Announcement of Opportunity: Space Cluster Development Funding Call - Proposal Application Guide

Question 1

SPACE CLUSTER MANAGEMENT (POT B)

Accepted Answer

To procure dedicated resource (e.g. a hub or cluster manager) to lead the finalisation, refinement and/or implementation of local space sector strategies and space cluster development activities.

Applicants may draw upon funding to contract an experienced individual/s to own and deliver its local strategic plan for space sector growth. The applicant will be required to provide match funding, which could include in-kind contribution, details of which are set out in Section 7.2.

If seeking funding for a cluster manager, applicants must provide a role specification as part of their application, this must incorporate the responsibilities set out in section 3.1 below. This resource can be sourced externally or internally from the applicant’s institution but must be able to demonstrate the necessary experience and skills to deliver against the set KPIs. This should be reflected within the role requirements set out in the specification.

Before confirming any appointments, the applicant must provide evidence to UK Space Agency that a robust and competitive process has been run to identify skilled resource that is able to deliver against the role responsibilities outlined below. Invoices for cluster management will not be accepted until UK Space Agency has received written approval that they are content that the proper due diligence and scrutiny has been applied to the recruitment process.

Proposals are anticipated for between £30k and a maximum grant value of up to £150k per annum, but all proposals for single or multiple activities will be considered up to £150k. Robust and well-evidenced costings will be expected within the application for all funded activity, which must be delivered before March 31st 2025.

4. Scope: Cluster Management Role Responsibilities should include but are not limited to:

Working collaboratively with a local Space leadership forum and local government, businesses and academia to own and drive forward the recommended actions from a local strategic plan for space sector growth.
Work closely and proactively with the local economic development body to ensure that the Space sector is embedded as a priority and focus for local support and investment.
Identify funding sources, both private and public, to support the delivery of local Space sector development plans, supporting business case development to secure additional investment for the region when opportunities arise.
Identify market opportunities and broker partnerships and building relationships between Space and non-space businesses and organisations and with local and national Government to exploit these opportunities.
Gather evidence to further understanding of regional Space sector capabilities, skills and assets, identifying strengths, gaps and addressable markets. This evidence should be used to identify new opportunities for the region, inform decision making and direction setting for the local Space leadership forum and support business case development- ultimately ensuring optimal alignment of the local Space sector to the wider market.
Hosting regional events or workshops to support the delivery of a local strategic plan for Space sector growth.
Use the UK Space Agency and Satellite Applications Catapult’s Space Enterprise Community platform and suite of support mechanisms to help broker partnerships, match businesses with opportunities or required expertise, comms and provide business development support to enable local businesses to maximise the potential of these addressable markets.
Engage proactively with local academic institutions and forums to encourage knowledge exchange between industry and academia
Act as the voice and champion for Space within the region, contributing to or hosting events and workshops to support local sector needs and to promote the cluster nationally and internationally.
Provide day to day Space cluster management, coordinating and disseminating information to support delivery, gathering, storing and processing data in line with GDPR regulations.
Monitoring and reporting on businesses within the region to ensure that impact can be effectively measured by the local Space leadership forum and UK Space Agency.
Report against clearly defined Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) focussed on increasing the number of businesses engaging with the cluster, increasing local and inward investment, increased presence of Space within local economic plans, increase in number of applications to local and national funding calls from Space businesses in the region.

The Satellite Applications Catapult is an active partner with UK Space Agency on supporting and managing the space sector ecosystem and all recipients of UK Space Agency grant funding under this call will therefore also receive direct support and engagement from the Satellite Applications Catapult as required.

The award of grant funding does not constitute an employment relationship between the UK Space Agency and the applicant/cluster management resource. Any resource recruited /procured through this funding call should be tasked by the applicant with delivering against clearly defined Key Performance Indicators (see Section 4. Success Metric below), driving forward the recommended actions and vision of a local Space strategy for a clearly defined region. This local Space strategy should be demonstrably supported by a local Space leadership forum and endorsed by the relevant local authority (e.g., the LEP, Mayoral authority, Devolved Administration etc).

