Notice

Competition Document: Advancing Less Lethal Weapons

Updated 18 September 2020

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals for innovative technologies that allow law enforcement officers to safely prevent the escalation of conflict in serious or violent circumstances from a distance. The primary focus will be on solutions for distances between 5m and 50m (but solutions for distances between 0m and 70m will be considered).

At the end of the Phase 1 competition, we expect the innovation to be sufficiently developed to achieve either proof of concept or prototype demonstration, dependent on which track is chosen (see section 2 below). Additional funding for further phases to increase Technology Readiness Levels (TRLs) may be available in the next financial year.

The total funding available in this Phase 1 competition across two tracks (see section 2) is £500k (excluding VAT). This competition closes for submissions at midday BST on Thursday 15 October 2020.

2. Competition Scope

This funded Phase 1 competition follows on from a market exploration which was conducted by DASA on behalf of the Home Office and the police in late 2019. This previous call focussed on mature and near market solutions for similar policing requirements. In contrast, this competition is looking for technologies to be developed to either proof of concept or prototype at the end of Phase 1. Any proposals previously submitted to the market exploration, that fit the criteria of this Phase 1 competition, may be re-submitted to this call.

In armed, public order and conventional policing scenarios, officers can be required to use force to deal with a threat to the public, bystanders or police, from violent or armed individuals. The force used to counter the threat must be reasonable, proportionate, discriminatory and necessary in the circumstances. The availability of less lethal options can potentially enable officers to resolve a situation prior to it escalating to a level where firearms would otherwise have to be used.

Currently the police have access to two main less lethal weapon (LLW) types that cover different ranges and provide different effects:

• conducted energy weapons, which use electricity to achieve an incapacitating effect from 1.5m to 4.5m
• Attenuating Energy Projectiles (AEP), which are a kinetic energy based system which achieve pain compliance/distraction effects at ranges from 1m to 40m

The dynamics and requirements of using specific less lethal systems will differ according to the policing role and some options may be better suited to certain scenarios; for example, a situation of public disorder would present different challenges to an isolated firearms threat from a lone aggressor. Consequently, there is a need to support the development of new, innovative concepts that will provide UK law enforcement with versatile and effective options to manage violence and conflict across a broad range of operational scenarios.

This competition will aim to advance technologies or approaches which could be used to provide the police and law enforcement officers with new less lethal capabilities, which may augment or replace the above capabilities. This may include technologies that have not been deployed operationally before and could include a combination of different technologies, mechanisms and techniques to provide improved effects. Additionally, the ability to mark a subject in order to ‘identify’ them at a later time would be desirable for a system, especially for use in public order situations where the perpetrator of a crime may not be easy to apprehend at the time of the offence.

Although the output of this competition is primarily being considered by the police, other organisations with a law enforcement role may be interested in the outcome including the military. There is also likely to be international interest in any successful developments. Following completion of this DASA competition and any subsequent phases, there may be the opportunity for suppliers with successful technologies to submit tenders to participate in policing procurement frameworks.

The competition is seeking solutions across a number of TRLs and will likely be run over 2 phases. Phase 1 will take place between December 2020 and March 2021 and aims to fund up to 9 bids, demonstrating either proof of concept or prototype demonstration at the end of Phase 1, with total funding available of £500k (ex VAT). Additional funding for further phases to increase TRLs may be available next financial year. Phase 1 is divided into 2 tracks:

Phase 1, Track 1 – Low TRL entry

Track 1 will develop and validate the proposed technology to proof of concept stage over 3 months of research ending March 2021. The upper-limit for a single proposal in Track 1 is £70k (ex VAT). We anticipate proposals to be in the range of £30k to £50k (ex VAT) and they will be rejected if they exceed £70k (ex VAT). Suppliers successful at Track 1 may have the opportunity to enter a potential Phase 2 funded competition for further development of their solutions to provide a prototype demonstrator.

Phase 1, Track 2 – Mid TRL entry

Track 2 is offered for research and development of mid-TRL solutions to provide a prototype demonstrator after 3 months of research ending March 2021. The upper-limit for a single proposal in Track 2 is £100k (ex VAT). We anticipate proposals to be in the range of £40k to £70k (ex VAT) and they will be rejected if they exceed £100k (ex VAT).

