DASA Announce New Airport Vehicle Checkpoint Screening Competition
The Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) has announced a new competition on Vehicle Checkpoint (VCP) Screening at airports.
The competition places particular emphasis on the prevention of weapons, explosives and threats (including chemical, biological and radiological) from entering the secure airside area. The competition is being run on behalf of the Future Aviation Security Solutions Programme (FASSP).
VCPs are a crucial aspect of airports’ functionality. Owing to the fact that all airport vehicles are screened before entering the airside perimeter, the current processes, although effective in detecting threats, can be time-consuming and laborious. Therefore this competition aims to find innovative solutions to deliver a change in screening vehicles at VCPs, addressing three time-consuming processes:
- vehicle engine compartments: both conventional bonnet and ‘tilt cab’.
- bulky loads such as: construction materials; large liquids (including fuel containers) or sealed packages.
- screening other hard to search parts of the vehicle, such as the driver’s cab or load space.
DASA are interested in entirely new screening techniques, as well as existing technologies being adapted to work within the VCP area. These proposed solutions should be able to work within the current VCP area, regardless of the impact of potentially adverse weather competitions. Additionally currently existing screen technologies require the driver to disembark and be screened separately (alongside their personal items) to their vehicle. Therefore it would be beneficial if solutions can be found to screen without items being removed from vehicles. The primary focus of the competition is to detect items which pose a threat to aircraft, but proposals could also detect other items such as illicit drugs.
The competition has been launched with an initial budget of £1 million. Contracts are expected to be awarded in January 2019 and will run for six months, with an expected second phase of funding being made available. The closing date for proposals for this competition is 20th September 2018 at 1pm. For further information please click here.