Question 2

SUCCESS METRICS

Accepted Answer

The UK Space Agency will measure the success of the grant funding call against the following 5 metrics. When completing the application form, applicants should look to demonstrate how their proposals will deliver against these metrics. UK Space Agency will robustly monitor and evaluate its funding through the local growth programme over the current funding period. Successful applicants will be expected to regularly report against these metrics.

Applicants must clearly set out in response to question 5 of the application form, how they will monitor and report on the impact provided by this resource. Applicants should demonstrate how they will benchmark against these metrics for their region of focus and state the targets they will set for improvement.

All proposals will be expected to deliver across Metrics 1-4. Metric 5 is only for proposals applying for funding under the thematic area of Knowledge Exchange

Metric 1: Catalysing additional investment into the space sector

E.g.

Increasing the value of private investment and/or contracts secured by UK companies within the region.
Increasing the number of new companies from the area joining the UK Space Agency/Catapult Space Enterprise Network by X amount in Y timeframe (applicant to stipulate)

Metric 2: Creating or safeguarding jobs in the region

E.g.

Number of new jobs created, or safeguarded
Number of highly skilled jobs (above skill level 5) created
Number of apprentices employed and at what level
Number of learning hours delivered to X number of people

Metric 3: Increasing numbers of Space and Non-space sector organisations engaged

E.g.

Increasing the number of new space companies and companies using space technology/data establishing in the area by a defined amount over a specified timeframe (applicant to stipulate).
Increasing the number of new companies from the area joining the UK Space Agency/Catapult Space Enterprise Community by X amount in Y timeframe (applicant to stipulate)

Metric 4: Raised awareness, nationally and internationally of UK Space sector Capabilities

E.g.

Increasing Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the local space sector by a defined amount.
Promoting the local space sector both nationally and internationally by showcasing its capabilities and assets to a defined number of stakeholders and investors- e.g. at national or international events to stimulate new market opportunities for local businesses.

Metric 5: Enabling Collaborative R&D (includes commercialisation/translation of research)

E.g.

 Establishing X number of new partnerships between industry and academia and/or supporting Y number of new collaborative projects.

Question 3

ELIGIBILITY

Accepted Answer

Funding for full proposals will be awarded to recognised UK Space clusters and places, that have previously been awarded funding or support from UK Space Agency; either for cluster development or as Centres of Excellence.

The lead organisation must demonstrate the ability and experience to run large-scale research and innovation grant awards and must:

· be a business of any size or

· be a research organisation or

· a local civic partner such as a Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), Combined Authority (CA), enterprise body or similar economic agency from across the UK

Local civic partners are encouraged to act as the lead applicant. Where this is not the case the lead applicant must partner with or secure written endorsement from the relevant local economic development body to ensure alignment with local strategy.

No more than 3 full project proposals from POT A will be entertained from any single region or geographic area. Applicants are therefore encouraged to coordinate applications through their local space leadership forum.

Grant funding is only available to registered UK organisations who hold a UK bank account. Partner organisations must also have a UK presence.

Grant Recipients must demonstrate the ability to effectively manage a project
Grant Recipients must have a UK bank account and all grant payments will be made in UK sterling (as per grant funding agreement)
All project members must have in place and provide evidence of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies
All project members must provide evidence of a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest
All project members must be able to provide evidence that they are GDPR compliant
Projects cannot work in areas that are in active conflict and any overseas travel must comply with FCDO recommendations
Projects must pass due diligence checks on company viability (financial standing assessment, governance, conflicts of interest, technical expertise)
Formal teaming, or equivalent agreements between project partners and match funding commitment must be in place within 90 days of grant signature
Projects must comply with the rules stated in this guidance document.

Proposals will not be considered from applicants who have received or are in the process of negotiating funding for similar Space growth strategy development activity, unless they can clearly demonstrate how they and their local partners have already built upon the outcomes of the prior funded work.