The funding will be allocated according to the likelihood of the proposals providing a solution to the policing requirement as judged by the DASA assessment panel.

For all proposals, regardless of the track entered, we will be considering value for money and justification of resources, as detailed in the ‘how your proposal is assessed’ section of our website. Irrespective of which track you submit your proposal against, all successful proposals will be expected to demonstrate their systems at the end of Phase 1 at a demonstration event attended by government stakeholders and end users. We have not yet confirmed the venue but this could be held at the Security and Policing exhibition at Farnborough, 9th to 11th March 2021.

3. Competition Challenge

This competition’s challenge is to identify and develop technologies that allow law enforcement officers to safely prevent the escalation of conflict in serious or violent circumstances from a distance. The primary focus will be on solutions for distances between 5m and 50m (but solutions for distances between 0m and 70m will be considered). The ability for the police to be able to initiate and/or maintain communication and visual contact with the subject is important and should form part of the technical solution or concept of operation; this could be via voice communication at closer ranges.

The police and other stakeholders for this project are developing an operational requirement that aligns with the below key criteria. The operational requirement will be shared with successful suppliers. The key criteria LLW systems will need to meet include:

• the system should be able to accurately, reliably and temporarily stop a violent or armed individual from causing harm with a primary focus on solutions for distances between 5m and 50m (but solutions for distances between 0m and 70m will be considered)
• the system must be effective against a moving target
• the system must be of a size and weight commensurate with, or can be adapted to be carried / used for, normal policing duties including routine patrol, public order and firearms
• the system must be reliable in use and consistent when activated
• the system must have second or multiple applications readily available
• the system shall be able to operate within weather conditions typical for the UK, including rain
• the ability for the police to be able to initiate and/or maintain communication and visual contact with the subject is important and should form part of the technical solution or concept of operation; this could be via normal voice communication at closer ranges

Additionally, it would be desirable for the possibility to use the system in any Crown Dependencies or in support of international deployments. The ability to mark a subject in order to ‘identify’ them at a later time would also be desirable for a system, especially for use in public order situations where the perpetrator of a crime may not be easy to apprehend at the time of the offence.

3.1 Further considerations

Suppliers will also need to be mindful of the need for the police to follow the Home Office Codes of Practice on Armed Policing and Police Use of Less Lethal Weapons (2020) in developing and assessing new systems. This requires new systems to be subjected to a rigorous assessment and approval process before they can be introduced into UK policing. Although suppliers need to consider the assessment and approval process, a full outline of how this will be achieved is not required for the competition.

There are also other documents and resources that potential suppliers may find useful to broaden their knowledge of the steps necessary before a new LLW is introduced into the UK. Not all of these are incumbent on the supplier or manufacturer but a sound understanding of them will be invaluable to assist with the development process. For example, one of the steps is an assessment of any potential medical implications of use of the technology. This assessment needs to be conducted by an independent body on the fully developed system, however any collation of data, evidence of safety or mitigations which prevent injury that are incorporated into the development of the system will be invaluable when the time comes to carry out the medical assessment and submit the system for approval.

The following references are provided for further information:

• Home Office Codes of Practice on Armed Policing and Police use of Less Lethal Weapons 2020
• UN Guidance on LLW
• Report on the development of LLW for the UK by the Patten Action Team

There will also be an opportunity to ask questions during the launch phase of the project, either in a competition briefing webinar or via one-to-one sessions with police, Home Office and Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) representatives. Further familiarisation with police scenarios and current tactics and training may also be made available for successful proposals.

3.2 Clarification of what we want

To identify new less lethal technologies that may assist law enforcement personnel when dealing with subjects at distance, we would like to focus on technologies or systems that are judged to have potential to meet police requirements and be as good as or better than existing equipment. The methods behind any proposals are not constrained and can be based on any techniques and technologies providing they can be used safely and effectively. Some example technologies are provided below but the list is not exhaustive and any technique or technology could be considered:

• acoustic
• chemical Irritant
• directed Energy
• drone Based
• electrical
• kinetic Energy

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

• theoretical development, methodological advancement or proof of concept research which can demonstrate potential for translation to practical demonstration in later phases
• innovation or a creative approach
• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies within a policing context
• a planned concept of operation for the finished product
• potential to meet the key criteria outlined in section 3.0

3.3 Clarification of what we don’t want

For this competition 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
• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without modification (excluding market exploration proposals)
• offer demonstrations of commercially available 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 security capabilities
• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing solutions

4. Exploitation

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 be dependent on the nature and starting point of the innovation. Early identification and appropriate engagement with potential end-users during the competition and subsequent phases are essential in order to develop and implement an exploitation plan. DASA can help with introductions to end-users during the lifetime of the project.

