Notice

Competition Document: FASS Trialling and Testing

Published 5 June 2019

1. Background

The Department for Transport (DfT) and the Home Office (HO) established the joint Future Aviation Security Solutions (FASS) programme as part of a commitment made in the National Security Strategy and Strategic Defence and Security Review 2015 to double spending on aviation security. This programme will invest £25.5 million over 5 years to promote innovation and deliver a step change in aviation security. It will focus on novel solutions to prevent the widest possible range of explosives, weapons and other threats being taken on to an aircraft. The FASS programme has already invested £6.7m in developing innovative technology through Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competitions.

This DASA competition seeks proposals for the testing and trialling of novel and innovative prototypes that have the potential to improve security at airports. Testing (in a laboratory) and trialling (in a representative or operational environment) are crucial parts of the development process for any new equipment that will be deployed operationally. For this competition the FASS programme is inviting proposals from suppliers seeking support for these activities in order to accelerate the development and support the exploitation of their innovative solutions.

2. Funding

Up to £1M is available for this competition in total which must fund supplier proposals as well as a test facility that will be paid for directly by the FASS programme. It is anticipated that up to £750k of this £1M will be available to fund up to 15 suppliers to support testing and trialling of prototypes to take the next steps to exploitation.

3. Competition Scope

The FASS trialling and testing competition welcomes proposals for prototypes that are at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 4+, meet the scope of FASS and require either:

• testing in a laboratory environment using commercial off the shelf explosives

• trialling in a representative or operational environment

Please note, this funding is for testing and trialling only. There are no funds available for product development.

Funding will be awarded to suppliers to cover the costs of transportation of equipment and personnel to the testing or trialling venue, supplier labour costs for the duration of the trial period, and any additional justifiable costs borne by the supplier during the testing or trialling period. The costs associated with the explosives test facility and associated trials management (Challenge 1) will be covered by the FASS programme directly through a third party supplier and be provided to successful bidders as Government Furnished Asset (GFA) for the duration of the work package only.

It is anticipated that suppliers cost will require up to £50k of funding per proposal to participate in these tests and trials, however proposals of higher value will be considered on a case by case basis. A full justification of costs will be required for the full proposal.

4. Competition Challenges

Suppliers will have the opportunity to bid into one of three routes:

1. Testing in a laboratory facility for the detection of a limited range of commercial off the shelf explosives

2. Trialling in a representative environment (such as museums, shopping centres, sports venues)

3. Trialling in an operational airport environment

4.1 Challenge 1 - Testing in a Laboratory Facility

Successful suppliers will gain access to a testing facility, arranged and paid for directly by the FASS programme, to test the detection capability of their solutions with commercial off the shelf explosives. Please note that this testing will support the journey towards exploitation, but does not constitute formal acceptance testing required to deploy equipment in an airport operationally (for example, the testing for aviation security through the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC)).

Proposals for laboratory testing must include details of all previous testing and trialling undertaken on the prototype. They must also clearly identify the capability that the supplier wishes to test with explosives, how the testing will prove this capability, and what benefit would be gained from successful tests. Although an indication of the testing methodology will be sought from the supplier, the detailed testing plan will be developed in collaboration with the FASS team, its wider-government technical partners and the testing facility in order to have the maximum impact. Suppliers will be given a full test report and de-brief following testing subject to security classification.

Suppliers will need to articulate the number of preparation and testing days they will require at the testing facility in their full proposal. It is anticipated that suppliers will require a maximum of 5 days testing plus the appropriate number of preparation days. Suppliers may split these days over a specific time period (for example, 2 testing days 3 months apart) in order to make adjustments (self-funded) followed by a re-test. Testing slots will be allocated to suppliers shortly after they have been informed that their full proposal has been successful.

Suppliers must ensure their equipment or procedures match the minimum required health and safety standards and regulations for testing, including but not limited to:

• Portable Appliance Testing (PAT) certification
• completion of detailed risk assessments
• evidence that specific standards have been met if required (such as solutions that emit ionising radiation must comply with Ionising Radiations Regulations 2017 (IRR17)

DASA, its partners and the testing facility reserve the right to terminate the contract if either party is not content with a supplier’s health and safety / regulatory compliance.

Whilst the cost of testing and acquisition of explosives will be covered directly by the FASS programme and does not need to be included in the proposal, suppliers should include costs associated with the transport of equipment to the testing facility, which will be located within the European Union, and labour costs associated with the set-up of equipment during the preparation and testing days, as well as any additional justifiable costs borne by the supplier during the testing period.