If the applicant is applying for funding from POT B: Cluster Management and are currently in receipt of funding from the Satellite Applications Catapult as part of its Centres of Excellence in Satellite Applications Programme, then any funding awarded would only start from the date in which their current contract with the Satellite Applications Catapult ends.

Before applying, all applicants must ensure that they have the necessary legal and financial frameworks, processes and personnel in place to be able to receive and allocate grant funding from UK Space Agency and deliver their project in a prompt and timely manner. Significant delays on the part of the recipient to signing the grant agreement may result in the withdrawal of the grant award.

Applicants should contact the UK Space Agency at localgrowth@ukspaceagency.gov.uk if they are unsure of their eligibility for this Call.

5. Ineligible Expenditure

The following costs are ineligible: 

Payment that supports lobbying or activity intended to influence or attempt to influence Parliament, Government or political parties, or attempting to influence the awarding or renewal of contracts and grants, or attempting to influence legislative or regulatory action; 
Input VAT reclaimable by the Grant Recipient from HMRC; 
Payments for activities of a political or exclusively religious nature; 
Goods or services that the Grant Recipient has a statutory duty to provide; 
Payments reimbursed or to be reimbursed by other public or private sector grants 
Contributions in kind (i.e. a contribution in goods or services, as opposed to money); 
Depreciation, amortisation or impairment of fixed assets owned by the Grant Recipient; 
The acquisition or improvement of fixed assets by the Grant Recipient (unless the grant is explicitly for capital use – this will be stipulated in the Grant Offer Letter); 
Interest payments (including service charge payments for finance leases); 
Gifts to individuals; 
Entertaining (entertaining for this purpose means anything that would be a taxable benefit to the person being entertained, according to current UK tax regulations); 
Statutory fines, criminal fines or penalties; or liabilities incurred before the issue of this funding agreement unless agreed in writing by UK Space Agency;
Benefits and bonuses paid to Employees;
Alcohol.

Question 4

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING AN APPLICATION

Accepted Answer

To aid the placing of the grant agreement with successful bidders, the applications for funding must include a cover letter containing:

• A short outline of the proposal

• A firm fixed costing for the work to be carried out.

• The grant funding agreement template is included as a separate document. Applicants must sign up to the terms as set out in the Grant Funding Agreement. No material changes to the terms will be considered. Minor changes may be considered if an applicant can demonstrate that agreeing to the provision within the Grant Funding Agreement would result in the applicant breaching its statutory or regulatory obligations. Any required changes must be submitted to UK Space Agency as a marked-up copy of the GFA alongside your application. Failure from the grant recipient to facilitate a quick turnaround for the approval of the grant funding agreement may lead to significant delays to project delivery and the potential withdrawal of the grant offer.

· Applicants must provide a copy of their local space strategy or plan for growth alongside a completed application form and a letter of endorsement from the local space leadership forum and the local economic development body which sets out not just their endorsement of the proposal but how they will be involved in directly supporting the delivery of any outputs

Question 5

FINANCIAL AND CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION

Accepted Answer

6. Grant Recipient Code of Conduct

All organisations in receipt of grant funding must abide by the UK government Code of Conduct for Grant Recipients:

https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/754555/2018-11-06_Code_of_Conduct_for_Grant_Recipients.pdf

7. Match Funding

· All grants, whether from Pot A or from Pot B should be match funded by the applicant or their delivery partners at a minimum of 50%

· Academic partners will be funded in all cases at 80% of Full Economic Cost (FEC)

· Match funding in-kind will be accepted, cash match is encouraged.

· Other sources of UK Space Agency funding are not eligible as a Private Venture (PV) / match funding contribution.

· Applicants must evidence how they will provide the match funding element under Question 2 of the application form within the Annex below.

· As a minimum, UK Space Agency will accept letters of support showing indicative figures and source of match funding at application stage. But an updated, detailed financial plan, confirming the match must be received within 90 days of grant award.

