Commercial aviation is undergoing a profound transformation and must introduce new, disruptive and climate-friendly technologies in the shortest possible time, while meeting aviation's high safety standards. An independent and cross-industry flying testbed creates the conditions for developing and validating the necessary technological building blocks and systems under real-world operating conditions as early as possible.

According to current research activities, the following technologies are suitable for enabling climate-neutral aviation in the medium and long term:

a. Electric/Hybrid-Electrical Propulsion

• Electric propulsion with hydrogen-powered fuel cells

• Fuel Cell Technology

• Battery Technology

b. Combustion of alternative fuels in existing turbine engines

• Synthetic Aviation Fuel

• Hydrogen direct-combustion

• E-Fuels

c. Noise/Emission Reduction Technologies

• Methods/Technology to reduce/manage contrails

• Optimised Flight Path

• Automation Technologies

• Sensor Technologies

Against the background described above, a DO328 should be procured by DLR in 2023 as a Flying Testbed under the project title "UpLift". It should be equipped with far-reaching, universally usable basic modifications and then operated by the DLR for research and development of new components and systems towards climate-neutral flight.

Process in a negotiated procedure with a call for competition pursuant to Section 17, para. 1 of the Ordinance on the Award of Public Contracts (VgV).

In the first step, public competitive bidding is held. Here, the candidates are reviewed on the basis of their applications to participate according to the criteria of the minimum requirements (exclusion criteria). This presupposes that an application for participation by the candidates is received by the awarding authority on time. The application must be formally correct and complete so that it can be further reviewed. All the specifications and the application for participation can be found in the tender documents in the section to be completed by the candidate.

After the completion of this first stage, the suitable candidates are actively invited by the awarding authority to submit a binding initial tender. With this invitation, the second stage of the award procedure has started for these successful candidates. From then on they will act as act tenderers in the procedure.