4.2 Challenge 2 - Trialling in a representative environment

**Please note, trialling within some central London rail stations (and potentially other representative environments) will require additional departmental approval which may affect the proposed timelines of any proposals. **

For trialling in a representative environment, suppliers must identify and engage with venues in which they wish to carry out the trials themselves (for example a shopping centre or sports venue). DASA and FASS will not provide these venues but may be able to provide contacts if requested. Suppliers are encouraged to provide an ‘in principle’ agreement with their suggested venue for trialling with their full proposal.

Proposals for trials in a representative environment must include information on all previous testing and trialling of their product. They must also clearly identify the capability that they wish to trial, how the trialling will prove this capability, and what benefit would be gained from successful trialling. Proposals must include an outline trials plan which includes the desired trial length, preferred trial location and venue partner, and the key trial outputs. Successful suppliers will be required to develop more detailed trials plans before commencing trials.

While suppliers should plan to undertake the trials themselves, limited trials management support (training in running trials, support with trial planning, management and trial review) is available and suppliers who desire this should note it in the appropriate section of their application. Please note, trial management support is not guaranteed but may be mandated by the FASS team if the trial is deemed complex or requires additional resources.

Suppliers must ensure their equipment or procedures match the minimum required health and safety standards and regulations for testing, including but not limited to:

• PAT certification
• completion of detailed risk assessments
• evidence that specific standards have been met if required such as solutions that emit ionising radiation must comply with IRR17

DASA and its partners reserve the right to terminate the contract if either party is not content with a supplier’s health and safety / regulatory compliance.

In addition, trialling involving human participants may require MOD Research Ethics Committee (MODREC) approval which can take up to 3 months to acquire. Suppliers should therefore ensure they read and understand MODREC requirements and take the necessary steps to comply. Further details are available here. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further information.

For this challenge suppliers should bid for funding to cover labour costs for the duration of the trial, transport costs for the movement of equipment and personnel to and from the trial site, and trial reporting costs, as well as any additional justifiable costs borne by the supplier during the trialling period. A breakdown of the total estimated trial cost will be required for the full proposal.

4.3 Challenge 3 - Trialling in an operational airport environment

**Please note, trialling within UK airports will require additional departmental approval which may affect the proposed timelines of any proposals. **

For trialling within an airport operational environment, suppliers must identify and engage with the airport in which they wish to carry out the trials themselves. DASA and the FASS team will not do this directly, although may be able to provide contacts if requested. Suppliers are encouraged to provide an ‘in principle’ agreement with the airport for trialling to take place with their full proposal.

Proposals for trials within an airport environment must include information on all previous testing and trialling undertaken on the product. They must clearly identify the capability that they wish to trial, how the trialling will prove this capability, and what benefit would be gained from successful trialling.

We anticipate there being two different scenarios for undertaking airport trials:

• the solution has been tested in a laboratory but no aviation security standards currently exist that would apply to this solution. In this scenario, it may be feasible to undertake a trial that replaces existing technology within the operational environment if the laboratory testing has demonstrated a comparable or better performance than the existing technology

• relatively little laboratory testing has been undertaken on the solution. In this scenario, it may be feasible to deploy a technology in an operational environment in addition to (either alongside or in front of) existing technologies

Full proposals must include an outline trials plan which includes the scenario above that best applies (if known), desired trial length, preferred trial location and airport partner, and the key trial outputs. Successful suppliers will be required to develop more detailed trials plans before commencing trials.

While suppliers should plan to undertake the trials themselves, limited trials management support (training in running trials, support with trial planning, management and trial review) is available and suppliers who desire this should note it in the appropriate section of their application. Please note, trial management support is not guaranteed but may be mandated by the FASS team if the trial is deemed complex or requires additional resources.

Suppliers must ensure their equipment or procedures match the minimum required health and safety standards and regulations for testing, including but not limited to:

• PAT certification
• completion of detailed risk assessments
• evidence that specific standards have been met if required such as solutions that emit ionising radiation must comply with IRR17.

DASA, its partners and the testing facility reserve the right to terminate the contract if either party is not content with a supplier’s health and safety / regulatory compliance.

In addition, trialling involving human participants may require MODREC approval which can take up to 3 months to acquire. Suppliers should therefore ensure they read and understand MODREC requirements and take the necessary steps to comply. Further details are available here. If you are unsure if your proposal will need to apply for MODREC approval, then please contact DASA for further information.

For this challenge suppliers should bid for funding to cover labour costs for the duration of the trial, transport costs for the movement of equipment and personnel to and from the trial site, and trial reporting costs, as well as any additional justifiable costs borne by the supplier during the trialling period. A breakdown of the total estimated trial cost will be required for the full proposal.

4.4 Clarification of what we want

We want novel solutions at a prototype stage that meet the scope of the FASS programme and will benefit users (both airport security staff and passengers) of Airport Security. Your proposal should include evidence of the following:

• innovation or a creative approach to airport security that has reached a prototype stage (TRL 4 or above) and requires testing or trialling

• a prototype that has the potential to be used within an operational airport environment.

