Form

Announcement of Opportunity: National Space Technology Programme (NSTP) Technology for Space Science call

Updated 16 September 2021

The call will close on 23rd September 2021

Contents Page

Section:

1. Introduction

2. NSTP - Technology for Space Science, project call objectives

3. Guidelines for preparing an application

4. Grant funding agreement

5. Cost recovery

6. Finance policy

7. Subsidy control

8. Assessment of applications

9. Project monitoring and reporting

10. Confidentiality

11. Flow down agreement

12. Ownership of intellectual property

13. Submission and contact information

ANNEX A – WTO – Subsidy Control (and State Aid where relevant)

ANNEX B – UK Space Agency Published Grant Agreement

ANNEX C – Q&A

The UK Space Agency invites proposals for Space Science technology development projects to the NSTP – Technology for Space Science call.

NSTP – Technology for Space Science call is a collaborative call between the UK Space Agency and the UKRI Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC), with both contributing funding to successful proposals

1. Introduction

NSTP – Technology for Space Science call aims to develop the capability of the UK space sector and research base by providing funding to support low Technology Readiness Level (TRL) Space Science technology research, helping to develop the UK’s technology pipeline and position UK groups for future mission opportunities, themes and concepts.

Space Science is defined broadly as astronomy, cosmology, solar system science and astrophysics. It relates to space based (as opposed to ground based) facilities, and this Call is intended to support institutional/academic/industrial/national laboratory groups in the UK towards TRL raising activities for space science technologies relevant to the above scientific disciplines - typically involving the development of scientific instrumentation and science ground segments.

1. NSTP – Technology for Space Science project call objectives

Proposals are sought for projects in areas including early Technology Readiness Level (TRL) innovation; technology proof of concept; small technology developments; establishing new academic/industrial research collaborations and feasibility studies. Industrial co-funding may be required for the selected projects in accordance with the Subsidy Control procedures.

By the end of the project there must be a tangible improvement in the Technology Readiness Level (TRL) of the technology or a demonstration of advancement in approach (engineering method, technical competence etc) that would enable such an advance.

We expect proposals to seek to focus on typical NSTP supported maturity levels of TRL 1-4, though higher TRL developments will be considered.

Acceptable activities are:

· Activities to advance development and understanding of instrument/technology/science data processing relevant to any new/emerging mission themes or concepts in the domain of space science, from solar system science to astrometry, astronomy, astrophysics and fundamental physics.

· Development activities that clearly strengthen UK positioning towards new or future mission concepts and themes – through new/enhanced technology capability/expertise.

· Paper based studies, modelling, proof of concept, potential hardware development, new engineering approaches, and data processing (such as algorithms) development

Proposals should demonstrate how the project would lead to the enhancement of Space Science capabilities relative to existing technology, expertise and techniques.

Awarded Projects must start by no later than 1 November 2021 and must have fully completed by 31st March 2022. Grant funding per project is available up to a grant award maximum of £50k. Applications can be submitted at values up to this funding level; however, it should be noted all proposals should clearly demonstrate that they meet the identified TRL levels indicated in the paragraph above.

Applications will be assessed under the review process outlined in Section 8 of this document.

1. Guidelines for Preparing an Application

3.1 Overview

Please read the following guidelines carefully to ensure that your application includes all of the information required and in the required format.

Applications for project funding shall take the form of a proposal in single-spaced typescript (minimum font size 12-point Arial, minimum 1.5 cm margins all round, including diagrams and tables) and must contain all of the following sections:

Application Section	Description	Format	Maximum Page Count
Cover letter	See 3.2 below	This must be submitted by the lead applicant organisation on their headed paper and signed by the appropriate authority on behalf of that organisation.	1
Application form	See 3.3 below and Template A	Relevant section in Template A must be completed and submitted	As per template
Project summary	See 3.4 below and Template B	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	2 – plus additional diagram if required
Technical case	See 3.5 below and Template B	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	4
Project DeliverablesMilestone Payment Plan	See 3.5 below and Template BProject Deliverables/Project Milestones	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	n/a
Company or organisation background	See 3.6 below and Template B	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	1-per organisation
Organisation Eligibility	See 3.7 below and Template B	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	1 - plus any appended information
CVs	See 3.8 Brief CVs of key personnel	Relevant section in Template B must be completed and submitted	1 per person
Financial Information	See 3.9 below and MS Excel spread sheet template	Excel spread sheet must be used and submitted	n/a

• Where a Template is specified, this must be used unaltered and submitted

• Should any Section be omitted, or a Template altered, the proposal will be rejected.

