Notice

Competition guidance: connected and autonomous vehicles test bed

Updated 12 July 2017

This notice was withdrawn on 21 September 2017

This competition is no longer open. Search current funding opportunities.

1. Dates and deadlines

Competition opens	3 April 2017
Competition briefing event	4 April 2017
Final date for registration	Midday 12 July 2017
Submission of the full application including finance forms, appendices and Je-S forms deadline	Midday 19 July 2017
Interviews (for invited applicants)	29 August to 1 September 2017
Decision to applicants	By end of September 2017

Please read the full competition scope before you make your application.

2. Funding

There is up to £55 million of funding available from the Centre for Connected and Autonomous Vehicles (CCAV). This is for projects to develop connected and autonomous vehicle (CAV) testing infrastructure as described in the brief for this competition.

CCAV is expecting to invest from up to £7 million, to up to £18 million in projects, depending on the competition stream. It will support up to 4 projects. Preference will be given to projects that can deliver operational facilities in 12 to 18 months and be open for business.

Projects are expected to be supported through investment aid for research infrastructures. This is a form of state aid and as such is limited to 50% of the investment costs.

Projects that vary from these expectations can be considered but you must consult with Innovate UK before the registration close date.

Please read our funding rules guidance for more information on the different categories of funding and the rules around our state aid framework.

CAV hub contribution

CCAV are working to define the model to support the CAV hub.

As guidance, it is expected the CAV hub UK will be jointly funded by government and industry.

We expect the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy to provide funding to the CAV hub. This will be announced at a later date.

In addition, CAV hub UK will invoice all project partners for 5% of their grant fund.

Department of Culture Media & Sport 5G test bed

CCAV projects will be able to work with the 5G test beds and trials programme, managed by the Department for Culture, Media & Sport. The programme is described in the Government’s 5G Strategy.

By working together CCAV projects and 5G test beds can accelerate development of the open framework that supports 5G test beds, cooperating with each other and being truly interoperable. In addition, knowledge sharing and protocol development allows multi-site testing for CCAV as part of the development of the UK’s 5G innovation network.

3. Requirements and eligibility

3.1 Application:

Your application should be in line with the state aid guidance on investment aid for research infrastructures. Below we outline this guidance.

Article 26: Investment aid for research infrastructures

4.3 Support given for the construction or upgrade of research infrastructures that perform economic activities, is considered state aid, and is limited to 50% of the investment costs. Where an infrastructure carries out both economic and non-economic activities, support for the non-economic part is not considered state aid and can be given up to 100% of eligible costs (investment costs in tangible and intangible assets) but support for the economic part is considered state aid and cannot exceed 50%. The financing, costs and revenues of each type of activity must be accounted for separately.

4.4 For example, a research infrastructure that is predominately non-economic but is used for contract research (an economic activity) 30% of the time and costs £10 million can receive £8.5 million public funding towards its construction: 100% for the 70% non-economic portion (£7 million) and 50% for the 30% economic (£1.5 million).

4.5 Infrastructure supported in this way must be open to several users on a transparent and non-discriminatory basis. Users must pay a market rate for using the facility. Businesses which have contributed at least 10% to the investment costs can have preferential access proportionate to their contribution. The conditions of this access must be made publicly available.

4.6 Notification threshold for this aid type is set at 20 million euros per infrastructure.

You must also follow the guidelines below:

• you may be eligible to receive different rates of funding. This depends on the type and size of your organisation
• submissions using the incorrect application form will not be considered eligible
• submissions without complete or missing finance forms will not be considered eligible
• all submission documents must be submitted in the correct file format as explained in this document; any document in an incorrect format will result in the entire application not being sent for assessment
• if you have been awarded previous grants as the lead or sole company, no new awards will be made if we feel that you have not made a substantial effort to exploit these previous grants. This is detailed in the exploitation plan submitted in the applications for the previous grants. The decision will meet the following criteria:
  • it will be decided by the sector team concerned using evidence from monitoring officer reports and other sources which will be documented
  • it will be made by at least 3 sector team members collectively
  • it will be communicated in writing to the company by the innovation lead associated with the new grant application
  • it will not be contestable and Innovate UK will not enter into subsequent correspondence

Project:

• all projects must be collaborative but contain no more than 5 organisations (including the lead)
• to be considered collaborative, at least 2 organisations must be requesting grant funding from Innovate UK. The lead organisation must request grant and no single organisation should have more than 70% of the costs
• only UK-based companies and research organisations are eligible to receive funding from Innovate UK
• projects can be led by any organisation type. There is no restriction to the total level of project participation by research organisations
• we can consider projects outside the ranges described in section 2 but you must contact us via customer support services to discuss at least 10 days before the registration deadline

Project lead:

A business or research organisation may lead the project. The proposal should make it clear why the lead is the most appropriate organisation to lead the project

For further information on funding and enterprise categories please see the guidance for applicants.