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. Your deliverables should be designed to evidence these aspects with the aim of making it as easy as possible for possible collaborators/stakeholders to identify the innovative elements of your proposal in order to consider routes for exploitation. DASA Innovation Partners are available to support you with defence and security context, please get in contact via the DASA website.

A higher technology maturity will be expected in any subsequent phases. You may wish to include some of the following information, where known, 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
• any collation of data, evidence of safety or mitigations which prevent injury that have been or will be incorporated into the development of the system

Longer term studies may not be able to articulate exploitation in great detail, but it should always be clear that there is some credible advantage to be gained from the technology development.

Following demonstrations of successful technologies at prototype demonstrator level support may be given to suppliers to continue evaluation of their equipment through the stages outlined in the Home Office Codes of Practice. This will be very dependent on end user support and understanding of the advantages that the new development will bring to policing. There is no guarantee that this further development will be supported but participating in this call will provide a unique opportunity for manufacturers to develop and expose their innovation to the police and Home Office.

Following completion of this DASA competition and any subsequent phases, there may be the opportunity for suppliers with successful technologies to submit tenders to participate in policing procurement frameworks.

5. How to apply

We are using a 2 track approach in this Phase 1 competition to provide the user community with access to more developed solutions that can be rapidly brought into use as well as invest in technologies that can be developed for future use and have the potential to provide a benefit.

The 2 tracks are separate competitions. Proposals cannot be split across tracks, and successful proposals will not be considered for transfer between tracks. However, suppliers may submit more than one proposal but each proposal must be separate in its own right.

The supplier must make a decision about which track to enter depending on the TRL of the solution they wish to propose. For more information about TRLs please see our guidance on the DASA website.

Proposals to this Phase 1 competition must be submitted by Thursday 15 October 2020 at midday BST via the DASA submission service for which you will be required to register. Suppliers must also have completed a Supplier Assurance Questionnaire (SAQ) as detailed in section 5.4 below.

The total funding available for Phase 1 of this competition is £500k (ex VAT). We would expect to fund approximately 9 projects in Phase 1 from this overall budget across both tracks. If successful, contracts will be awarded for a maximum duration of 3 months. We anticipate further funding to be available next financial year, as such the total funding for this competition is expected to be at least £1M (ex VAT), split over multiple phases.

Additional funding for a second phase to increase the TRL of Track 1 submissions further may be available next year. Any further phases will be open to applications from all suppliers and not just those that submitted Phase 1 successful bids.

Further guidance on submitting a proposal is available on the DASA website.

5.1 What your proposal must include

The proposal should focus on the Phase 1 requirements but must also include a brief (uncosted) outline of the next stages of work required for exploitation, particularly if applying under Track 1.

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, a planned concept of operation for the finished product and a completed finances section. Completed proposals must comply with the financial rules set for this Phase 1 competition. For Track 1 we anticipate proposals to be in the range of £30k to £50k (ex VAT) and will be rejected if they exceed £70k (ex VAT). For Track 2 we anticipate proposals to be in the range of £40k to £70k (ex VAT) and will be rejected if they exceed £100k (ex VAT). 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.

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 contains the concept of operation of the technology developed.

You should plan for attendance at a kick-off meeting at the start of Phase 1, a mid-term meeting and an end of project meeting, with the appointed Technical Partner and Project Manager. All meetings should take place in the UK whenever possible. You will also be expected to demonstrate your solution at a demonstration event (likely to be held at the Security and Policing exhibition at Farnborough, 9th to 11th March 2021) attended by government stakeholders and end users. Your proposal must demonstrate how you will complete all activities/services and provide all deliverables within the competition timescales (3 months, ending 15 March 2021). Proposals with any deliverables (including final report) outside the competition timeline will be rejected as non-compliant.