8. Grant award

· The funds from Grant funding are on a cost recovery basis only and all expenditure will need to be evidenced to support the grant claim. Grants are solely intended to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal. Any identified underspent funds will be lost to the project.

· The grant recipient cannot receive any funding from other grants/contracts to undertake the same activities.

· Grant funding cannot be rolled over beyond the 2024/25 financial year without explicit consent from UK Space Agency.

· All applications will be expected to deliver eligible activities that will provide a demonstrable impact to the development of the local space sector.

· The award will be made on a cost recovery basis up to a maximum sum.

· Award(s) will take the form of a grant agreement between the UK Space Agency and the project’s lead organisation. Bidders should note that the UK Space Agency will not refund any costs associated with preparing proposals.

· Bidders should note that grants cannot be given to companies or organisations in financial difficulties.

· As part of the application for funding, applicants must review and accept the terms of the UK Space Agency’s published grant agreement, provided as a separate attachment to this call, before starting the project. This will enable selected proposals to start promptly after evaluation has been completed. Applicants wishing to request changes to the agreement are required to submit a marked-up document setting out the proposed variations, along with a justification for any request for changes to the standard grant funding agreement terms within 5 working days of being notified of success.

· Please note that the UK Space Agency has the right to refuse changes to the grant funding agreement terms, in line with its procurement policy for grant funding and appropriate use of public money. Any requests for changes will be considered on a case-by-case basis. The final decision to accept any changes rests with the UK Space Agency.

· Any intellectual property generated under these proposals will remain the property of the applicants. However, UK Space Agency will require applicants to evidence the outputs of the work undertaken through provision of a copy of the final report and a presentation of the outcomes.

9. Payment Plans

Bidders must set out payment plans noting that:

The funds from Grant funding are on a cost recovery basis only.
All payments will be made in arrears on successful completion of project milestones, and acceptance of progress reports and final reporting deliverables.

• Payment of the grant will be made in the form of staged payments on successful completion of intermediate deliverables, together with a final payment on successful completion of the project.

• The first milestone should reflect a stage in the project. Payment cannot be made on completion of a kick-off meeting (T+0) as this is not eligible for a milestone payment value.

Please include a Milestone Payment Plan at Annex E.

Example:

Milestone number

WP

Milestone/Deliverable description

Date due

Percentage of Grant funding

Amount£

10. Treatment of VAT

Grant funding is outside the scope for VAT, therefore output VAT on top of your submitted costs is not applicable for grant funding and should not be applied when invoicing for milestone payments.

If you incur non-recoverable input VAT costs, you cannot pass this cost on to UK Space Agency.

Note: Provision of regular project update reports does not count as a benefit received by UK Space Agency as these are used for monitoring purposes so that the Agency can ensure that the terms and conditions of the grant are being met.

11. Sub-contracting costs

Sub-contracting costs must be calculated on a cost recovery basis only and broken down by day rate and overheads separately.

12. Invoices

All partners must use a separate, project-specific, bank account or project accounting code for project funds to enable a clear audit trail.

UK Space Agency will only pay on actuals therefore we expect invoices may differ from forecasts. Should actual costs incurred be greater than the value of the milestone value, these costs will be borne by the Grant Recipient, unless the additional expenditure has been agreed with the UK Space Agency ahead of the costs being incurred and a Grant Change Notice (GCN) executed.

13. Staff Costs

Staff costs must be calculated on a cost recovery basis only and broken down by pay costs and overheads separately.

14. Pay costs

Pay costs are calculated based on your PAYE records. They should include gross salary, employer National Insurance (NI) contributions and employer pension contributions. Pay costs must not include:

Any profit margins
Commercial charge-out rates
Allowances for bonuses and benefits in kind
Business development
Travel and Subsistence

These pay rates will be subject to checks during the negotiation stage by internal or external teams to ensure that day rates reflect actual costs. High payroll costs will be challenged and evidence (such as pay slips etc.) must be provided to justify that the rate is on a cost recovery basis only.

