Swarm and Search Artificial Intelligence Competition Series 2021 Challenge: Capture the Flag

Dstl in partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory is running a competitive hackathon to explore the best approaches to delivering autonomy within swarming platforms.

United Kingdom-Salisbury: Research and development services and related consultancy services

2020/S 227-560543

Prior information notice

This notice is for prior information only

Services

Legal Basis:

Directive 2014/24/EU

Section I: Contracting authority

I.1)Name and addresses

Official name: Ministry of Defence, DSTL, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
Postal address: Porton Down
Town: Salisbury
NUTS code: UKK15 Wiltshire CC
Postal code: SP4 0JQ
Country: United Kingdom
Contact person: Mr Prakash Prema
E-mail: pprema@dstl.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 1980954094
Internet address(es):
Main address: http://www.gov.uk/dstl

I.3)Communication

Additional information can be obtained from another address:

Official name: Ministry of Defence, DSTL, Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (DSTL)
Postal address: Porton Down
Town: Salisbury
NUTS code: UKK15 Wiltshire CC
Postal code: SP4 0JQ
Country: United Kingdom
Contact person: By Email only
E-mail: Swarming_Hackathon@dstl.gov.uk
Telephone: +44 1980954094
Internet address(es):
Main address: http://www.gov.uk/dstl

Electronic communication requires the use of tools and devices that are not generally available. Unrestricted and full direct access to these tools and devices is possible, free of charge, at: https://www.labhack.org/

I.4)Type of the contracting authority

Ministry or any other national or federal authority, including their regional or local subdivisions

I.5)Main activity

Defence

Section II: Object

II.1)Scope of the procurement

II.1.1)Title:

The Swarm and Search Artificial Intelligence Competition Series 2021 Challenge: Capture the Flag

Reference number: Hackathon 2021

II.1.2)Main CPV code

73000000 Research and development services and related consultancy services

II.1.3)Type of contract

Services

II.1.4)Short description:

Dstl in partnership with the US Air Force Research Laboratory is running a competitive hackathon to explore the best approaches to delivering autonomy within swarming platforms. This year’s virtual competition will build on the 2019 Swarm and Search AI Challenge: Fire Hack.The goal of a hackathon is to create functioning software or hardware by the end of the event.

II.1.5)Estimated total value

Value excluding VAT: 200 000.00 GBP

II.1.6)Information about lots

This contract is divided into lots: no

II.2)Description

II.2.3)Place of performance

NUTS code: UKK15 Wiltshire CC

Main site or place of performance:

Wiltshire CC.

II.2.4)Description of the procurement:

Push Artificial Intelligence elements much further than last time using an open source simulation suite to focus teams on algorithms and behaviours. Final showdown event May 2021 a live event with virtual UK/US engagement, registration and participant selection open February 2021 with competition March 2021. Use multi-agent simulation suite, an open source software designed and built by Georgia Tech Research Institute. https://mass.gtri.gatech.edu/. Specific build version of software used for competition provided during registration with links and initial installation guidance. Software can run on most Linux and windows based personal computers. For AI Agent training participants should have sufficient computing resources. You will be invited to submit an initial overview of your proposed approach to solving the AI challenge. A team of SMEs will review these proposals, scoring them on three main criteria: Innovation with relation to the challenge, Technical expertise and credibility.

II.2.14)Additional information

There are currently no plans to develop the output. However, the results of the event may give insights into this domain and may provide evidence on which to build future research projects. The purpose of this notice is for advertising the event only and not contract award as a result of the Hackathon. To register, please visit https://www.labhack.org/

II.3)Estimated date of publication of contract notice:

28/02/2021

Section IV: Procedure

IV.1)Description

IV.1.8)Information about the Government Procurement Agreement (GPA)

The procurement is covered by the Government Procurement Agreement: no

Section VI: Complementary information

VI.3)Additional information:

The authority reserves the right to amend any condition related to security of information to reflect any changes in national law or government policy. If any contract documents are accompanied by instructions on safeguarding classified information (e.g. a Security Aspects Letter), the authority reserves the right to amend the terms of these instructions 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. The link below to the Gov.uk website provides information on the Government Security Classification.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/government-security-classifications

Advertising Regime OJEU: this contract opportunity is published in the Official Journal of the European Union (OJEU), the MoD Defence Contracts Bulletin and www.contracts.mod.uk Go reference: GO-20201117-DCB-17379315

VI.5)Date of dispatch of this notice:

17/11/2020