contaminants and less than ideal surface preparation, varied exposure conditions (including UV, salt, humidity, operating temperatures), and dissimilar material combinations.

Reliability of platforms is critical for the Armed Forces; military users must be confident in the quality of adhesive bonds. This could be through the design of novel bonded joints which are not reliant on a fully bonded interface, or by developing robust methods for inspecting and monitoring adhesives bonds.

Disrupting adhesive bonds on demand without use of excessive force or harsh chemicals is also of interest regarding opportunities in inspection, modular designs and temporary repairs, and equipment attachment. Techniques should behave consistently and be practical within current manufacture and maintenance procedures.

3.3 Challenge 3 - Joining High Temperature Structures

High-speed weapons and future air-platforms place an increasing demand on materials and structures, in particular the temperatures at which they must operate. Refractory metals may be pushed to their thermal and structural limits for example, and may be joined to even hotter ceramic or ceramic-matrix-composite (CMC) components such as radomes or leading edges. Ceramics and CMCs are also of interest for major structural components or thermal protection system skins, potentially replacing metals.

Interfaces between parts within the airframe, within high-pressure duct structures, or between the airframe and thermal protection system (TPS), may be subjected to significant out of plane loading, generating 3-dimensional stress states, and this can be a challenge for both metallic and ceramic components. Parts within the propulsion system, such as combustion chambers, pipes and nozzles may be subjected to temperatures approaching that of the combusting gases (circa 2000°C), and may have complex geometry and joints. Other significant sources of loading include thermal expansion, shock, and vibration loading.

3.4 Challenge 4 – Improving Armour Systems

Currently military platforms and body armour use a range of different materials to provide physical protection against ballistic threats. The way that these different armour components and armour systems are joined can have a significant impact on its protection effectiveness.

Research is required to join dissimilar materials, which can be either metallic, ceramic or polymeric, such that the armour system can withstand multiple ballistic impacts. This has traditionally proved difficult using adhesives applied to surfaces, with materials de-bonding through-life or following initial ballistic impact. Advanced and novel approaches are being sought that improve the shear and tensile strength of interfaces, that do not add significant weight to the overall armour system.

Innovative multifunctional protection concepts and solutions that integrate additional operational capability are of specific interest. Non-traditional joints and interfaces with new bonding methods are of interest, as are more layered or textured joining solutions.

For those interested in applying to this challenge, you may also be interested in applying to Take Cover Phase 2.

3.5 Clarification of what we want

Your proposal should include:

• innovation and/or novel ideas for defence
• fundamental advances in material science and engineering
• clear evidence of how the proposed work builds on Phase 1, existing published or open knowledge
• consideration of the operating environments experienced by in-service military equipment
• a focus on solving key material problems rather than a focus on complex systems
• a pathway to future exploitation, including identifying key partners
• a clear description of the benefit and advantages of your approach
• evidence that it will enhance or build defence capability
• approaches which leverage expertise of both Australian and British organisations

3.6 Clarification of what we do not want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• are consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews
• offer solutions that do not provide significant benefit to defence
• cannot demonstrate proof-of-concept / feasibility within the Phase 2 timescale
• only offer minor improvements in existing high Technology Readiness Level(TRL) (6+) technologies
• are demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no experimental development
• are identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without modification
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into defence capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions
• are not compliant with extant legislation, e.g. health, safety and environmental
• include AUS-UK collaboration without a clear outline of the benefits to the project

4. Exploitation

It is important that over the lifetime of this campaign, ideas are accelerated towards appropriate end-users, to enhance capability. How long this takes will be dependent on the nature and starting point of the innovation. Early identification and appropriate engagement with potential users during the competition and subsequent phases is essential in order to develop and implement an exploitation plan.

For this parallel DASA/SBIRD competition it is envisaged that Phase 2 proposals will start at a minimum of TRL 2/3 and conclude this phase with a minimum of TRL 5. All proposals should articulate the development in TRL of the output over the lifetime of the contract and how this relates to improved operational capability. The deliverables in your proposal (especially the final demonstration) should be designed to provide evidence that you have reached the intended TRL by the end of the contract. The final demonstration should evidence that full development of the solution would provide improved operational capability to the user.

