Announcement of Opportunity

Question 1

Background

Accepted Answer

The UK Science and Technology Framework sets the government’s ambition for the UK to become a science and technology superpower by 2030. The UK Space Sector has huge role to play in delivering this ambition, as made clear within the Space Industrial Plan.

Innovative uses of satellite data and services are already delivering significant value to UK society, businesses, and government, underpinning at least 18% of UK GDP (£370 billion). As the cost of accessing space continues to fall and the pace of innovation increases, a greater number of businesses’ now have the opportunity to harness the advantages offered by satellites through enhanced imagery, connectivity and navigation capabilities.

Satellite data and services can solve both business and societal challenges on its own and combined with other enabling technologies – such as Quantum and AI, supporting on areas such as the measurement of climate variables, verification of customer insurance claims after extreme weather events and the tracking and monitoring of fleets.

The UK Space Agency’s Unlocking Space for Business programme is providing funding to support financial services and transport & logistics companies partner with a supplier of satellite data or services to deliver innovative pilot projects within their organisation.

These projects will support business with benefits such as new revenue growth, operational efficiencies and environmental, social and governance (ESG) benefits.

Question 2

Introduction

Accepted Answer

Proposals are sought for innovative pilot projects to be funded through a competitive grant call, funded by the UK Space Agency’s Unlocking Space for Business programme. This grant call is seeking applications from end-user led consortiums, with a satellite data or service supplier alongside any other relevant aggregator organisations needed to deliver their pilot project. The projects will be expected to use satellite data and services in the Financial Services and Transport & Logistics sectors. End-users are defined as users that directly utilises or consumes data derived from space-based assets, such as satellites, to gain insights, make informed decisions, and drive innovation in either the financial services or transport & logistics sectors.

Satellite data in the Financial Services and Transport & Logistics sectors refers to the use of information collected from satellite-based systems and technologies to enhance operations, decision-making and efficiency within these industries.

In the Financial Services sector, satellite data and services can support efficient claims verification, monitoring assets or evaluating environmental factors that might impact investments.

In the Transport & Logistics sector, such data and services can offer real-time tracking of vehicles and shipments, optimise routes, and provide insights into traffic patterns and infrastructure conditions, thereby improving delivery schedules, reducing costs, and enhancing overall supply chain management.

By leveraging satellite data and services alongside existing terrestrial data sources and complementary technologies, businesses in these sectors can gain access to a wealth of information that enables them to make more informed and strategic decisions.

This call is open to applications from end-users in either of the two target sectors of Financial Services and Transport & Logistics for pilot projects involving innovative use of satellite data and services across all satellite data domains (Earth Observation, Satcom, PNT) alongside complementary terrestrial technologies.

Context

The Unlocking Space for Business programme is seeking to drive greater long-term adoption of satellite-derived data, applications and services across commercial ‘end-users’,’ i.e., non-space private sector companies operating in the UK. A number of initiatives have been deployed to reach this ambition – further information can be found here

The programme’s Strategic Objectives are to:

catalyse investment (directly and indirectly) in satellite-derived data, applications, and services by non-space businesses, to grow the UK Space Sector’s market
champion the benefits of space for the UK private sector, including supporting the realisation of business outcomes and helping to tackle the climate emergency
enhance UK influence and reputation as a global leader in the exploitation of downstream satellite-derived data, applications, and services

These are closely aligned to the delivery of key Government strategies, including DSIT’s UK Science and Technology Framework, the Space Industrial Plan and UK Space Agency’s Corporate Plan.

Question 3

Call Objectives

Accepted Answer

This grant call is open to pilot projects that involve at least one satellite data domain (Earth Observation; Satellite Communication and Connectivity; Positioning, Navigation and Timing) in combination with complementary terrestrial data and technologies (e.g. AI, machine learning, quantum, drones, geospatial data).

Projects must provide benefit to an end-user business within either the Financial Services or Transport & Logistics sectors.

Projects must have a positive economic benefit to end-users within the UK.

This grant call is targeting medium-to-high technology readiness level (TRL) solutions that can deliver a tangible end-user benefit within the 9-month maximum project duration.