When making grant claims against labour costs, actual costs claimed must be supported with timesheets of those individuals who have worked on the project.

In the budget breakdown, you are asked to provide a pay cost per day. Using actual gross monthly payroll costs, please assume 260 working days in the year, less annual leave and public holiday entitlements.

14.1 Overheads

Overheads should be stated separately from pay costs, charged at 20%. This 20% overhead should be recorded in the overhead column in the budget breakdown, this allows you to claim 20% of your pay costs as overhead. This includes both direct and indirect overhead. The overheads relating to contingent workforce / consultants should be included within their daily rate, and not included in either the calculation of the 20% overhead allowance or charged to it.

By exception, if you consider that your overheads cannot be accommodated within the 20% rate and would like UK Space Agency to consider an alternative level, you may submit a detailed breakdown of your proposed direct and indirect costs. Please note the following:

Overheads should be stated separately from the pay costs and their constituent elements identified and recorded by work package in the budget breakdown spreadsheet.
All costs need to be compliant with conditions set out within the GBER Article applicable to your proposal.
In considering the value for money of your proposal, UK Space Agency will take into account the full costs of the activity including overheads.
Once the overhead recovery rate has been approved, it cannot be exceeded unless agreed as part of a grant change notice.

14.2 Travel and Subsistence

The following outlines the guidelines for travel and subsistence costs. Value for money must always be considered. If for any reason the set limits cannot be adhered to (e.g. to accommodate a reasonable adjustment), you must seek prior written approval from UK Space Agency. No claims for alcohol will be accepted.

UK Space Agency reserves the right to not settle claims which have breached these guidelines. All expenditure must be supported by actual, itemised receipts.

Limits:

Accommodation: £140 per night
Breakfast: £5
Lunch: £5
Dinner: £15

Travel:

All travel claimed must be using Economy rates.
Tolls, Ferry Costs, Parking and congestion charge: Receipted costs for ferries, and tolls bridges and roads unavoidably incurred during your business journey may be claimed. Reasonable parking charges may be claimed. Receipted congestion charges unavoidably incurred on your business journey may be claimed

Question 6

ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

Accepted Answer

Applications for project funding will be assessed by a Selection Panel which will consist of independent UK Space Agency approved reviewers who may be drawn from academia, industry, Government or the Research Council Review Colleges. The panel will assess the proposals according to the criteria listed below.

15. Criteria

Bids will be assessed against the criteria set out in the application form with scored questions marked out of 5 according to the guidance in the table below. Sections of the application form that are not scored will be deemed pass or fail dependent on whether they are filled in fully and correctly.

Assessment criteria:

Relevance: demonstration of local space sector advocacy, strategy and economic growth opportunities and why the proposed funded activities will deliver these opportunities
Benefit: Demonstrable benefits that the proposed output offers to the local space sector and the UK space offer, in line with the success metrics. Who and How will this proposal benefit? If piloting a local initiative what is the potential for this being rolled out at a national level if successful?
Quality of the proposal: Capability and track record of the team, quality of staff, and value for money
Strength of team(s)/collaboration. Collaborative partnerships, consortiums are to be encouraged and collaborative bids will score strongly.

Score	Criteria
1	No Demonstration of requested information and evidence for the question
2	Minimal Demonstration of requested information and evidence for the question
3	Acceptable Demonstration of requested information and evidence for the question. Adequate positive evidence provided to support the stated aims and objectives of the proposal.
4	Good Demonstration: Substantial positive evidence provided to support the stated aims and objectives of the proposal. Demonstrable engagement and links made with other clusters or regions. Demonstration of potential applicability of outcomes to adjacent sectors and/or localities.
5	Excellent Demonstration of requested information and evidence for the question: Substantial positive evidence provided to support the stated aims and objectives of the proposal. Strong pan-regional/cross-sector collaborative element to the proposal. Evidence of potential pathway for regionally demonstrated outputs to be rolled out at a national level.