For applicants who were successful in Phase 1, evidence generated should support the development of the business case for Phase 2, with the aim of making it as easy as possible for potential collaborators to identify the innovative elements of your proposal in order to consider routes for exploitation.

It is important right from the start that DASA, Dstl, DST Group, SBIRD and end users across both nations understand how your idea will deliver longer term improvements to defence and/or security capability and how it could be integrated with other relevant capabilities. DASA Innovation Partners are available to support you with defence and security context.

You may wish to include some of the following information, where known, to help the assessors understand your exploitation plans:

• the intended defence and/or security users of your final product and whether you have engaged with end-users or their procurement organisation
• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end user procurement programmes
• the benefits (for example, in cost, time or 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, integration with existing technologies or environmental operating conditions)
• additional future applications and markets for exploitation
• how your product could be tested in a representative environment in later phases
• any specific legal, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

5. How to apply

All proposals for funding to meet these challenges must be submitted by 1200 GMT (midday) Friday 31 January 2020 via the DASA submission service for which you will be required to register.

The Phase 2 funding of £500k is expected to fund 3-5 proposals for the UK / rest of World outside of Australia competition. Proposers should consider these figures when costing a proposal, and note that the preference is to fund a greater number of projects unless a very strong proposal takes a greater proportion of the pot. If successful, Phase 2 contracts will be awarded for a duration of between 9 to 24 months.

Phase 2 will be open to applications from all suppliers and not just those that submitted Phase 1 successful bids. Applicants who were unsuccessful in Phase 1 may submit proposals, providing they can show maturation of their initial Phase 1 proposals. New applicants who did not participate in the Phase 1 competition are also welcome to submit. Collaboration to enhance proposals is encouraged.

Further guidance on submitting a proposal can be found here.

5.1 What your proposal must include

The proposal should focus on this proof-of-concept phase but should also include a brief outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation.

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.

A project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must also 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 Phase 2, a mid-project event and an end of project event at the end of Phase 2, as well as regular reviews with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager; all meetings will be in the UK. Your proposal must demonstrate 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.

For projects that involve contributions from both the UK (or another nation) and Australia, the collaborators should agree an organisation to act as the lead for the project and submit a single application to the relevant fund based on the location of the lead organisation.

Projects with a lead organisation based in the UK or other nations, with the exception of Australia, should follow the guidelines set out in this document. Projects led by an Australian organisation should consult the Australian SBIRD document, here. All proposals should clearly outline the nature of contributions of all participating organisations, including dependencies. Intellectual Property should be managed between the consortia, with any agreements not impeding the ability of the team to meet the terms and conditions set out by DASA.

A resourcing plan should be provided that identifies, where possible, the nationalities of those proposed Research Workers that you intend working on this phase. In the event of proposals being recommended for funding, DASA reserves the right to undertake due diligence checks including the clearance of proposed Research Workers. 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 should identify any ethical, legal, regulatory factors within your proposal and how the associated risks will be managed. Break points in the project if approvals are not received, must be included. MODREC approvals can take up to 5 months therefore you should plan your work programme accordingly. Further details are available in the DASA guidance. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further guidance.

Requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities, should be included in your proposal. DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available.

Completed proposals must comply with the financial rules set for this competition. The upper-limit for this competition for a single proposal is £250k. We anticipate bids to be in the range of £100k to £170k and will be rejected if they exceed £250k. It is also helpful to 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.

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

5.2 Export control

Contracts awarded as a result of this competition will fall under an extant memorandum of understanding between the UK MOD and Australian Department of Defence. This will facilitate the unimpeded exchange of proposals, prototypes and associated information between the UK and Australian Governments. However, this effective exemption from export controls only applies to the UK and Australia, not to third countries, and all bidders must therefore abide by the export control requirements of their originator country. All relevant export control regulations will apply if a company ultimately wants to sell a developed solution to a foreign entity. All bidders must ensure that they can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can be supplied to the UK and Australia. 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.