A resourcing plan must also be provided that identifies, where possible, the nationalities of those proposed Research Workers that you intend working on this project. 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.

Due to project duration, we are unable to accept any proposals that require MODREC approval. Please confirm in your proposal that MODREC is not required. For more information on ethical / legal / regulatory factors, please see the DASA guidance. If you are still unsure if your proposal would require MODREC approval, please contact DASA for further guidance.

A plan to verify/ validate your technology should be included and costed into your proposal. As well as any requirements for access to Government Furnished Assets (GFA), for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities. DASA cannot guarantee that GFA will be available.

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

5.2 Public facing information

When submitting your proposal, you will be required to include a proposal title and a short abstract. The title and abstract you provide will be used by DASA, and other government departments, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. It will be used for inclusion at DASA events in relation to this competition and included in documentation such as brochures. The 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.

5.3 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 who demonstrate their compliance against the Phase 1 competition scope and DASA mandatory criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against Stage 1 will render your proposal non-compliant and will not be considered any further:

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 confirms that no MODREC approval is needed	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies any GFA required for Phase 1	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of proposal in Track 1 is £70k (ex VAT). Maximum value of proposal in Track 2 is £100k (ex VAT)	Pass / Fail
The proposal demonstrates how all research and development activities/services (including delivery of the final report) will be completed by 15 March 2021	Pass / Fail
The supplier has obtained the authority to provide unqualified acceptance of the terms and conditions of the Contract	Pass / Fail
The supplier has submitted an SAQ for this competition	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 Home Office and Law Enforcement communities (including Dstl) and other government departments. 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 you during the procurement process to any third party engaged by DASA for the specific purpose of evaluating or assisting DASA in the evaluation of your proposal. For the specific purposes of considering additional funding for a competition and onward exploitation opportunities, DASA also reserves the right to share information in your proposal in-confidence with any UK Government Department. In providing such information you consent to such disclosure. Appropriate confidentiality agreements will be put in place to protect your IP.

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.

5.4 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 the Innovation Standardised Contract (ISC), 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).

This competition has a cyber risk level of ‘very low’ and as such, suppliers must submit a SAQ on the Supplier Cyber Protection Portal. The SAQ allows suppliers to demonstrate compliance with the specified risk level and the corresponding profile in Def Stan 05-138, the levels of controls required will depend on this risk level. Suppliers should create an account in the Supplier Cyber Protection Portal if they do not already have one, and will be able to find the corresponding SAQ to the requirement by searching the Risk Assessment Reference (RAR) for this competition: RAR-T6DB7EZQ. Further guidance can be found at: DCPP: Cyber Security Model industry buyer and supplier guide.

Suppliers should complete the SAQ prior to competition close at midday BST on Thursday 15 October 2020. You will be prompted to enter the SAQ reference number within the submission service portal when you submit your proposal.

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 where appropriate introductions to end-users and business support to help SMEs develop their business.

DASA also collects information from projects after the project has concluded and you should expect to be contacted once your project has completed for measurement purposes.

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

For this Phase 1 competition, £500k (ex VAT) 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 1 Dates

Competition briefing webinar	Wednesday 9 September 2020
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	Wednesday 9 and Thursday 24 September 2020
Cyber Risk Assessment completion by	Thursday 15 October 2020 at midday BST
Competition closes	Thursday 15 October 2020 at midday BST
Feedback release	Friday 4 December 2020
Contracting	Aim to start mid Dec 2021 and end 15 March 2021

6.1 Supporting events

Wednesday 9 September 2020 – 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.

Wednesday 9 September 2020 – 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 Eventbrite page.

Thursday 24 September 2020 – 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 Eventbrite page.

7. Help

DASA has a network of regionally based Innovation Partners who are available provide guidance to suppliers on submitting to a competition. If you would like guidance on process, application, technical, commercial and intellectual property aspects, please contact us via the DASA website. This will be sent to an Innovation Partner who will contact you within ten working days to discuss.

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.

If you are experiencing technical difficulties with the submission service, please contact accelerator@dstl.gov.uk.