Question 7

PROJECT MONITORING AND REPORTING

Accepted Answer

Following an award and completion of grant agreement formalities, projects will be expected to start as soon as possible, and no later than 2 weeks from being notified of success. The UK Space Agency will assign a project coordinator to oversee the projects with the following methodology:

The project coordinator will initiate each project normally by teleconference or videoconference
The grant recipient will provide short progress reports to the coordinator, and the schedule for these will be agreed at the project kick-off meeting. These are normally at 4- or 6-week intervals but may be more frequent depending on the funded activity.
If the applicant is drawing upon this funding to procure dedicated resource, this resource should report to the applicant on progress against their KPIs at regular intervals and this progress as well as local business intelligence should be included within the short progress reports.
The grant recipient will schedule a mid-term progress meeting with the coordinator
The grant recipient will provide milestone/deliverables within the proposal
The grant recipient will provide reporting on the progress of the project to evidence the milestone/deliverable has been met. On acceptance of the evidenced milestone/deliverable the grant recipient will be invited to provide an invoice for that milestone/deliverable
At the end of the project a final report and executive summary are to be provided to the UK Space Agency. The executive summary must not contain any confidential information, as this may be uploaded onto the UK Space Agency website. All other reports should be marked commercial in confidence where applicable.
The grant recipient will also schedule a final review meeting with the coordinator at the appropriate time.

Question 8

DUE DILIGENCE

Accepted Answer

UK Space Agency will carry out due diligence on grant applications as required using internal and, where necessary, external subject matter experts. The scope and degree of due diligence will be determined by the value, nature and complexity of the grant scheme. All applications will be subject to basic checks such as credit reports and Companies House checks.

Additional pre-award due diligence may include, but is not limited to:

technical assessment of the proposed project: including technical viability and sustainability;
financial assessment: organisation financial standing/health, assessment of project costs, aid intensity values and match funding contributions;
economic impact / VFM assessment
commercial: viability and / or commercial sustainability of the proposed solution, market position, demand and / or interest in technology, terms of the grant funding agreement; and / or
programmatic: alignment to aims and objectives of the programme, programme plan which demonstrates the project can be delivered within the funding period and the critical path, risks and issues, details on project partners and / or subcontractors.

Post-award due diligence may include, but is not limited to:

technical assessment of milestone deliverables against acceptance criteria to allow milestone payments to be released;
financial: assessment of expenditure for each milestone payment and reporting on planned costs, follow up review of financial standing/health if it is a multi-year project
commercial: change management including any variations to time, cost, scope, or GFA terms; review of milestone deliverables as required;
programmatic: project progress and impacts of any delays, risk assessment and mitigation activity; and
end of project review: Has the technical and economic value been realised? Lessons learned and continuous improvement.

Grant Applicants who opt to work with project partners, companies involved in delivery of the project under a flow down agreement rather than a subcontractor, will assume all responsibility for partner due diligence.

Applicants will need to demonstrate they have carried out a sufficient level of due diligence with regard to their proposed project partners and subcontractors. Applicants will need to demonstrate they have carried out minimum checks at the proposal stage, which may require further scrutiny if the proposal is to be funded.

To meet this requirement, applicants can provide evidence of due diligence carried out supported by the resulting information or submit a partner reasonable assurance statement. The evidence should be consistent with the checks that we would conduct on our Grant Recipients, for example, financial standing, technical ability and scrutiny of the breakdown of costs. Any costs associated with project partner due diligence is considered a bidding cost and is to be borne by the applicant.

Applicants must provide evidence that they, and project partners have in place appropriate internal anti-bribery and anti-corruption policies, and a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

Question 9

CONFIDENTIALITY

Accepted Answer

The procedure for handling and assessing the applications for project funding will be as follows:

Completed applications must be submitted to the UK Space Agency at localgrowth@ukspaceagency.gov.uk All bids will be held in confidence.
Once the Local Space Cluster Development Call closing date has passed, electronic copies of all documents will be distributed to the independent assessment panel members; UK Space Agency confidentiality rules will apply.
Information submitted for proposals not recommended by the Panel for funding will be destroyed.
Information submitted for those projects selected for funding will be retained by UK Space Agency but remain confidential.
Summary information about the projects selected for funding may be published on the UK Space Agency web site.