5.3 Public facing information

A brief abstract will be requested if the proposal is funded. This will be used by DASA, Dstl, DSTG and SBIRD, and other Government departments across both nations as appropriate, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. It will be used for inclusion at DASA and the Dstl MSA Programme events in relation to this competition and included in documentation such as brochures for the event. Your proposal title will also 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.

5.4 How your proposal will be assessed

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 their compliance against the competition scope and DASA criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against the mandatory criteria will render your proposal non-compliant and it will not be considered any further.

Mandatory Criteria

Mandatory Criteria	Within scope (Pass)/Out of scope (Fail)
The proposer accepts, unqualified, the proposed terms and conditions of the contract	Pass / 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 2	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for any ethical, legal, regulatory factors	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for Phase 2	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of proposal is £250k	Pass / Fail
The bidders can obtain, if required, the necessary export licences for their proposals and developments, such that they can be supplied to the UK and AUS	Pass / Fail

All proposals that achieve full compliance will then be assessed in accordance with the standard DASA assessment criteria by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), other UK government departments and UK front-line military commands, as well as DST Group and Australian Defence Force (ADF) in Australia. You will not have the opportunity to comment on assessors comments.

DASA reserves the right to disclose on a confidential basis any information it receives from bidders during the procurement process (including information identified by the bidder 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 bidder’s proposal. In providing such information the bidder 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.

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

5.5 Things you should know about DASA contracts

Please read the DASA terms and conditions which contain important information for suppliers. For this competition we will be using a new Standardised Contracting (SC) Innovation Contract, links to the contract here: Terms and Schedules. We will require unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions. For the avoidance of any doubt, for this Themed Competition we are NOT using the DASA Short Form Contract (SFC).

By submitting to this competition you consent to:

• your proposal being shared in-confidence with Australian Government solely for the purposes of bid assessment.
• Australian Government assessors assessing your proposal

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager (to run the project) and a Technical Partner (as a technical point of contact). The Technical Partners will work with the supplier, acting as a technical reviewer of the deliverables. In addition, the DASA team will work with you to support delivery and exploitation.

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

In accordance with DEFCON 705, Full Rights Versions of Deliverables delivered under any resultant Contract will be shared in-confidence with Australian Government under PA 272-1-18 of the Anglo-Australian MOU on Science and Technology (AAMOST).

For this phase, £500k is currently available to fund proposals. There may be occasions where additional funding from other funding lines may subsequently become available to allow us to revisit those proposals deemed suitable for funding but where limitations on funding at the time prevented DASA from awarding a subsequent Contract. In such situations, DASA reserves the right to keep such proposals in reserve. In the event that additional funding subsequently becomes available, DASA may ask whether you would still be prepared to undertake the work outlined in your proposal under the same terms.

6. Phase 2 Dates

Competition Opens	Tuesday 8 October 2019
Dial in	Monday 28 October 2019 (morning)
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	Monday 28 October 2019 (morning)
Competition closes	1200 GMT Friday 31 January 2020
Contracting	Aim to start by Wednesday 1 April 2020

Collaboration event and demonstration event dates will be communicated to successful bidders once they are confirmed.

6.1 Supporting events

• Monday 28 October 2019 - A dial-in session providing further detail on the problem space and a chance to ask questions in an open forum. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.
• Monday 28 October - A series of 20-minute one-to-one teleconference sessions, giving you the opportunity to ask specific questions. If you would like to participate, please register on the Eventbrite page.

6.2 Collaborative Space

A private collaborative space using the LinkedIn platform has been created for potential applicants to identify partners based on gaps in capabilities and expertise. Membership to the space is managed by DASA; requests to join should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.

7. Help

Competition queries including on process, application, technical, commercial and intellectual property aspects should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk, quoting the competition title.

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 suppliers.