Notice

Competition document: Get the Ship in Shape: accounting for, and tracking, personnel

Updated 12 February 2019

Represensative imagery is available on the latest Get the Ship in Shape News Story.

1. Introduction

This Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) competition is seeking proposals that can accurately account for, and track, personnel on board the aircraft carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth (QNLZ).

A minimum of £250k is available to fund multiple contracts of up to 9 months’ duration. Proposals will include prototype testing on board the training ship, HMS Bristol, and the possibility of taking part in a trial of prototypes aboard HMS QNLZ.

This competition closes on 8 March 2019 at midday (GMT).

2. Competition Scope

2.1 Background

Personnel Accounting

The size of HMS QNLZ, frequency of transient visitors and the sheer number of people on board at any one time makes it extremely challenging to account for all personnel in a timely manner using existing procedures and equipment. During emergency situations (fire, flood, man overboard etc.), it is essential that the number of people on the ship is known, that they can be positively accounted for and that their location can be established. There are also more routine tasks and times of higher readiness that could be enhanced by a better personnel accounting system.

HMS QNLZ currently uses a physical peg board (for core Ship’s Company), a T-card holder (for accredited visiting contractor / shore support staff) and a visitor log (for all other visitors) to account for the number of personnel on board. It is conceivable for there to be in excess of 2000 people on board, inclusive of core ship’s staff, embarked forces and the civilian dockyard workforce. The constant churn of people on and off the ship, across multiple points of entry and egress, and the more than 3000 compartments on board, increases the challenge of maintaining a single assured view of the number of people on the ship at any one time. This challenge is supported by real events and incidents on HMS QNLZ where it has been difficult to positively account for personnel. Peg boards are vulnerable to errors caused by personnel moving the wrong peg, or the boards being physically knocked over.

Some specific examples of emergency, higher readiness and more routine tasks that could be improved by a better accounting system for personnel include:

• Emergency Clear Lower Deck / Emergency Stations: The process to account for manpower in a timely manner in response to an emergency which seeks to determine if any personnel are missing or to generate a pool of spare hands to aid the ship’s response to an incident.
• Operation Thimblehunt: The procedure to account for personnel and then initiate a search by allocating manpower to routes in order to search every part of the ship and locate personnel that cannot be accounted for.
• Defence Watches: The routine where 50% of the ship is manned and ready at any point to provide the Ship’s Command with a timely response to threats or incidents. A manpower check is conducted at each watch change. Consideration of the sleep patterns of off-watch personnel makes the use of broadcast systems to undertake routine command and control untenable; therefore, manual registers and telephone check-in procedures are currently employed.
• Action Stations: The highest state of readiness for the ship and where manpower resource is required to be positively controlled by Command and efficiently allocated to tasks. Manual registers and telephone check-in procedures are currently employed to deliver this.
• Pre-Sailing Souls on Board Checks: Checks that require coordinators to verify manning status, to deliver the regulatory requirement to register all personnel on board with the appropriate shore authority.

Personnel Tracking

Due to the size of the vessel, the numbers of personnel involved and the urgency associated with some of these scenarios, tracking personnel (as well as accounting for them being on board) can also be difficult to achieve in a timely manner. In the case of Operation Thimblehunt it is likely that a search would be initiated to find missing persons. In a real incident, these persons could be incapacitated in one of the 3000 compartments in a remote part of the ship which is infrequently accessed. In addition vessel size can make search distances long and time consuming. This presents a challenge that may result in lives being put at risk. Being able to locate personnel more quickly (either accurately or through narrowing the search) would reduce this risk. In addition, there are other scenarios where the ability to locate individuals would support more robust safety compliant routines or enhance situational awareness for the Command.

Some specific examples of tasks that could be supported by improved personnel tracking include:

• Man Below Routine: This routine requires individuals to indicate their presence in compartments that have an increased hazard associated with them, such as main machinery spaces. The current routine involves the physical placement of a personally identifiable tally on a hook in the Ship Control Centre prior to transiting and entering one of these spaces. Putting a peg on a hook indicates intent and authorisation to enter but does not confirm the presence of the individual in the space. Replacing this with a system which maintains the authorisation check and also positively confirms who was in the space would enhance situational awareness.

• Rounds: These are regular patrols, conducted on a routine basis on the ship for a number of reasons, the majority of which support safety or security. Personnel are required to physically walk a route and conduct checks in the compartments. The delivery of a tracking solution placed in proximity to the compartments demanded by this routine would allow an evidential and auditable record that rounds were conducted. Along with the personnel location requirement, this would also allow a rounds-man to be located should they become incapacitated or merely behind schedule on a remote rounds route.