• Should any part of the application overrun the specified page limit, we will only consider material

up to the designated page limit that is in the correct format.

3.2 Cover Letter

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

• A clear indication of the type of grant applied.

• The Subsidy Control Category (see Annex A), or that the grant will be applied for under the de minimis subsidy

• A committing offer to UK Space Agency.

• The value of the grant funding requested.

• A statement of acceptance of the standard UK Space Agency Terms and Conditions (T&Cs).

• The T&Cs are contained in the draft Grant Funding Agreement available as part of the NSTP-Technology for Space Science call documentation. (Note – requests for minor changes to the grant document will be considered by the Agency but may not be accepted. Material changes to the grant terms will not be considered (see Section 4.1)

• Relevant to Industry bidders only: The name of at least one customer contact in the UK who may be approached, with whom you have recently undertaken similar work. The bids will be assessed by the Review Panel (Section 8), but the UK Space Agency reserves the right to seek a customer reference, to be considered by the Panel

3.3 Application Form

The Application Form provided summarises key information concerning the project proposal submission. The format of this document must not be altered including any changes to, or the removal of, the UK Space Agency logo.

Ø Information must be provided in Template A.

3.4 Project Summary

The project summary must be brief and contain no confidential or sensitive Intellectual Property (IP) material. A single diagram or picture may be included on an additional page in support of the project summary.

The intention is that, should the project be funded, information from this summary may be used for publication on the UK Space Agency websites and/or used in press releases.

Ø Information must be provided in the relevant section of Template B.

3.5 Technical case

The technical case for the project must include:

• the project objective and success criteria

• a description of the work to be undertaken, highlighting the innovative aspects of the project and the possible disruptive effects of the proposed work on the status quo

• how the grant will make a difference to UK space technology capability, including the value to the bidder

• for very new and unfamiliar concepts, you should also include references to any relevant - preferably peer-reviewed publications

• an outline project plan, including a work breakdown structure, a project schedule/Gantt chart, and clearly defined deliverables for each work package

• clear identification of the Project Manager(s) including the control mechanisms put in place to manage the project and how resources will be allocated and managed

• the deliverables must be clearly identified as to their scope and delivery schedule, and where linked to payment milestones

• the project plan must also include a summary risk analysis table, identifying any anticipated risks in managing the delivery of your proposed project. The impact and likelihood must be represented as High, Medium or Low as per the key in the template. Mitigation measures against each of the risks identified must also be included. A risk table is included in Template B

• the start and end TRL of the proposed work, and possible exploitation routes

• information on collaboration between partner organisations and Intellectual Property Rights

• a list of the individuals involved, and the resources required, identifying which institutions and individuals will be performing which functions and the respective resources requested

Please include a Milestone Payment Plan. A template can be found in the Finance Excel spreadsheet.

Ø Information must be provided in the relevant section of Template B.

3.6 Company or organisation background

This section should include a short description of the background to the company/ies or organisation/s and also include a summary of their track record(s).

Ø Information must be submitted using Template B.

3.7 Organisation Eligibility

This section to be completed by all applicants

We welcome bids from a variety of organisations including academia, industry and (not for profit) government research institutes.

· There are a series of requirements for eligibility to receive grant funding: All applicants must also provide brief and relevant company or organisation background information, including areas of expertise

· 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 organisations including partner organisations must also be registered in the UK and provide information of their company registration and official address.