The Agency welcomes proposals that meet at least one of the following strategic grant objectives:

New Revenue Growth Opportunities

Pilot projects should encourage the exploration and implementation of innovative solutions that leverage satellite data and service domains combined with terrestrial technologies. Projects should promote the development of novel business models or services that capitalise and stimulate the development of projects that open new avenues for revenue generation.

Improved Customer Experience

Pilot projects should enhance the overall customer experience and encourage the use of satellite data and terrestrial technologies by end-users that streamline processes, provide better services and offer more personalised experiences to end-users. Solutions should identify and address pain points or inefficiencies in current customer interactions and transactions.

Enhanced Decision-Making Capabilities:

Pilot projects should deliver enhanced benefits to end-user businesses, such as increasing operational efficiency, cost savings, or improving decision-making capabilities and productivity.

Environmental, Social and Governance Benefits:

Pilot projects should contribute to environmental, sustainability and social responsibility goals that have the potential to monitor and mitigate environmental impacts, promote sustainable practices, and support social inclusion initiatives. Projects should consider relevant regulatory reporting requirements.

Question 4

Acceptable activities

Accepted Answer

Applicants for the grant should engage in a variety of acceptable activities that align with the objectives of the funding programme. These activities may include:

Pilot Projects and Demonstrations: Applicants propose pilot projects and demonstrations to highlight the potential impact and feasibility of space-derived data applications in real-world settings. These pilot projects should be designed to test hypotheses, validate assumptions, and assess the scalability and sustainability of proposed solutions. Pilot projects may include activities such as data collection, analysis, modelling, and visualisation, as well as the development of proof-of-concept prototypes or minimum viable products.
Monitoring, Evaluation, and Learning: Applicants should implement robust monitoring, evaluation, and learning mechanisms to track progress, measure impact, and identify lessons learned throughout the duration of their projects. This may involve developing performance indicators, data collection tools, and evaluation frameworks to assess project outcomes, identify success factors and challenges, and inform adaptive management strategies to optimise project implementation and maximise impact. It should be noted that due to the scale and complexity of managing several projects, we have engaged third party reporting partners (BryceTech) to manage reporting requirements from an authority perspective.
Knowledge Sharing and Dissemination: Although not a direct requirement UK SPACE AGENCY would encourage, subject to confidentiality, commercial sensitive IP, and data, applicants to engage in knowledge sharing and dissemination activities aimed at sharing lessons learned, best practices, and insights generated from their projects with the broader community. This may include publishing pilot project findings, white papers, case studies, and technical reports, as well as organising conferences, webinars, and community forums to facilitate knowledge exchange and dialogue among stakeholders.

Important information to all applicants: Awarded projects are expected to start in July 2024 with a maximum duration of 9 months. Major milestones are expected to be completed by end of January 2025, with some flexibility to deliver until early March 2025. All projects must be fully completed by 24 March 2025.

Under this programme the total amount of grant funding available is up to £3.5 million (subject to availability). The maximum amount of grant funding per project is expected to be up to £400,000 (total project costs may be higher when accounting for match-funding). In exceptional circumstances, the UK Space Agency reserve the right to adjust the value or duration of the grant funding available.

These grants are being awarded under the streamlined subsidy scheme, Research, Development & Innovation. Companies wishing to apply will need to demonstrate eligibility to this scheme, including not having received previous project funding that is in excess of the cumulation caps (£3 million) identified within the scheme.

Overview

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

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.

Question 8

Guidelines for Project costs

Accepted Answer

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 budget years without explicit consent from UK Space Agency.

Question 9

Finance Policy

Accepted Answer

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

Invoices

The 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.

Staff Costs

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

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.

Question 10

Overheads

Accepted Answer

We understand that organisations calculate overheads in diverse ways.

This section offers three options for overhead costs:

No overheads. You can select this option if you are not incurring or claiming grant for your overheads
The 20% of labour costs option allows you to claim 20% of your labour costs as overhead. This includes both direct and indirect overhead. Selecting this option allows us to review a successful grant application much faster as no further documentation is needed from you.
The calculate overheads option asks you to complete calculations for claiming direct and indirect overheads. Any value claimed under this method will need to be reviewed by our project finance team if your application is successful. This is so we can assess the appropriateness of the overhead value you are claiming.

Full overhead recovery or full absorption costing is not eligible.