The UK Space Agency will monitor the funded project through project reports and the submission of project deliverables. The Agency requests that any confidential information is clearly marked Commercial in Confidence.

Question 10

OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

Accepted Answer

Protection of any Intellectual Property (IP) rights on the project will remain the responsibility of the project participants. The UK Space Agency does not seek any ownership of project IP. Future ownership of any potential IPR should be dealt with as part of any collaboration agreement.

Question 11

SUBSIDY CONTROL GUIDANCE FOR GRANT APPLICANTS

Accepted Answer

The UK Space Agency (UK Space Agency) supports organisations to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control (see further information at Annex A).

Before awarding subsidies, the UK Space Agency must ensure that the subsidy scheme meets the terms of the principles as determined in the UK-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA):

The principles are that:

subsidies should pursue a specific public policy objective to remedy an identified market failure or to address an equity rationale such as social difficulties or distributional concerns (“the objective”)
subsidies should be proportionate and limited to what is necessary to achieve the objective
subsidies should be designed to bring about a change of economic behaviour of the beneficiary that is conducive to achieving the objective and that would not be achieved in the absence of subsidies being provided
subsidies should not normally compensate for the costs the beneficiary would have funded in the absence of any subsidy
subsidies should be an appropriate policy instrument to achieve a public policy objective and that objective cannot be achieved through other less distortive means
subsidies’ positive contributions to achieving the objective should outweigh any negative effects, in particular the negative effects on trade or investment between the Parties

To ensure this competition provides funding in line with the UK’s obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control:

The intervention rates detailed in Annex A shall apply unless the bidder seeks to claim exemption from having to make a contribution under the Small Amounts of Financial Assistance Allowance (previously known as de-minimis under State Aid) rules.
Bidders must identify the work proposed, and this must be consistent with the work programme described in the technical case. Note that the company size defines the maximum ‘Intervention’ rate (and hence the minimum required PV level) that is permitted (see Annex A). Bidders will be expected to justify the category of work selected.
Bidders must ensure that they supply the correct information that allows UK Space Agency to award grants within the scheme. It is the responsibility of the grant funder to ensure compliance with the relevant Subsidy Controls rules and the bidder to assist the funder in doing this by acting within the terms and conditions of the scheme. Further guidance about subsidy control is available on the gov.uk website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/complying-with-the-uks-international-obligations-on-subsidy-control-guidance-for-public-authorities

Question 12

SUBMISSION AND CONTACT INFORMATION

Accepted Answer

Only the lead company or organisation may submit an application. Applications for project funding must be submitted to the UK Space Agency as follows:

electronically in either pdf or Word using the template provided in Annex B
any information that bidders do not wish to be sent to the assessors should be contained in a separate file, and clearly marked as such.

All application documentation must be sent by email to the Local Growth Manager, at localgrowth@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Any further queries about this Call can be submitted to the above email address.

16. Schedule

Activity	Date
Submission deadline	21 October 2022
Proposals Assessed and applicants informed of outcome	4 November 2022
Grant agreements signed and project kick-off	21 November 2022

All applications must be submitted by 12 Noon on 21 October 2022

All applicants MUST review the grand funding agreement attached to the Announcement of Opportunity and provide written confirmation that they accept UK Space Agency’s standard terms and conditions OR a marked-up version of the grant funding agreement indicating where minimal, non-substantive changes are requested.

The number of projects selected will be dependent upon available budget and the quality of proposals.

It is the lead organisation’s responsibility to ensure that all required information is complete and accurately submitted before the deadline. The decision of the UK Space Agency is final. Minimal feedback can be requested with no course for appeal.