4. Competition process

For this competition, Innovate UK will use a portfolio approach. This is to make sure that the strategic criteria described in the competition brief, is met for all projects considered to be above the quality threshold. This will be as a result of independent expert assessment. The process will follow these steps:

• applications will be assessed by up to 5 external assessors who are experts in the innovation area identified in your application
• assessors will score applications consistently and in line with scoring matrices. They will provide written feedback for each marked question
• applications will be ranked in descending order. Applications which score over a quality threshold will be invited to a second stage assessment which is an interview
• applicants will have the opportunity to respond to the written feedback from the first round of assessment
• applicants will need to submit a presentation ahead of the interview by a required date
• applicants attending interview will need to bring a draft collaboration agreement in paper and electronic formats
• applicants will be interviewed (likely in Swindon) by 5 external assessors
• assessors will score applications consistently and in line with scoring matrices
• applications will be ranked in descending order
• projects will be reviewed against CCAV policy to ensure there is a match
• the top scoring projects in each stream that aligns with CCAV policy will be funded
• the lead applicant will be notified of the funding decision
• all applications for the competition will receive assessor feedback

5. How to apply

Before you apply into an Innovate UK competition, it is important to understand the whole application process. The information contained in this guidance is specific to this competition. In addition, please read our general guidance for applicants to give you further information that will help you to complete your application. This includes:

• funding rules
• help in defining your organisation type
• project costs
• state aid
• how to submit your application
• categories of research and development
• participation in a project

You will receive an email acknowledgement of your registration followed by a second email up to 48 hours later. The second email will contain a username and password for our secure upload facility along with a unique application number and form.

Application: Once you have received your unique username and password, you can sign in to the secure website. You are then able to access the finance form for this competition from the public download area.

Finance form: Only finance forms using the ’Innovate UK Finance Form.xls’ will be accepted into this competition. Previous versions of the project finance form will be ineligible.

Submit your documents: You or your lead partner should submit the following documents to your FTP site:

• your application form with your unique application number for this competition (mandatory)
• project finance forms for every non-academic partner (including the lead organisation) in your project (mandatory)
• Je-S submission PDF output document, confirming a ‘with council’ status for every academic partner in your project, if any (mandatory)
• project appendices as pdf documents, labelled correctly as per the appendices guidance in section 10
• a collaboration agreement (mandatory for all projects).

Assessment: Once the competition submission deadline is reached, your application is sent for assessment.

Interview: Applicants will be invited to attend an interview. Details of the interview stage will be confirmed nearer the time.

Notification: We will notify the lead organisation of the outcome of the application by the date stated in the timeline, using the email address provided in the application form.

Feedback: Approximately 4 weeks after you have received your notification email, we will give feedback to all applications that have been assessed. The lead applicant can access and download the feedback by signing into the secure FTP site where you uploaded your application documents. It is the responsibility of the lead to communicate the feedback with the rest of the consortium. No additional feedback can be provided and there will be no further discussion on the application.

6. The application form

This section explains the structure of the application form and offers guidance on what to answer in each question.

The structure is as follows:

• application details
• summary of proposed project
• public description of the project
• gateway question: scope
• section 1: The vision (business case)
  • question 1: Vision for the proposed facility and future operating model
  • question 2: Market, specific target customers and the USPs offered
  • question 3: Impact the facility will have
  • question 4: Support test bed UK and beyond the project
• section 2: delivery of the vision (project details)
  • question 5: Governance structure
  • question 6: Project management and timeline
  • question 7: Risks and risk management
  • question 8: Project team
• section 3: Funding and added value
  • question 9: Financial commitment
  • question 10: Funding and added value
• other funding from public sector bodies
• finance summary table

Please make sure that you upload the final version of your application by the deadline. It is the lead organisation’s responsibility to ensure that you do not submit a blank or incomplete application form. You should also follow these steps:

• you can only use the application form provided. It contains specific information including a unique reference number for your project
• the application form contains specific fields. It is important that you complete each field and submit a fully completed form. Incomplete forms will be considered ineligible and won’t be sent for assessment
• the application form must not be altered, converted or saved as a different version of Microsoft Word
• the space provided in each field of the form is fixed. You must restrict your responses in each of the fields to the space provided. The typeface, font size and colour are predetermined and cannot be changed. Illustrations, graphics and hyperlinks cannot be included in the application form
• the light grey shaded fields are completed automatically from other information entered on the form, such as the total columns of a table. These cannot be overwritten
• you should be able to see your total answer to the question when looking at the application form in print view. Any text that cannot be seen in this view or when the form is printed will not be assessed

As part of our objective to stimulate and support UK innovation, we have established a close network of affinity partners. This list is made up of organisations that can help Innovate UK fund and support innovative businesses. Our joint aim is to speed up sustainable economic growth for the UK.

In some cases, we may share the public description of your project with other potential funding bodies, for example local enterprise partnerships (LEP’s), agencies of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. These bodies may wish to contact you about providing funding or other support for your proposal.

Field	Guidance
Competition name	This field will show the full name of the Innovate UK competition to which the form applies. You do not need to enter anything here.
Document ID	This field is completed automatically.
Applicant number	This field is completed automatically and is the reference that you should use on all correspondence (this is the 6 digit number after the dash).
Application details
Project title	Enter the full title of the project.
Project timescales	Enter the estimated start date and its planned duration. These are indicative at this stage and are not guaranteed.
(Lead ) organisation name	Enter the full registered name of the (lead) organisation for the project. If you are not in a consortium application, these will be your organisation details. Please note that the lead organisation will be the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project team.
(Lead) organisation contact details	Enter the full name, postcode, email address and telephone number of the main point of contact between Innovate UK and the project.

6.1 Summary of proposed project (not scored)

Guidance

Please provide a short summary of the content and objectives of the project including what delivery of this project would contribute to CAV test bed UK.

This summary is not scored, but provides an introduction to your proposal for the benefit of Innovate UK staff and assessors only. It will not be used for any public dissemination. It should cover, in brief:

• the vision of what will be delivered at the end of the project including the business need or market opportunity to be targeted
• the approach to be taken and how this will ensure an on time, cost and quality delivery
• the difference the project will make to the competitiveness and productivity of the partners involved, and the future facility customers

6.2 Public description of the project (not scored)

Guidance

To comply with government practice on openness and transparency of public-funded activities, Innovate UK has to publish information relating to funded projects. Please provide a short description of your proposal in a way that will be understandable to the general public. Do not include any commercially confidential information, for example intellectual property or patent details.

Describe your project. Funding will not be provided to successful projects without this.

6.3 Gateway Question: Scope

Guidance

How does this application align with the specific competition scope?

• all applications must align with the specific competition scope criteria as described in the relevant competition brief
• to demonstrate alignment, you need to show that a clear majority of the project’s objectives and activities are aligned with the specific competition

7. Competition questions

All questions apply to all project partners and are scored out of 10 marks.

7.1 Section 1: The vision (business case)

Question 1: What is the vision for the proposed facility and future operating model?

• detail the vision for the facility you intend to deliver at the end of the project, both in terms of the products or services offered to customers
• detail each of the facility’s major features and set out their associated benefits
• clearly define who will be accountable and responsible for the management and operation of the facility, and why they have the right skills and capabilities to deliver this
• describe how the future operational model matches the governance team’s corporate strategy and vision. Include current priorities and investment plans where applicable
• clearly define what the expected operation or maintenance costs will be, who will be responsible for these and how these costs will be financially sustainable
• give a clear explanation of how the facility will operate on an open access basis (include letters of support with clear financial commitments). How will you ensure SMEs and smaller organisations will be aware of and able to use the facilities
• outline any key risks with the proposed vision, operations and governance
• detail your expected operational hours per day, days per week and any restrictions that the facility may face. Demonstrate that opening hours and availability are maximised to maximise return on investment. Set out metrics for capacity and anticipated maximum values for these metrics for the facility as envisaged
• describe how the proposed facility builds on any existing test facilities or centres of excellence and what benefits this offers, for example cost or time saved in delivery by utilising existing infrastructure and/or operating models
• set out the return on investment that the project could reasonably achieve in low, expected and high cases (we strongly encourage a range of returns, risk weighted and not single number estimates). Provide relevant source data references and methodologies. Attainable market for the facilities should be the focus, rather than large global estimates of CAV activities
• describe your proposed management team for the final delivered facility, including the experience of key team members and previous successes