• Data Capture and Analytics: By capturing anonymised data on the daily movements of personnel on board the ship, data analytics could be used to identify trends and support efficiency measures such as ensuring maintenance and cleaning tasks are undertaken at the quietest times.

2.2 Scope

The following are considered within scope for this competition:

• technologies that reduce the administration burden on ship’s staff
• technologies that increase the speed and accuracy of accounting for personnel entering / leaving the ship
• technologies that track / locate personnel on board the ship
• technologies that offer instant (or near-instant) recording and relay of personnel accounting and tracking information
• technologies that use open architecture which allow information to be easily exchanged between existing and future ships’ systems
• technologies capable of achieving appropriate approvals such as Defence Assurance and Information Security (DAIS) accreditation, fulfilling the requirements of DE&S’ Change Impact Assessment Process (CIAP).

The following are considered out of scope for this competition:

• technologies requiring extensive use of radio frequencies (RF). Longer range RF technologies, including Wi-Fi, are not considered appropriate because of the need to use the solution in a warfighting situation where emissions must be reduced
• technologies that significantly increase the enter / egress logistical burden or have an overall net increase in administration overhead
• technologies that require use of embedded on-board networking technology during the trial period.

3. Competition challenges

3.1 Challenge descriptions

This competition has 2 challenges:

Your proposal must meet Challenge 1 (mandatory) but proposals that meet both Challenge 1 and Challenge 2 are welcomed.

Challenge 1: Accounting for personnel (mandatory)

This challenge is seeking prototype technologies with the ability to positively log personnel on and off the ship; including the ability to add ad-hoc visitors quickly and without additional staff resources. It must provide an accurate readout of the number of personnel on board in real time.

Challenge 2: Personnel tracking (optional)

This challenge is seeking prototype technologies that would, in an emergency situation, allow for the immediate positive location of all personnel on board. Whilst this does not have to be an exact location, it must significantly narrow the location of the person to a section of the ship.

3.2 Clarification of what we want

We are looking for novel ideas that will benefit UK defence and security users. Your proposal should include:

• research which can be practically tested on board the HMS Bristol and potentially trialled on HMS QNLZ
• innovation or a creative approach to these challenges
• a clear demonstration of how the proposed prototype technology applies to the defence and security context

3.3 Clarification of what we don’t want

For this competition we are not interested in proposals that:

• constitute consultancy, paper-based studies, literature reviews or any solutions that are not ready to test or trial on board a ship
• do not offer significant benefit to the current HMS QNLZ capability
• are an identical resubmission of a previous bid to DASA or MOD without modification
• offer demonstrations of off-the-shelf products requiring no development (unless applied in a novel way for this competition)
• offer no real long-term prospect of integration onto HMS QNLZ
• offer no real prospect of out-competing the existing solution
• cannot be trialled during the duration of the contract in line with the testing and trialling described below.

3.4 Testing and trialling

It is anticipated that HMS Bristol, a Type 82 destroyer converted into a static training ship, will be available for testing throughout the contract period, subject to arrangement with the Royal Navy.

It is intended that a trial of prototype solutions will be conducted aboard HMS QNLZ, starting mid-August 2019 and ending mid-December 2019. Participation in this trial is to be costed as an option within the proposal and is not guaranteed. An alternative option for further testing of prototypes aboard HMS Bristol is also to be included.

It is not guaranteed that Government Furnished Assets (GFA), including the ships, can be provided. Operational requirements will take priority, and should GFA be available we cannot guarantee a particular location in the UK.

The trial on HMS QNLZ will be a ‘lift and drop’ trial meaning that the prototype must operate as a standalone unit operating without any integration with other systems on the ship or changes made to the ship’s hardware (drawing power from existing sockets/connectors is allowed).

Suppliers will be able to access their prototype solution during testing on HMS Bristol. However, suppliers will not have access to their prototype solutions while on board HMS QNLZ; during any trial it must be capable of being operated and maintained by the ship’s staff and must be stowable during ship transit.

In order for suppliers to be approved to deliver testing and trialling on board either HMS Bristol or HMS QNLZ, suppliers must ensure that they have achieved the necessary Defence Assurance and Information Security (DAIS) accreditation, and have fulfilled the requirements of DE&S’s Change Impact Assessment Process (CIAP). Confirmation that both of these requirements have been met will be undertaken during the initial contract stage by the Royal Navy sponsor in collaboration with the supplier. Information on both requirements can be provided to suppliers on request. DASA is not responsible for ensuring accreditation is achieved.

4. Exploitation

It is important that over the lifetime of DASA campaigns, 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 this competition and any subsequent phases are essential.

All proposals to DASA should articulate the expected development in Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 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 stakeholders to consider routes for exploitation. DASA Innovation Partners are available to support you with additional defence and security context. For further information on TRLs, please see here.