Please note that once the overhead is calculated and approved it cannot be exceeded at any time throughout the project life.

For option 3 you must complete the overhead calculation spreadsheet and return with your grant submission.

The spreadsheet has two sections to fill:

Indirect (administration) overheads
Direct overheads

Once each section is completed the ‘Total overheads’ will calculate your total amount, for review by the UK Space Agency.

Indirect (administration) overhead

Selecting the indirect (administration) overheads link will take you to a template you will need to complete to calculate these costs.

We class indirect overheads as those costs associated with back-office functions (such as finance, HR, administration staff) whose primary function is to support the running of a business enterprise. Typically, these costs are not directly related to a particular product or service production.

Indirect overhead costs are eligible for inclusion if they are incurred directly as a result of undertaking the project. They must be additional, which means over and above your business-as-usual costs. Requests for higher then 20% overheads that cannot clearly demonstrate the additional resource specifically due to the grant being undertaken will be rejected.

Where you have already identified specific ‘indirect’ individuals working directly on the project, these should have been captured in the labour costs (section) together with their attributable overhead.

We have provided cost categories in the template. The table below provides our definition for each category.

Cost category	Definition
Board and senior management	The proportion of salary costs (including employer’s NI) of the board and senior management of the company. This should be where they are engaged in strategic or administrative tasks. Do not include those working directly on the project or who are customer facing or operational.
Administrative staff	The salary costs (including employer’s NI) of main administrative staff, such as receptionists and central administration. Do not include administrative staff employed to support sales, marketing, account management and profit generating departments.
Human resources staff	The salary costs (including employer’s NI) of human resource staff.
Employed estates staff	The salary costs (including employer’s NI) of employed cleaning, maintenance, security, and other estates staff.
Finance department staff	The salary costs (including employer’s NI) of main finance department staff, such as payroll, accounts payable and receivable. Do not include staff employed to support sales, marketing, or account management activities.
Administrative support temporary/agency staff costs	This should include fees paid for the provision of temporary staff in administration or support services as listed above. Do not include any staff that are operational, such as marketing, sales, engineering, quality assurance, research and development and supply chain.
General office IT services	Include general IT services used across the whole organisation. Do not include IT costs where they relate purely to non-eligible staff or manufacturing, production or fee earning activities.
General postage	Include postage and courier expenses for general administration needs. Do not include product delivery or any postage costs incurred through promotion, sales, marketing customer relationship or accounts management.
Office supplies, printing, and stationery costs	General office stationery and supplies such as paper, business cards, corporate stationery, office equipment for support/admin staff listed above. Do not include specific costs associated with sales, marketing, product delivery, product literature or reports.
Security and safety costs	Include costs associated with site and staff safety and security including signage and health and safety costs.
Building maintenance: administration office facilities only	Include general repair and maintenance costs of administration facilities. Do not include repair and maintenance of manufacturing/production facilities and exceptional items such as new works or extensions which are not eligible for inclusion in this section.
Building rental: administration office facilities only	Where office space is leased include the rental costs. Do not include rental costs relating to manufacturing/production facilities and the cost of any deposits or penalties.
Contracted site services: administration office facilities only	Costs of contracted services relating to administration facilities such as cleaning of offices. Do not include contracted service costs related to manufacturing/production facilities.
Site property taxes: administration offices facilities only	Property taxes and charges relating to office space. Do not include manufacturing/production facility property taxes and charges.
Utilities: administration office facilities only	Electricity, gas, water, waste disposal, telecoms costs relating to administration office facilities.

Direct overheads

Selecting the direct overheads link will take you to a template you will need to complete to calculate these costs.

We understand that in undertaking a project you may incur associated costs with those staff working directly on the project. We refer to these as direct overheads. Typical costs in this area could include direct staff provision of laptops (non-capital only), desks, office (such as occupancy, facilities, and utilities) and IT infrastructure and systems. This section is provided in free format for you to list out such costs.

Direct overhead costs must be directly attributable to the project you are undertaking and should not represent a full recovery methodology inclusive of redundant, spare capacity time or cost.

You should detail the costs and include a description of each item together with the methodology or basis of apportionment used. This should include the calculations that support the claimable costs. This will help us to validate these costs if your project is successful. If your costs have been subject to an independent audit verification, we may ask you to provide this report to support our financial eligibility reviews.