· 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 travel to overseas 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 must be in place within 60 days of grant signature

· Projects must comply with the rules stated in this guidance document.

Following receipt of bids and before award of any contract, new entrants will be required to provide additional eligibility details:

• evidence of company legitimacy and financial solvency supported by e.g., company Annual Reports

• details of company quality processes and accreditation

• track record supported by reputation or by statements from referees and customer testimonials

For newly formed companies who do not have first year accounts then one or more of the following could be deemed as acceptable proof of eligibility:

· reference from their bank – confirming capital solvency and appropriate management of finances etc industry/trade reference from either customers or suppliers

· Companies House registration details

Ø Information must be submitted using Template B.

3.8 CVs

Please provide brief CVs of key project personnel from both the lead organisation, and all project partners (1 page per individual).

3.9 Financial Information

Please include financial information as follows (and see also Section 6):

• The completed Finance Table.
• A justification of the resources requested, including travel plans and other expenditure, including travel to the UK Space Agency Polaris House, Swindon.
• Equipment must be listed separately.

· A clear statement of the Private Venture (PV) investment offered, and its relationship to the Subsidy Control exclusions (see below and Annex A).

Ø Information must be submitted using the MS Excel spread sheet Template

1. Grant Funding Agreement

4.1 Grant award

The UK Space Agency is unable to provide funding for projects and activities to any applicant that has previously or is receiving funding from other grants/contracts to undertake the same activities.

Projects and activities must conclude by 31st March 2022

All applications will be judged, as part of their proposal, on their value for money in accordance with HMT Managing Public Money.

The value of grant awarded represents the maximum amount payable under any resulting Grant Funding Agreement.

Award(s) will take the form of a grant funding agreement between the UK Space Agency (Annex B) and the project’s lead organisation. Bidders should note that the UK Space Agency will not cover 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, Annex B. This will enable selected projects to start promptly after evaluation of proposals has been completed. Applicants wishing to request minor 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 to be submitted as part of the application. Material changes to the grant terms will not be considered.

Please note that the UK Space Agency has the right to refuse changes to the grant funding agreement terms, in line with its grant 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.

Grant funding cannot be rolled over between financial years without explicit written consent from UK Space Agency

4.2 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

1. Cost Recovery

• the funds from Grant funding are on a cost recovery basis only
• Grants are solely intended to cover the cost of delivering the agreed activity or goal. Any surplus funds not spent will be lost to the project unless there are alternative arrangements agreed.
• Grantees cannot receive any funding from other grants/contracts to undertake the same activities.
• Grant funding cannot be rolled over between financial years without explicit consent from UK Space Agency.
• The UK Space Agency must be approached in the first instance to consider and agree alternative arrangements before they can be accepted.

1. Finance Policy

6.1 Invoices

· 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.

· Each invoice must be provided itemising the spend across budgetary categories.

6.2 Staff Costs

Staff costs must be calculated on a cost recovery basis only and broken down by pay costs with overheads separately calculated at no more than 20%.

6.3 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.

6.4 Payment Plans

Bidders must set out payment plans noting that:

· payments will be made in arrears on acceptance of progress reports, deliverables and final reporting. Payment to be made once costs have been incurred.

· Should actual costs incurred be greater than the value of the milestone value, these costs will be borne by the Grant Recipient.

· payment of the grant will be made in the form of staged payments together with a final payment on successful completion of the project.

• the first milestone should reflect a significant stage in the project and cannot be made on completion of the kick-off meeting (T+0) as this is not eligible for a milestone payment value.
• payment plans must be constructed to include and reflect major project stages and intermediate deliverables.

Please include a Milestone Payment Plan. A template can be found in the Finance Excel spreadsheet.

6.5 Overheads

Overheads should be stated separately from the pay costs, charged at no more than 20%. This overhead should be recorded in the overhead column in the budget breakdown, this allows you to claim up to 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.

Academia and other not for profit organisations will be funded at FEC rates.

