Public procurement notice: Contract Notice
Published: 2020-10-23
Buyer: DE&S CAST
Country: UK
Contract type: Services
Procedure: Restricted procedure
CPV classification: 72231000: Development of software for military purposes
Estimated value:  GBP
Submission deadline: 2020-11-19
Award criteria: The most economic tender

Technical requirements: Development of software for military applications. Development of software for military applications. CESTIUS is a concept-validation exercise within Pyramid that is designed to provide feedback on the usability and ‘openness’ of the technical solution by assessing the PRA Exploiter’s Pack through an experiment in component development. The experiment will be conducted by a component developer and will consist of the development a Pyramid-Compliant software component using the PRA Exploiter’s Pack, capturing lessons learned on the experience of development, and supplying the component to a system integrator for integration testing. The value of these activities is in the findings of the experience which should provide confidence that the material enables suppliers to develop Pyramid-Compliant systems. Consequently, the authority is seeking responses that demonstrate a well-considered approach, e.g. the controls on the methods for conducting and observing the experiment. Responses will be considered against the proposals to capture and communicate the lessons learned from the assessment.
Any company successful at the DPQQ stage will be required to sign a license in order to receive a copy of the PRA Exploiter’s Pack to use during the ITT stage. Any company that is unwilling to sign the license will be unable to participate in the tender.
Pyramid was designed to transform the way that avionics mission systems are developed and supported. It provides a route to increase resilience to threat evolution, agility of capability, and enables rapid software upgrades. Pyramid is the fundamental pillar of the Air Mission Systems Strategy, built on the principle of systematic reuse of extensible and modifiable software. It is through Pyramid that a reusable and open core mission system architecture is being developed by the UK for both current and future systems. This approach will enable systematic re-use, reducing cost of software development, support and time to implement capability enhancements while enabling greater interoperability across systems.
A Pyramid Reference Architecture (PRA) and PRA Exploiter’s Pack is currently being designed and developed for an open mission systems solution to support the development of deployment architectures and components. The Pyramid Reference Architecture is being exploited through several UK MOD projects.
Cestius is a concept-validation exercise within Pyramid that is designed to provide feedback on the usability and ‘openness’ of the technical solution by assessing the PRA Exploiter’s Pack through an experiment in component development.
1) The purpose of this advert is to identify a component developer who can develop one (1) Pyramid-Compliant software component from the three (3) candidates below, using the Pyramid Reference Architecture Exploiter’s pack:
(a) interlocks — this component in the weapon-release chain determines if interlocks are active or inactive to allow weapon release;
(b) time determination – this component is used to provide absolute and relative time to the system from a time-source;
(c) simple Sensors (GPS, LINS, Temperature, Pressure) — this component is used to interface directly with the sensors and output the sensed data. Each type of sensor has a specific instance of a simple sensor designed for it.
2) Upon completion of the component development, the winning Contractor will be required to provide a feedback report to the authority, the output of which will be vested in the authority on the following areas of interest. The authority wishes to test:
3) Finally, the developed software component will be delivered for testing within a simulated environment, hosted in the Air Integration Labs at BAE Systems Warton. The system integrator will test the following:
Any company successful at the DPQQ stage will be required to sign a license in order to receive a copy of the PRA Exploiter’s Pack to use during the ITT stage. Any company that is unwilling to sign the license will be unable to participate in the tender.
In issuing this CN and engaging with the market, DE&S is not committing to carry out any procurement exercises in relation to any or all of the requirements stated in this CN. Equally, non-participation in this engagement will not be taken into account in any future procurement activities and will not preclude any organisation from submitting a tender in any future competition.
If a group of economic operators submits a bid, the group must nominate a legal entity to deal with the authority and which will tender and enter into the contract.
The authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law and government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by a Security Aspects Letter, the authority reserves the right to amend the terms of the Security Aspects Letter to reflect any changes in national law or government policy whether in respect of the applicable protective marking scheme, specific protective markings given, the aspects to which any protective marking applies or otherwise.