Please note that costs associated with laboratories or workshops should be included within the other costs section of the application form.

Once you have completed the direct overhead you should select ‘return to the overheads section.’ You will return to the main overhead section where you will see a summary of your overhead claim for both direct and indirect overheads.

Low Value Grants (Sub £250,000)

As this call will consider proposals for low value grants and due to the nature of such grants, the UK Space Agency will not consider overheads higher than 20%, as per some of our other calls.

Overheads should be stated separately from the 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.

Question 11

VAT Rules

Accepted Answer

Grant funding is outside the scope of VAT so you cannot charge output VAT on top of your submitted costs. If you incur non-recoverable input VAT costs, you cannot pass this on to UK Space Agency.

Question 12

Ineligible expenditure

Accepted Answer

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

Question 13

Travel and Subsistence

Accepted Answer

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 14

Grant Funding Agreement

Accepted Answer

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. Grant applicants wishing to propose changes should not make changes directly to templates but engage with the call lead and advice will be provided.

A Draft Grant Offer Letter has also been included within the call documents, to demonstrate the terms that successful applicants will be required to sign up to. This should be reviewed by Applicants. Inclusion of the Draft Offer letter does not constitute any offer of work or payment by the UK Space Agency at this stage and is provided for information purposes only.

Grant Recipient Code of Conduct

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

Also for reference is the Governments Guidance for General Grants

Question 15

Annual Audit of Project Costs

Accepted Answer

The following only applies to where a grant award of £250k and over has been awarded in an exceptional case.

All projects will be subject to an external annual audit to ensure that costs claimed from the grant funding have been expensed on agreed project related expenditure and comply to UK Space Agency grant funding policies (e.g. match funding). The auditor will be appointed by UK Space Agency. All subcontractors and partners must provide access to project relevant expenditure. Therefore, Grant Recipients must maintain, and be able to provide upon request, any supporting evidenced as deemed necessary, such as:

Timesheets (prime and, where applicable, partners)
Staff costs (contractors)
All receipts (including T&S)
All partner and subcontractor invoices
Breakdown of overhead costs
Breakdown of capital usage (e.g. licence, data costs etc)

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to conduct ad-hoc audits throughout the life of the project.

Question 16

Due Diligence

Accepted Answer

The 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 National Security checks, 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.
Security: Assurance no applicant has no standing security issues.

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.
UK Space Agency commissioned and funded financial audit of Grant Recipient, and if applicable project partner, costs.

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 regarding 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.

Question 17

North Star Metric

Accepted Answer

UK Space Agency’s North Star Metric

What is the North Star Metric?

The North Star Metric is a quantitative metric which measures the level of revenue and investment in the UK Space Sector which can be attributed to UK Space Agency support. Data is gathered as an agreed requirement of UK Space Agency grants and contracts from the recipients of those grants and contracts.

Why is this data being collected?

The UK Space Agency works to ensure that our investment in space brings about real benefit to the UK and its people.

Consistent monitoring and evaluation of our programmes is vital so we understand how well we are delivering the UK Space Agency’s objectives. This in turn helps us to ensure we are delivering the National Space Strategy, and informs how we prioritise our resource, select the projects we invest in, and make the case for future public spending on space.

We therefore require, as a condition of funding, that all recipients report the benefits they receive as a result.

The data allows the agency to show the benefits of the UK Space Sector and UK Space Agency spending, these benefits justify UK Space Agency spending.

What data will be collected?

Reporting will primarily involve four key elements:

Total income
Total Internal Investment
Total Private Investment
Additional detail on funding sources as appropriate

This information will be collected via a simple table below. Please note that data will not be shared with other companies and that it will be held securely in an anonymised form so that you cannot be directly identified.

How will the data be collected?

When beginning the grant or contract recipients will be asked to provide name and contact details of the person in your organisation who will be responsible for providing this information.

The data is to be reported at regular grant or contract management meetings on no less than every 6 months from the start of the activity covered by this agreement.

At the end of the grant or contract period the grant manager will decide a reasonable date with the grant or contract recipient at which time further data collection will be reasonable. Data will be required for at least 5 years after the completion of the activity covered by this agreement.

