Tender Announcement: Partnership to Develop and Manufacture Non-Intrusive Explosive Detection Systems for Application in Land Release.

Reference Number: ITT30025010

Download tender Terms of Reference (PDF)

NPA seeks a Research and Development partner and manufacturer to develop Non-Intrusive Explosive Detection systems/solutions which can be applied in a Land Release (humanitarian mine action) context.

Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA) is a politically independent membership-based organization working in Norway and in more than 30 countries around the world. Founded in 1939 as the Norwegian labour movement's humanitarian solidarity organization, NPA aims to improve people's living conditions and to create a democratic, just and safe society.

NPA's international work covers two core areas: Mine Action and Disarmament and Development and Humanitarian Cooperation. NPA's Mine Action and Disarmament portfolio consist of six focus areas: Mine Action, Advocacy, Conflict Preparedness and Protection, Risk Education, Arms Management and Destruction, and Environment. NPA aims to reduce and prevent harm to civilians from the impacts of explosive weapons and ammunition. NPA covers the full life cycle of weapons and ammunitions, with interventions to protect civilians before, during and after conflict.

NPA receives funding from Innovation Norway to explore the development of rapid soil investigation technologies to enhance its humanitarian activities through the safer and more efficient removal of explosive ordnance. The removal of landmines/EO is done through a process called land release. This is done in three stages, namely: non-technical survey (NTS); technical survey (TS) and clearance. The land release process is also time-consuming; as the vast majority of hazardous areas mapped by NTS do not actually contain threats. Having tools to identify evidence such as chemical traces of explosives found in hazardous areas (i.e. minefields and battle areas) can make NTS, TS and clearance more accurate, thereby making the overall land release process faster and more efficient.

The primary objectives of this project are:

1. Development of non-intrusive explosive detection systems that can rapidly detect the most commonly found types of military explosives (i.e. RDX, TNT) and adaptation of this solution to a Land Release context.
   
2. Development of the aforementioned system into a ruggedized human-portable or handheld device.

In addition, the secondary objectives are:

1. Ability for the aforementioned system to be be mounted on small remotely operated vehicles, including Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS) or Unmanned Ground Vehicles (UGV) – without interference to its primary functions.
   
2. Ability of the aforementioned system to detect Home Made Explosives (HME) including but not limited to Ammonium Nitrate and/or Urea Nitrate based explosives.

NPA (i.e. the client) and the partner organisation (vendor) will jointly develop a new generation of technologies or adapt the vendor’s existing technologies for use in a land release context. The vendor will be fully responsible for the manufacture of the products developed under this project.

NPA will provide user requirements and will jointly conduct testing and trialling with the Vendor.

All intellectual property (IP) developed by the Vendor shall remain with the vendor as a result of this project, and NPA will not impose limitations on the commercialization of the IP.

The overall value of the project is 4,000,000 Norwegian Krone (4 Million NOK). The prospective applicant shall be responsive to the requirements specified in the Terms of Reference and provide written, signed confirmation of compliance to the following NPA standards:

• “NPA Ethical guidelines for procurement, marketing and investment”

• “Code of ethical conduct for NPA suppliers”

Applications must be submitted by email to tenders@npaid.org by 6th October 2025, 17:00 Central European Time. The following documents must be included as attachments in the application email:

• Proposal Narrative and accompanying annexes in accordance with the requirements in the Terms of Reference. Applicants should follow the proposal narrative outline provided in “Section 4.2 Bidding Documentation” of the Terms of Reference

• Budget and Budget Narrative in accordance with the requirements in the Terms of Reference.

• A copy of the “NPA Ethical guidelines for procurement, marketing and investment” and “Code of ethical conduct for NPA suppliers” documents signed by an authorised representative of the applicant organisation. A date and signature (along with name and title of the signatory) should be inserted on the last page of each document.

Applications must have the phrase “ITT30025010 [Organization Name] Tender for Non-Intrusive Explosive Detection Systems” in the subject line of the email. Attachments shall not exceed 25mb in total.

Inquiries and questions about the tender may be submitted to kyawhtut396@npaid.org. Please do not submit final applications to this email.

Download tender Terms of Reference (PDF)