NPAS CAA Innovation Hub · UK public procurement notice

The CAA are the sole regulator of civil aviation in the UK. Accordingly, they are the sole authority with the ability to grant permissions for operation and testing of Beyond Visual Line of Sight (BVLOS) aircraft in UK airspace. The CAA Innovation Hub is the ‘thinktank’ for the CAA in regard to it’s regulatory policies and the UK airspace.

The process for obtaining permissions to conduct the trials required to demonstrate safe operations and obtain regulatory approvals is inherently complex. The police service will require significant buy in and ultimately, approvals from the UK aviation safety regulator, the CAA, to operate drones BVLOS on a routine basis.

The CAA Innovation Hub is an integral part of the UK CAA who can provide a direct advisory link to the regulator to ensure that the process is achieved in the most efficient and cost-effective manner.

The Innovation Hub allows the development of new and innovative aviation systems to progress in line with CAA principles, and will allow the NPAS project team to access CAA expertise and guidance directly.

By working with the CAA Innovation Hub, NPAS will have a direct link to the CAA for its BVLOS project that would not be unavailable with any other supplier and this will allow NPAS to anticipate regulatory challenges and where possible, inform the development of new policies and regulations.

Whilst there is aviation expertise and experience outside of the CAA Innovation Hub, the CAA Innovation Hub is uniquely placed to assist NPAS by virtue of their position within the UK Aviation Regulatory Sector and their unparalleled close working relationship with the CAA policy maker. Additionally, the use of the CAA Innovation Hub provides singular quality assurance in regard to their credibility, which is unavailable elsewhere in the marketplace for this type of expertise.

Engaging an alternative supplier would add a layer of complexity to the aims of the Project, as an interface would be required between that supplier and the CAA, which is made unnecessary by using the CAA Innovation Hub. This is especially important in view of the complex nature of the Project. The CAA Innovation Hub are the only supplier that could be engaged without the need to incorporate a third party into the Project to act as an interface between NPAS and the CAA. Engaging with a third party would substantially add further delays to the project as any third party would need to obtain all relevant regulatory approvals, which have proven to be extremely time consuming. The CAA Innovation Hub involvement in this process dramatically reduces this time scale

The exclusive benefits that are solely available by working with the CAA Innovation Hub are:

• Direct link to CAA that is not available via any other supplier allowing NPAS to better adhere to the CAA process.
• By working with the CAA Innovation Hub NPAS would be vicariously embedded into the CAA, allowing for NPAS to be at the coal face of the developments required for the Project, placing NPAS in a unique position to influence planning, manage the various expectations and assure resource allocation.
• NPAS will also be vicariously embedded in the CAA Innovation Hub’s Sandbox challenges for the Detect and Avoid technical demonstrators that the drone industry are participating in, enabling a cost efficient approach, intelligent partnering and quality assurance.
• Full oversight of the developments and innovations currently underway within the wider aviation sector which will influence existing and any future drone activity and regulatory developments. These will be reported upon and influence our planning and decision making.
• Expedite communications to and from the relevant CAA sectors and stakeholders.