Where the length of benefit realisation would be longer than 5 years, the UK Space Agency may require an extended reporting period. This is to ensure that we are capturing the full benefits of an activity that has a long time period before those benefits are realised. Where this is the case the UK Space Agency will agree with grant recipients beforehand at the time at which a further request for information is sensible.

How will data privacy be maintained?

The information provided will only be used by the UK Space Agency and not shared with any other parties. Aggregate information may be presented more widely but this will be fully anonymised and not be attributable to any individual organisation.

In addition, this information is being used to assess the Agency’s impact on the space sector and is not intended to be used as a way to evaluate how the grant is being managed.

Definitions of the data to be collected

The below table contains definitions for the data we are looking to collect. Information should be reported both on financial information from the grant or recipients own company but also, if know, other companies who may have benefited from the grant or contract for example spinout companies that have been able to take advantage of a new technological development.

Direct benefits should always be reported. Follow-on or spillover benefits should also be reported where there is strong evidence that the spillover benefit would not have occurred in the absence of UK Space Agency funding and is attributable to the grant or contract.

Term	Definition
Private Investment	Money invested by companies, individuals, or financial organisations through the following vehicles: equity, grant, prize, debt or alternative finance sources – excluding funding provided by UK Space Agency directly or via the European Space Agency. The source of the investment can be either foreign or domestic.
Internal Investment	Investment within a company, or from a parent company to its subsidiary, to cover R&D, capital expenditures and other non-capital expenditures such development of intellectual property.
Total Income	Additional Income generated from creation of goods and services, as a result of the specified grant or contract. In the longer term this may also include income generated from royalties and licenses.

Attribution to UK Space Agency support

Data should only be reported where it could be reasonably stated that the revenue and/or investment in question would not have occurred without UK Space Agency’s funding. Where the revenue and/or investment may have only been partially realised in the absence of UK Space Agency’s funding, best efforts should be made to estimate the proportion of contract revenue and/or investment which can have been said to have occurred as a result.

Examples of information that should be reported

Private Investment

Equity investment from a venture capital fund which can be attributed to the development of a new technology funded by the grant or programme
Awarding of a grant from non-government organisations to further develop an idea which was initially funded by the grant or contract
Foreign direct investment that can be attributed to a company experiencing growth as a direct result of receiving the UK Space Agency grant or contract

Internal Investment

A parent company diverting funds toward the company to aid in the delivery of the programme originated by the grant or contract
The purchase of large capital equipment to further research initially aided by the grant or contract
Investment of R&D funds within the company to exploit and idea initially proposed as part of the grant or contract programme

Total Income

Direct sales of any good or services which have been developed by grant or contract funding
Income of spinout companies which have been established using a technology developed by the grant or contract funding
Total Income of sub-sectors of the space market which have been newly developed as a result of the grant or contract funding
Partial attribution of the revenue received from a future government contract which would not have been won without the development of a technology developed as part of the grant or contract programme

Additional Impact on Investment that cannot be quantified

A qualitive description of the investment benefit generated from grants which have a negligible direct impact on investment, but these grants are critical to compliment company technology strategies
A description of how the human capital improvements brought about by the grant or contract would lead to a more highly skilled workforce attracting investment in the UK Space industry from foreign investors.
An assessment of how a technology developed by the grant has led to wider developments in the technological ecosystem which have generated their own investments and revenue.

Examples of information that should not be reported

Private Investment

Grant funding received from the UK Space Agency – The Agency does not measure its grants success by the awarding of further grant in the future
Full attribution of equity investment that can only be partially attributed to the grant or contract – If a grant or contract contributed to but is not the direct cause of receiving the investment then best efforts should be made to state the exact contribution of the grant or contract.

Internal Investment

Match funding invested as a requirement of the grant – This information should be reported but in the separate field provided
Funds redirect to divisions within organisations which in truth would have gone ahead without the grant or contract funding – If the grant or contract is part of a wider programme or division which receives additional funding this should only be counted if there is strong evidence these funds would not have been reallocated without the grant or contract being received

Total Income

Grant or prize funding received from government or non-government organisations – This is considered private investment
The Value of the grant or contract itself – This should be reported in the separate field provided

Additional Impact on Investment that cannot be quantified

Qualitive assessment of benefits that can reasonably be quantified – This field is a compliment to the other information provided and not a replacement

If you have any specific questions on this requirement, please contact the UK Space Agency programme manager or named UK Space Agency contact.