• clear demonstration of how the proposed work applies to the airport security context with explicit relevance to enhancing passenger safety, staff efficiency and/or passenger experience.

• an established trialling partnership / venue (for Challenges 2 and 3 only) and letter of support provided with full proposal submissions.

4.5 Clarification of what we don’t want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• are pre-prototype, such as consultancy, paper-based studies or literature reviews

• relate to further development of a solution; this competition is for testing or trialling only

• do not offer significant benefit to FASS capability

• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or HMG without modification

• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no testing or trialling for exploitation

• offer no real long-term prospect of integration into airport security capabilities

• offer no real prospect of out-competing existing technological solutions

• are limited to specific testing requirements or explosives for testing (Challenge 1 only; testing plans will be worked up in collaboration with the FASS team, wider technical partners and the testing facility)

5. Exploitation

It is important that over the lifetime of DASA competitions, ideas are matured and accelerated towards appropriate end-users to enhance operational 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.

All proposals to DASA should articulate how the expected testing or trialling outputs will evidence the operational benefits of implementing teh solution. The outputs of the tests and trials should inform the technical (TRL) development of the potential solution beyond the test or trial contract.

Your deliverables in your full proposal should be designed to evidence these aspects with the aim of making it as easy as possible for assessors to consider the operational benefit of your proposed solution against the current known (or presumed) baseline. For further information on TRLs, please see here.

This phase is focussed on TRL 4 and above and is designed to move concepts closer to being operationally deployable commercial product. You may wish to include some of the following information in your full proposal, where known, to help the assessors understand the proposed exploitation pathways for your solution:

• the anticipated benefits (for example, in cost, time, improved capability) that your solution will provide to an airport security team

• whether it is likely to be a standalone product or integrated with other technologies or platforms

• expected additional work required beyond the scope of testing / trialling to develop an operationally deployable commercial product (for example. ‘scaling up’ fpr manufacture, cyber security, integration with existing technologies, environmental operating conditions)

• requirements for access to external assets, including GFA for example information, equipment, specific trained staff, materials and facilities.

• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation

• the intended users of your final product and whether you have previously engaged with them, their procurement arm or their research and development arm (where applicable)

• awareness of, and alignment to, any existing end-user procurement programmes

• 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

6. How to apply

Whilst the information above refers to full proposals, they are not required at this stage. As a first stage, suppliers are requested to submit a ‘one page pitch’ of their proposal (responses to each question limited to 250 words), clearly articulating which of the three challenges they are applying for and providing information on the following:

• an overview of the proposed solution and how it would support the scope of the FASS programme

• an estimation of, and justification for, the current TRL of the product

• an overview of previous testing or trialling undertaken on the product

• an overview of health and safety / regulatory assessments that have been undertaken on the product

For clarity, suppliers intending to submit multiple proposals will be required to provide a separate One Page Pitch for each one.

One page pitches will be assessed against the mandatory criteria stated below by DASA and the FASS team to identify those that meet the FASS requirements.

Only those bidders who are successful at the One Page Pitch stage will be issued with an Invitation to Tender (ITT), against which they will provide a fully costed proposal. The ITT documents will include a more detailed Competition Document and the terms and conditions of Contract which will come into effect if the bidder’s full proposal is approved for funding.

Mandatory Criteria For the One Page Pitch Stage	Scoring
The pitch clearly outlines how the solution meets the scope of the FASS programme and this testing and trialling competition.	Pass / Fail
The pitch is assocaited with one of the three challenges only.	Pass / Fail
The pitch contains evidence that the solution is a prototype above TRL 4 for laboratory and representative environment testing and above TRL 6 for airport testing	Pass / Fail
The pitch states the type of testing or trialling the prototype has already undertaken including any obviousl gaps in testing and / or trialling.	Pass / Fail
The pitch outlines current health and safety tests / regulatory approvals that the prototype has undergone	Pass / Fail

One page pitches should be sent to accelerator@dstl.gov.uk and must be submitted by midday (BST) 2 July 2019.

7. Competition Proposed Dates

Summary launch	5 June 2019
One page pitch closes	2 July 2019
Trialling competition launch	July 2019
Testing competition launch	August 2019

7.1 Supporting events

Monday 17 June 2019 am – 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.

8. 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.

DASA innovation partners are available to provide support to suppliers who wish to engage with opportunities through DASA.

Whilst all reasonable efforts will be made to answer queries, DASA reserves the right to impose management controls if volumes of queries restrict fair access to information to all potential suppliers.

9. Future Opportunities

This competition is being run as a pilot and subject to successful outcomes it is anticipated that there will be future opportunities to apply for similar support in the Trialling and Testing of prototypes that could improve Security within Airports and at borders.