6.6 Vat Rules

Where money is given freely to an activity and the donor receives nothing tangible in return, the activity is treated as non-business for VAT purposes and is outside the scope for VAT. The UK Space Agency grant funding is outside the scope for VAT. Any VAT incurred within the project costs cannot be passed to the UK Space Agency. This includes both input and output VAT whether recoverable or non-recoverable from HMRC.

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. UK Space Agency as the funder does not receive anything in return for the consideration paid (grant) e.g., services or transfer of IP.

6.7 Ineligible Expenditure

The following costs are ineligible:

· Payment that supports for 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.

· Using grant funding to petition for additional funding.

· 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.

· Employee paid benefits and bonuses.

· Alcohol.

6.8 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.

1. Subsidy Control

The UK Space Agency (UKSA) 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:

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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

1. Assessment of Applications

Applications for project funding will be assessed by a Selection Panel which will consist of independent UK Space Agency approved reviewers drawn from academia, industry, Government or the Research Council Review Colleges. The panel will assess the proposals according to the criteria listed below, taking into account the commitment of the organisations involved, in particular the lead organisation, to the success of the project and the financial viability of the organisations involved.

Assessment criteria section:

1. Relevance: Applicability of the proposal to space science discipline; degree to which this technology strengthens space science technology pipeline towards new/future mission opportunities/themes/concepts

2. Technological Innovation: Novelty, originality, newness to space science and suitability of the work proposed, including assessment of risk and benefits

3. Benefit: Potential benefits it offers UK science return over alternative technologies. Who and how will this technology benefit? How timely is this activity? Does this provide value for money?

4. Quality of the proposal: Capability and track record of the team and quality of staff.

5. Collaboration: project partners who receive part of the grant requested by the lead organisation and contribute PV to the project. Subcontractors are not considered as project partners.

Each of the above sections 1-4 attracts scores of 0-50 in 10-point increments, based on the responses provided against the assessment criteria. All of the sections 1-4 are of equal merit and are weighted equally.

Section 5 provides an additional 10 points for collaborative projects. Submissions that do not demonstrate collaboration will receive no score for this section.

The scores for sections 1-5 will added together then divided by 210 (total score available). This will then be multiplied by 100 to provide a total submission percentage score.

8.1 Due Diligence

UKSA 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 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 examples, 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 of appropriate anti-bribery and anti-corruption internal policies, and a process for declaring and managing conflicts of interest.

Please see Grant Applicant Checklist for completion alongside any application.

1. Project Monitoring and Reporting

Following an award and completion of grant agreement formalities projects will be expected to start as soon as possible, and no later than1st November 2021. 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 via a kick-off meeting which should be accompanied by a short presentation on the project by the project team.

• 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 and are normally at 4 or 6 weeks.

• the grant recipient will schedule a mid-term progress meeting with the coordinator.

• the grant recipient will provide milestone/deliverables within the proposal using the example template provided in Template B.

• 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 detailing the spend against each budgetary category for that milestone/deliverable.

• at the end of the project an IPR free final report and an 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.

There may be a project final presentation day in which each of the project teams will be invited to present a summary of their work and achievements.

1. Confidentiality

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 nstp@ukspaceagency.gov.uk. All bids will be held in confidence.

• once the call closing date has passed, electronic copies of all eligible documents will be distributed to the independent assessment panel members. UK Space Agency confidentiality rules will apply.

• information submitted for projects 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 website.

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.

1. Flow Down Agreement

Should an award be made, any project partners will be required to establish a Flow Down Agreement between its members and must be in place within 15 days of the grant signature. The Flow Down Agreement should include provisions regarding how the results of the work, including IPR and spinouts, will be exploited by the project partners.

1. Ownership of Intellectual Property

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 Flow Down Agreement.