Grant number	Delivery priority (to be filled out by UK Space Agency programme manager)	Quarter	Total funding value (£)	Amount of match funding provided as a condition of UK Space Agency funding (total value £)	Additional revenue generated from goods and services as a result of UK Space Agency support (total value £)	Private investment generated as a result of UK Space Agency support (total value £)	Source of Additional Investment: Foreign/Domestic	Internal Investment of funds made as a result of UK Space Agency support (total value £)	Additional jobs created as a result of funding received.	Has this programme received any other support from the UK Space Agency?	Has this Grant or Contract had an additional impact on investment which cannot be quantified?

Question 18

National Security

Accepted Answer

As part of the application process UK Space Agency will conduct a National Security check on all applicants. It is not intended to be too invasive but give comfort that we are working with an organisation that meets the standards and values of the agency.

Question 19

Exclusion Criteria

Accepted Answer

The UK Space Agency reserves the right to reject proposals: that are outside of the call remit; that do not contain all required information; or that do not provide sufficient information for assessment. All proposals must be led by organisations based in the UK.

Under current restrictions, this competition will not fund any procurement, commercial, business development or supply chain activity with any Russian and Belarusian entity as lead, partner, or subcontractor. This includes any goods or services originating from a Russian and Belarusian source.

Question 20

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 01 July 2024. The UK Space Agency will assign a project coordinator and reporting partner (Bryce Tech) to each Pilot project to provide oversight of 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
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. This will be followed by a showcase event for those participants who wish to present the outcomes of their pilot to a wider audience.

Question 21

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 commercial@ukspaceagency.gov.uk
Once the call closing date has passed, electronic copies of all eligible documents will be distributed to the assessment panel members. UK Space Agency confidentiality rules will apply.
For those bids not recommended by the panel for funding, documentation will be retained by the UK Space Agency for reference. The proposals will not be visible to any others, and the names of any unsuccessful bidders will not be published.
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.

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.

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.

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 pdf with the exception of the finance table which will be submitted in the Excel format
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, Unlocking Space for Business Team at commercial@ukspaceagency.gov.uk

Q&A can be found in Annex 3 and any further queries about this Call can be submitted to the above email address.

All applications must be submitted by 4pm on 22 May 2024

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

Application form ☐
Finance (Excel) Spread sheet ☐
Overheads Annex (if applicable)
Grant Applicant Checklist (Excel) ☐
North Star Metric

Question 22

Annex 1: Subsidy Control

Accepted Answer

Subsidy Control Guidance for Grant Applicants

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 Subsidy Control Act 2022:

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 local or regional disadvantage, social difficulties, or distributional concerns (“the objective”)
subsidies should be proportionate to their specific policy objective 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
subsidies should be designed to achieve their specific policy objective while minimising any negative effects on competition or investment within the United Kingdom.

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

The intervention rates detailed in Annex 2 shall apply unless:

a) the bidder seeks to claim exemption from having to make a contribution under the Minimal Financial Assistance Allowance (previously known as de-minimis under State Aid & Small Amounts of Financial Assistance under Trade & Co-operation Agreement) rules.

b) the bidder is a research or public sector organisation or charity:

When referring to research organisations, UK Space Agency uses the definition from the Framework for state aid for research and development and innovation which states:

research and knowledge dissemination organisation’ or ‘research organisation’ means an entity (such as universities or research institutes, technology transfer agencies, innovation intermediaries, research-oriented physical or virtual collaborative entities), irrespective of its legal status (organised under public or private law) or way of financing, whose primary goal is to independently conduct fundamental research, industrial research or experimental development or to widely disseminate the results of such activities by way of teaching, publication or knowledge transfer. Where such entity also pursues economic activities, the financing, the costs, and the revenues of those economic activities must be accounted for separately. Undertakings that can exert a decisive influence upon such an entity, for example in the quality of shareholders or members, may not enjoy a preferential access to the results generated by it.