Incomplete, late applications or altered templates will not be considered

Question 13

Appendix 1

Accepted Answer

17. ANNEX A – WTO – Subsidy Control

Subsidy Control (and State aid where relevant)

UK Space Agency supports UK based businesses to invest in research, development and innovation. The support we provide is consistent with the UK’s international obligations and commitments to Subsidy Control. These include:

WTO rules
the EU-UK Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), (see EU-UK TCA summary and BEIS (Dept. for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy) guidance)
in certain circumstances (e.g. under the Northern Ireland Protocol) EU State aid regulations may also be applied
other bilateral UK FTAs (Free Trade Agreements) where relevant

17.1 What is a subsidy?

For the purposes of UK international commitments, a subsidy is a measure which:

The BEIS Subsidy Control regime (or where relevant EU State aid regulations) are designed to prevent unfair advantages and distortion of trade: Complying with the UK’s international obligations on subsidy control

More information on the principles of awarding subsidies can be found in the BEIS guidance.

17.2 Subsidy Control Categories and Intervention Thresholds

As specified in section 7.2, all grants, whether from Pot A or from Pot B must be match funded by the applicant or their delivery partners at a minimum 50%. Match funding in-kind will be accepted, cash match is encouraged.

Applicants must evidence of how they will provide the match funding element under Question 2 of the application form within the Annex below.

Other sources of public funding are not eligible as a Private Venture (PV) / match funding contribution.

Academic partners will be funded in all cases at 80% of Full Economic Cost (FEC).

Please see note under Question 5 in the application form for further guidance on how this will be applied to proposals for this funding call.

17.3 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and EU de minimis awards

The UK-EU Trade & Cooperation Agreement (TCA) has provision relating to Small Amounts of Financial Assistance (SAFA).

For organisations applying under SAFA, the total subsidy which can be given to each organisation is up to a maximum of £340,000 or 325,000 SDR over a rolling 3 fiscal year period. This threshold is subject to change and grant recipients should consult the subsidy control guidance for regular updates.

When calculating eligibility for the application of the SAFA provision bidders must include cumulation of EU State aid de minimis grants under the EC’s de minimis regulation for the same 3 fiscal year period. The maximum total under the EC regulation is €200,000. This is for all project types and for most purposes, including operating aid.

This guidance is not a substitute for taking independent legal advice on your eligibility status, before applying for funding. Every applicant is responsible for securing their own independent legal advice to ensure they are lawfully eligible.

Please note the UK Space Agency is unable to award organisations that are considered to be ailing and insolvent companies. We will conduct financial viability and eligibility tests to confirm this is not the case following the application stage.

Cookies on GOV.UK

1. Introduction

2. High-impact projects (Pot A)

3. Scope

3.1 Capabilities and Skills

3.2 Improving Public Services

3.3 Knowledge Exchange

3.4 Project Scoping (Up to £20k only)

SPACE CLUSTER MANAGEMENT (POT B)

4. Scope: Cluster Management Role Responsibilities should include but are not limited to:

SUCCESS METRICS

ELIGIBILITY

5. Ineligible Expenditure

GUIDELINES FOR PREPARING AN APPLICATION

FINANCIAL AND CONTRACTUAL INFORMATION

6. Grant Recipient Code of Conduct

7. Match Funding

8. Grant award

9. Payment Plans

10. Treatment of VAT

11. Sub-contracting costs

12. Invoices

13. Staff Costs

14. Pay costs

14.1 Overheads

14.2 Travel and Subsistence

ASSESSMENT OF APPLICATIONS

15. Criteria

PROJECT MONITORING AND REPORTING

DUE DILIGENCE

CONFIDENTIALITY

OWNERSHIP OF INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

SUBSIDY CONTROL GUIDANCE FOR GRANT APPLICANTS

SUBMISSION AND CONTACT INFORMATION

16. Schedule

Appendix 1

17. ANNEX A – WTO – Subsidy Control

17.1 What is a subsidy?

17.2 Subsidy Control Categories and Intervention Thresholds

17.3 Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) and EU de minimis awards

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