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

• 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 (including current systems)
• 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
• requirements for access to external assets to support exploitation, including GFA - for example, information, equipment, materials and facilities
• any specific legal, ethical, commercial or regulatory considerations for exploitation.

5. How to apply

Proposals for funding to meet these challenges must be submitted by 08 March 2019 at midday via the DASA submission service for which you will be required to register.

The funding of at least £250k is expected to fund multiple proposals. Individual proposals must be lower than £125k including all costed options; any proposals received that are in excess of £125k will be automatically deemed non-compliant. If successful, contracts will be awarded for an initial duration of 3.5 months with further costed options included for up to a further 5.5 months trials and tests. These options will only apply where the DASA exercises its option in accordance with the DASA terms and conditions of Contract.

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

5.1 What your proposal must include

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. Proposals must include costs for the following (both events will be held in the UK):

• participation at a collaboration / start-up event
• initial testing of the prototype solution on board HMS Bristol in the first 3.5 months of the contract
• two additional 5.5 month options for:
  • further testing of the prototype solution on board HMS Bristol
  • participation in a further a trial of the prototype solution on board HMS QNLZ
  • delivery of a final report delivered a minimum of a week prior to the demonstration / close event
• participation at a demonstration / close event at the end of the contract.

A project plan with clear milestones and deliverables must be provided. This must be structured to include an initial 3.5 months of testing of the prototype solution on board HMS Bristol, with two costed options for a further 5.5 months for either i) further testing of the prototype solution on board HMS Bristol or ii) participation in a further trial of the prototype solution on board HMS QNLZ.

Deliverables must be well defined and designed to provide evidence of progress against the project plan and the end-point for this phase. For this competition we expect participation at two events as well as a final written report detailing the testing and trialling methodology, results and outcomes.

A resourcing plan must also 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 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. MODREC approvals can take up to 3 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. Please include how personal and medical data from the trial will be stored and handled in line with legal and ethical guidelines and relevant DEFCONs including DEFCON 532B.

Requests for access to additional GFA beyond HMS Bristol can be included in your proposal but DASA cannot guarantee that the GFA requested will be available. Failure to provide any of the above listed information will automatically render your proposal non-compliant.

5.2 Public facing information

You will be required to submit a brief abstract of your proposal as part of the application process; this will be used by DASA and other government departments, as appropriate, to describe the project and its intended outcomes and benefits. The abstract will be used at DASA events in relation to this competition and placed on the DASA website, along with your company information and generic contact details.

5.3 How your proposal will be assessed

All proposals will be checked for compliance with this competition document and will be rejected before full assessment if they do not comply. Only those proposals who demonstrate their compliance against the competition scope and the following mandatory DASA criteria will be taken forward to full assessment. Failure to achieve full compliance against these criteria 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	Pass / Fail
The proposal identifies the need (or not) for MODREC approval	Pass / Fail
Maximum value of proposal is £125k (initial testing and either of the two options)	Pass / Fail
Unqualified acceptance of Defence and Security Accelerator terms and conditions of Contract	Pass / Fail
The bidder has demonstrated that the technology proposed for testing and / or trialling is not reliant on embedded network infrastructure (during this contract and options)	Pass / Fail
The bidder has demonstrated that the technology proposed does not rely on the use of Wi-Fi	Pass / Fail
The proposal includes a participation at two events and a final written report delivered a minimum of a week prior to the demonstration / close event	Pass / Fail

Proposals that pass the mandatory criteria will then be assessed against the standard DASA assessment criteria by subject matter experts from the MOD (including Dstl), other government departments and front-line military commands. 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 will be 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 attached terms and conditions which will apply to any resultant Contract(s).

Funded projects will be allocated a Project Manager and a Technical Partner as a technical point of contact. 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.

6. Dates

6.1 Key dates

Dial-in	7 February 2019, morning of
Pre bookable 1-1 telecom sessions	7 February 2019, afternoon of
Competition closes	8 March 2019, midday
Contracting and start up event	May 2019 to January 2020
Initial prototype testing on board HMS Bristol	May 2019 to mid-August 2019 (subject to operational requirements and change)
If option exercised, a trial of prototype solutions on-board HMS QNLZ	Mid-August 2019 to mid-December 2019 (subject to operational requirements and change)
If option exercised, further trialling of prototype solutions on-board HMS Bristol	Mid-August 2019 to mid-December 2019 (subject to operational requirements and change)
Demonstration / close event	January 2020

6.2 Supporting events for bidders

7 February 2019, 1000 to 1200 – 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.

7 February 2019, 1300 to 1700 – 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.

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.