Eligibility requirements: (a) Appropriate statements from the economic operator's bankers or where appropriate, evidence of relevant professional risk indemnity insurance. (b) The presentation of balance-sheets or extracts from the balance-sheets, where publication of the balance-sheet is required under the law of the country in which the economic operator is established. (c) Where appropriate, a statement, covering the three previous financial years of the economic operator, of: (i) the overall turnover of the business of the economic operator; and (ii) where appropriate, the turnover in respect of the work, works, goods or services which are of a similar type to the subject matter of the contract. As detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire.
As detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire.
(a) In the case of a supply contract requiring the siting or installation of goods, a services contract or a works contract, the economic operator's technical ability, taking into account in particular that economic operator's skills, efficiency, experience and reliability. (c) A statement of the principal goods sold or services provided by the supplier or the services provider in the past 5 years, or during a shorter period if necessary, and: (i) the dates on which the goods were sold or the services provided; (ii) the consideration received; (iii) the identity of the person to whom the goods were sold or the service were provided; (iv) any certificate issued or countersigned by that person confirming the details of the contract for those goods sold or services provided; and (v) where — that person was not a contracting authority, and — the certificate referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(iv) is not available, any declaration by the economic operator attesting the details of the goods sold or services provided. (d) A statement of the technicians or technical services available to the economic operator to: (i) carry out the work under the contract; or (ii) be involved in the production of goods or the provision of services under the contract, particularly those responsible for quality control, whether or not they are independent of the economic operator. (e) A statement of the economic operator's: (i) technical facilities; (ii) measures for ensuring quality; (iii) study and research facilities; and (iv) internal rules regarding intellectual property. (i) A statement of the services provider's or contractor's average annual number of staff and managerial staff over the previous 3 years. (j) A description of the tools, material, technical equipment, staff numbers, know-how and sources of supply (with an indication of their geographical location when it is outside the territory of the EU) available to the economic operator to perform the contract, cope with any additional needs required by the contracting authority as a result of a crisis or carry out the maintenance, modernisation or adaptation of the goods covered by the contract. (m) In the case of contracts involving, entailing or containing classified information, evidence of the ability to process, store and transmit such information at the level of protection required by the contracting authority. (o) Any other evidence of conformity to quality management systems standards which are equivalent to the standards referred to in subparagraph (n)(i). As detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire. As detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire.
(a) In the case of a supply contract requiring the siting or installation of goods, a services contract or a works contract, the economic operator's technical ability, taking into account in particular that economic operator's skills, efficiency, experience and reliability. (c) A statement of the principal goods sold or services provided by the supplier or the services provider in the past 5 years, or during a shorter period if necessary, and: (i) the dates on which the goods were sold or the services provided; (ii) the consideration received; (iii) the identity of the person to whom the goods were sold or the service were provided; (iv) any certificate issued or countersigned by that person confirming the details of the contract for those goods sold or services provided; and (v) where — that person was not a contracting authority, and — the certificate referred to in sub-paragraph (c)(iv) is not available, any declaration by the economic operator attesting the details of the goods sold or services provided. (d) A statement of the technicians or technical services available to the economic operator to: (i) carry out the work under the contract; or (ii) be involved in the production of goods or the provision of services under the contract, particularly those responsible for quality control, whether or not they are independent of the economic operator. (e) A statement of the economic operator's: (i) technical facilities; (ii) measures for ensuring quality; (iii) study and research facilities; and (iv) internal rules regarding intellectual property. (i) A statement of the services provider's or contractor's average annual number of staff and managerial staff over the previous 3 years. (j) A description of the tools, material, technical equipment, staff numbers, know-how and sources of supply (with an indication of their geographical location when it is outside the territory of the EU) available to the economic operator to perform the contract, cope with any additional needs required by the contracting authority as a result of a crisis or carry out the maintenance, modernisation or adaptation of the goods covered by the contract. (m) In the case of contracts involving, entailing or containing classified information, evidence of the ability to process, store and transmit such information at the level of protection required by the contracting authority. (o) Any other evidence of conformity to quality management systems standards which are equivalent to the standards referred to in subparagraph (n)(i). As detailed in the pre-qualification questionnaire.