1. Submission and Contact Information

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

• electronically in both pdf and Word as specified in Section 3 with the exception of the finance table which will be submitted in the Excel format specified in Section 3

• any information that bidders do not wish to be sent to the assessors (e.g., eligibility information) should be contained in a separate file, and clearly marked as such

All application documentation must be sent by email to the UK Space Agency, National Space Technology Programme at nstp@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Q&A can be found in Annex C and any further queries about this Call can be submitted to the above email address

All applications must be submitted by 12 NOON, 23rd September 2021

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

Submission requirements list 

• Cover Letter  ☐
• Template A Application form  ☐
• Template B Full Proposal   ☐

• Finance (Excel) Spread sheet  ☐

• Grant Applicant Checklist (Excel)  ☐

Annex A – WTO – Subsidy Control

Subsidy Control (and State aid where relevant)

UKSA 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

What is a subsidy?

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

1. Is given by a public authority. This can be at any level; central, devolved, regional or local government or a public body.

2. Makes a contribution (this could be a financial or an in-kind contribution) to an enterprise, conferring an economic advantage that is not available on market terms. Examples of a contribution are grants, loans at below market rate, or a loan guarantee at below market rate or allowing a company to use publicly owned office space rent free. An enterprise is anyone who puts goods or services on a market. An enterprise could be a government department or a charity if they are acting commercially.

3. Affects international trade. This can be trade with any World Trade Organisation member or, more specifically, between the UK and a country with whom it has a Free Trade Agreement. For example, if the subsidy is going towards a good which is traded between the UK and the EU this could affect trade between the EU and the UK. It is not necessary to consider whether the subsidy could harm trade, just whether there could be some sort of effect. Subsidies to very local companies or a small tourist attraction are unlikely to be a problem as this is unlikely to affect international trade.

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.

Subsidy Control Categories and Intervention Thresholds

Annex A cont.

The following table summarises the maximum intervention thresholds allowable level of support under UKSA grant calls:

Subsidy category	Level of support available
Micro/SE	ME	LE
Fundamental research	100%	100%	100%
Feasibility study	70%	60%	50%
Industrial research	70%	60%	50%
Industrial research projects involving collaboration/ dissemination*	80%	75%	65%
Experimental development	45%	35%	25%
Experimental development projects involving collaboration/dissemination*	60%	50%	40%

*Collaborations between businesses and research organisations where the research organisation bears at least 10% of the costs and have the right to publish their own research. Procurement/supplier relationships do not qualify.

The following table summarises the UK definition of what constitutes an SME:

Company category	Staff headcount	Turnover	or	Balance sheet total
Medium sized	< 250	≤ £36m	≤ £18m
Small	< 50	≤ £10.2m	≤ £5.1m
Micro	< 10	≤ £632,000	≤ £316,000

To qualify for any category, the company must meet at least two of the above conditions (staff headcount, Turnover or Balance sheet total) within both the current financial year and the year previous.

Anything above the limits for a medium sized company is designated as a large company. For more information on company sizes, please refer to the company accounts guidance. This is a change from the EU definition unless you are applying under State aid.

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

Academic partners, Not for Profit Organisations and RTO’s will be funded in all cases at 80% of Full Economic Cost (FEC).

The following table summarises the maximum intervention thresholds allowable level of support under UKSA grant calls for Financial Year 2021/2022. The subsidy categories provided match the definitions used by the European Commission state aid regime paras 83 to 98.

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.

Annex A cont.

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 UKSA 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.

Annex B – UK SPACE AGENCY Published Grant Agreement

Low value Grant Funding Agreement is accessible on https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-funding-academic-community-and-educational with the suite of call documents.

Annex C – Q&A

1. Can I resubmit a proposal that was rejected in a previous NSTP call?

Yes, you may re-submit your proposal which will then go through the independent evaluation process when being considered for funding. We recommend that any previous feedback is taken into consideration.

1. Do the PV funds have to be immediately available when applying for funding?

Yes, the PV funding must have been agreed and secured at the time of applying for the grant so that the project can commence as soon as the grant agreement has been completed.

1. Can the UK Space Agency provide advice about any type of collaboration/partnership programme that the Agency is promoting?

The Agency does not promote any particular collaboration although collaboration in essence is encouraged in projects.