Question 2: Describe the market, specific target customers and the USPs you will offer to support and win these customers

• describe the market and customers the facility and operating model will target
• detail the market analysis that shows the size of the attainable market, competitors (especially international) both existing and expected in the medium term. Describe where your proposal fits, and what market share you believe you can secure including the strategy that will deliver that share. Provide evidence where possible to support this
• describe the key benefits to your target customer of your facility and how the product/services you will offer will be differentiated from or better than competitors
• show analysis of your proposal’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats
• the scope requires that business plans must demonstrate how the facility is ‘customer friendly’ for all, including international customers. Detail how you meet this requirement. Please especially consider international customers and competitor benchmarking in this section
• set out the metrics you will use to measure the facility performance and international competitiveness
• describe how you will market products and services, and how the organisations involved are best placed to commercially exploit the investment. Include the current competitive positioning of the organisations

Question 3: Describe the impact the facility will have

• describe the impact on the UK and international automotive or CAV community that you expect the proposed facility to create. Consider a high medium and low scenario approach
• describe how the proposed facility, and any proposed supporting activity, will add value and increase the UK’s reputation for being a focal point for CAV development and testing
• detail how you will maximise value from the facility through measures like the time the facility is available for use
• indicate the scale of operation (how many customers, staff and vehicles) you expect to see using the facility in any day, week and year. Where suitable, evidence support from potential customers
• detail the number of jobs that will be created directly at the facility and in any direct or indirect supporting roles. How many jobs will be created or retained to work on the project should it go ahead? Also include the expected longer-term employment impact
• describe all envisaged benefits that result from establishing this test facility. Demonstrate how you intend to exploit the facility inside the consortium and why you are well placed to do this. For example, the opportunity to support customers with CAV technical expert time to resolve customer problems
• how will companies which are not part of the funded consortium benefit from the project outputs? Describe also benefits for other groups, such as, customers, suppliers, competitors of consortium partners
• set out any plans for scalability in the proposals. For example, if provision to expand exists should demand exceed planned capacity? Or if the proposals are designed explicitly to attract foreign direct investment for example through joint ventures, explain clearly how this will be achieved along with any associated step costs
• describe any links to CAV collaborative research and development (CR&D) projects and the impact

Question 4: How will the facility support test bed UK and how will it be developed beyond what is delivered inside of the defined project.

• detail how the facility will cooperate with other test facilities as part of a UK testing community for CAV. This should include how the facility will support the CAV hub in promoting UK CAV capability as well as how the facility can work seamlessly with other facilities to offer a joined up benefit to customers
• detail how data generated will be comparable and if needed transferrable between facilities and the data hub. This may include references to any standards or other facility proposals
• describe who will be responsible and accountable for ensuring a strong link between the proposed facility and the other facilities and hub making up testbed UK
• indicate how the facility will be further developed or improved beyond the timeframe or outside of the scope of this project. Detail any follow-on projects or future improvement opportunities currently envisaged
• set out the social and economic benefits of the proposals
• state how the proposals contribute to realising the following social benefits: transport safety, transport efficiency (including network and energy efficiency, and travel reliability) and transport accessibility
• state how the proposals contribute to realising the following economic benefits: productivity, efficiency, GVA, jobs and spillovers
• describe how the facility will be designed to be adaptable to changes in the target market in terms of testing requirements and technological disruptions
• describe how the facility will be adaptable to changes in the target market

7.2 Section 2: delivery of the vision (project details)

Question 5: What project governance structure will be utilised to ensure project delivery to time cost and quality

Detail the project governance structure that will use. This could include:

• overarching project governance (including structure of the team including responsible/accountable project director)
• management reporting lines
• milestones and gateways
• deliverables with timings
• leading KPIs
• communication management

Detail how the governance team will be kept informed of progress and highlight concerns or issues early to all impacted stakeholders, including CCAV and Innovate UK.

Detail key commitments and responsibilities from each partner. This may take the form of a RASIC (responsible, approving, supporting, informed and consulted) matrix.

Detail the stakeholders the project will need to address and how these have been or will be engaged.

Question 6: How will the project be managed and what is the timeline?