Within UK Space Agency, this means:

universities – higher education institutions
non-profit research and technology organisations (RTOs), including “catapults”.
public sector organisations (PSOs)
public sector research establishments (PSREs)
research council institutes
research organisations (ROs)
charities.

This list is not comprehensive and is subject to change and exceptions.

Research organisations undertaking non-economic activity will be funded as follows:

universities: 80% of full economic costs
all other research organisations: 100% of eligible costs.

Research organisations should be non-profit distributing to qualify. They should explain how they will disseminate the output of their project research as outlined in the application.

Research organisations which are engaged in economic activity as part of the project will be treated as business enterprises for the purposes of funding

Public sector organisation or charity

Public sector organisations and charities can work with businesses to achieve innovation through knowledge, skills and resources. These organisations must not take part in any economic activity or gain economic benefit from a project. They can apply for 100% of funding for their eligible costs under the following conditions:

they are undertaking research (this may be experimental, theoretical or critical investigation work to gain knowledge, skills or understanding vital to the project)
they meet requirements for dissemination of their project results, and they state in the application how they will do this
they include their eligible costs for research purposes in the total research organisation involvement
they make sure they are not applying for funding towards costs which are already being paid by the public purse such as labour and overheads.

Third sector

Third sector organisations are primarily voluntary and community, such as associations, self-help groups, mutuals and cooperatives. Third sector organisations can be non-funding partners in a project.

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 23

Annex 2: Q&A

Accepted Answer

Can I resubmit a proposal that was rejected in a previous UK Space Agency call?

Yes, you may re-submit proposals that may have been unsuccessful in previous Space Agency funding call. We recommend that any previous feedback is taken into consideration.

Why is it required that we match fund this grant?

The concept of match funding is based on the principle of shared investment, where both the agency and the applicant contribute resources towards a project’s success. For example, if the agency provides 50% of the total project costs, the applicant will be required to contribute the remaining 50% through match funding. A secondary requirement is to comply with Subsidy Control. Subsidy control regulations aim to prevent market distortions caused by excessive state aid. By requiring match funding, grant programs can ensure that projects have a level of private investment, reducing the risk of over-reliance on public subsidies. This helps to maintain a competitive and fair market environment while promoting innovation and efficiency.

Overall, match funding is a requirement for UK Space Agency grants that ensures shared investment in projects, encourages collaboration and innovation, and enhances the overall impact and sustainability of funded initiatives.

Can a non-UK based organisation receive funding?

A UK-registered organisation 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 private funding or capability as contribution-in-kind.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Would sub-contractors have any IP publication rights?

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

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 24th March 2025.

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 reviewers to be scored against certain criteria
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 irreconcilable differences, the project will not be placed on grant.

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Background

Introduction

Context

Call Objectives

Acceptable activities

Organisation Eligibility

Deadline Timetable

Guidelines for preparing an application

Overview

Guidelines for Project costs

Cost Recovery

Finance Policy

Invoices

Staff Costs

Pay costs

Overheads

Indirect (administration) overhead

Direct overheads

Low Value Grants (Sub £250,000)

VAT Rules

Ineligible expenditure

Travel and Subsistence

Grant Funding Agreement

Grant Recipient Code of Conduct

Annual Audit of Project Costs

Due Diligence

North Star Metric

UK Space Agency’s North Star Metric

What is the North Star Metric?

Why is this data being collected?

What data will be collected?

How will the data be collected?

How will data privacy be maintained?

Definitions of the data to be collected

Examples of information that should be reported

Private Investment

Internal Investment

Total Income

Additional Impact on Investment that cannot be quantified

Examples of information that should not be reported

Private Investment

Internal Investment

Total Income

Additional Impact on Investment that cannot be quantified

National Security

Exclusion Criteria

Project Monitoring and Reporting

Confidentiality

Flow Down Agreement

Ownership of Intellectual Property

Submission and Contact Information

Annex 1: Subsidy Control

Public sector organisation or charity

Third sector

Annex 2: Q&A

Can I resubmit a proposal that was rejected in a previous UK Space Agency call?

Why is it required that we match fund this grant?

Can a non-UK based organisation receive funding?

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

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?

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

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

Would sub-contractors have any IP publication rights?

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

How are proposals assessed?

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