1. Do you have any examples of successful projects in the previous rounds that you can share?

We cannot offer examples of successful proposal applications, but relevant information can be found in the Announcement of Opportunity guidance. We also offer successful news stories at our web page https://www.gov.uk/guidance/apply-for-funding-through-the-national-space-technology-programme

1. Can a non-UK based organisation receive funding?

The UK must lead the consortium. A non-UK based organisation cannot receive national funding as the primary focus of UK Space Agency is on the growth of the UK sector; therefore, any monies awarded cannot go outside the UK to a partner body. If the proposed non-UK capability is essential the work can be subcontracted out, however the proposal must demonstrate clearly that this resource is not available in the UK.

In such instances the subcontractor cannot be a partner to the project. However, if a non-UK entity wants to be a partner in the project that is acceptable. This can be facilitated by the non-UK entity organisation providing PV or capability as contribution-in-kind.

1. What format will the grant agreement take for any funded proposals, and can I adapt this to suit my proposal?

We have provided a copy of our standard grant funding agreement. This is the document that will be used as the formal mechanism for any successful bidders to receive grant funding. Applicants are required to accept the main terms of this grant funding agreement when submitting your application.

Applicants requesting changes to the agreement are required to submit a marked-up copy of the published grant funding agreement setting out the proposed variations, along with a justification for any amendment to the standard grant funding agreement terms. Please be aware that the UK Space Agency will only consider variations which are requested where the Applicant would be in breach of legal requirements or statutory regulations by complying with the clause, or series of clauses

Annex C cont.

1. Should we explicitly state the overhead rate attached to salary costs, or would you prefer it to be amalgamated into a combined salary/overhead cost for each staff position?

The finance template includes notes on what information is required.

1. Do labour costs relate only to staff on a PAYE payroll or would staff employed on short/long-term fixed contracts be eligible?

Costs should be applied for any staff that will be part of the project team/work regardless of employment status within the organisation. However, any costs for project work done by sub-contractors must be declared as a separate cost to the project. Sub-contractors cannot be partners to the project and justification in the proposal would need to be clearly stated as to the requirement for use of sub-contractors.

1. Are referees required to be within the UK?

Referees do not have to be UK specific but must be from recognised international organisations and/or from other known space institutions.

1. Does the organisational background information apply only to the lead organisation?

No. All proposals must include organisational background information for all those involved, therefore including those put forward in collaboration.

1. Is there a difference between a partner and a sub-contractor?

Yes. If you are collaborating with another organisation or company, then they are your project partner and will be included in your proposal as subject to PV contribution.

If you wish to sub-contract some work, then that company cannot be considered as a project partner as payment to them will be made from the award and they will therefore be included in the costs of the project.

1. Would sub-contractors have any IP publication rights?

If you sub-contract work this may not affect the IP publication rights of your company, but this is for the lead organisation to confirm.

1. Does the maximum grant award offered include the PV contribution?

The maximum grant is the award value the UK Space Agency will give to a successful proposal. However, to industrial organisations (e.g., SME/LE) and FEC to not-for-profit organisations/academia. Therefore, your equivalent PV contribution must match that criterion.

1. Is an independent audit required of the total cost of the project?

Confirmation is required that the Grant Recipient has expended the sums in respect of the period in which milestone payments have been claimed. For this purpose, a report must be completed and sent to the Grant Funder by 1st May 2022 and annually thereafter.

Annex C cont.

1. How are proposals assessed?

A summary of the assessment process is below:

• All proposals received by the close date and time on the Announcement of Opportunity will be considered

• Initial sift of proposals will remove any proposals which do not meet the required criteria

• Eligible proposals will be assessed by independent reviewers to be scored against certain criteria (section 8)

• A moderation panel will follow to ensure consistency in marking

• Proposal ranking will be determined, and top proposals will be chosen to proceed

• Successful and unsuccessful applicants will be notified. Any clarifications will be sought from organisations

• Due Diligence begins with successful applications to ensure UK Space Agency rules are accepted

Note: If the clarification stage results in any unreconcilable differences, the project will not be placed on grant.