• identify who will lead the project day-to-day (the project manager) and how the project team will be structured
• detail a clear project plan that links to the deliverables, milestones and gateways
• outline the management reporting lines
• describe your approach to project management, identifying any major tools and mechanisms that will be used to ensure a successful project outcome
• identify the main work packages including resource, capital and management requirements. These should be clearly linked to the costs allocated
• describe how the project will achieve effective project team integration between the partners, as well as the supply chain and any other key actors
• identify any internal and external support that is required and indicate what is agreed at time of writing, and what is still to be agreed (any external project/cost management support should be estimated and justified)

In evaluating questions 5 and 6 the assessors will consider the following:

• if the technical approach and methodology is appropriate to the needs of the project
• if the project plan is sufficient in comparison to the complexity of the project. For example, is there enough detail to understand the tasks involved and the resources required
• if the timing of main milestones is realistic
• if there is demonstration of sufficient resource commitment and capability to undertake the project
• if clear management reporting lines and appropriate governance have been identified

Question 7: What are the risks to project success? What is the project’s risk management strategy?

• identify the main risks and uncertainties of the project and provide a detailed risk analysis for the project content and approach. Include the technical, commercial, managerial and environmental risks as well as other uncertainties (for example ethical issues) associated with the project. Rate the main risks as high/medium/low (H/M/L)
• state how the project would avoid these main risks. You should tackle all significant and relevant risks and their mitigation
• identify vital project management tools and mechanisms that will be used to minimise operational risk and promote a successful project outcome. This should include arrangements for managing the project team and its partners

Proposals should specifically address any legal agreements or consents that need to be put in place to enable the works to be undertaken (including land agreements, planning and highway consents, construction contracts, utility agreements and wayleaves)

Question 8: Do the project team have the right skills, experience and access to capabilities to deliver the identified benefits?

Describe the track record of the project team members in undertaking and exploiting the results of infrastructure/test facility projects. This should highlight your capability to deliver the proposal on time, to cost and quality.

In evaluating this, the assessors will consider whether:

• the project team has the right available mix of skills and experience to deliver the project successfully
• the project team’s formation objectives are clear and if it would have been formed without Innovate UK investment

For the consortium, is there evidence of additional benefit from the collaboration? If the consortium is greater than the sum of its parts, how will the organisations achieve more working together than if they were working individually?

7.3 Section 3: Funding and added value

Question 9: What is the financial commitment required for the project?

• detail the estimated project cost per work package, making clear the level of contribution from any project participants and the level of funding required from Innovate UK. This information should be provided in the financial summary table in the application form
• detail a cost plan with details of how costs have been assessed, including any professional cost advice and benchmarking
• detail the spend profile by month, linked to milestones, gateways and deliverables as needed
• detail how the works/equipment will be procured to ensure best value for money and high UK content is obtained by describing tendering route

Assessors will be looking to be sure the project is robustly costed to be confident the project can be delivered to the stated cost.

Make sure that all vital finance project points that you wish the assessors to consider are included in the main body of your application form, and expanded upon in the relevant appendix as required. These are the main documents used within the assessment process.

Question 10: How does financial support from Innovate UK and its funding collaborators add value?

• explain what the contribution requested from government per work package and why is it good value for money
• detail how the funding required for the project to be able to proceed allows you to undertake the project both in terms of time to market and at scale. Explain why this would be beneficial to the UK
• give clear indication of the match funding from industry and any direct follow-on funding from industry. This should include any post-project research and development and capital spend commitments by the partners that can be directly related to a successful project submission
• detail the financial benefits inside and outside of the consortium should the project go ahead (additional to benefits that would be achieved through the scenario of funding not being awarded)
• demonstrate the return on investment for the partners involved in the project, as well as the UK tax payer. This should be linked to the outcomes from the project (questions 1 to 4)
• why would this project not proceed in the absence of government funding?

7.4 Other funding from public sector bodies

If you have included one or more entries in column 7 of the finance summary table (on the following page), please provide:

• the names of the bodies
• the name of the programme or scheme from which the funds are provided
• the fund amounts

8. Finance summary

This table lists the total eligible project costs by organisation. Please note that only certain project costs are eligible for grant funding under UK State Aid rules. See our project costs guidance for information on eligible project costs and how to complete the project finance form.

Column 1 Organisation name	Provide the full names of the lead organisation, followed by any other organisations in the project consortium (organisation names as noted in Companies House).
Column 2 Organisation registration number	Organisations should provide the Company Registration Number (as noted in Companies House). Universities/HEIs should enter their RC number/charitable status/legal entity registration number.
Column 3 Enterprise category	Select your enterprise category. SME definition is based on the EU definition Medium sized: Headcount less than 250: Turnover less than 50 million euros or balance sheet total less than 43 million euros Small: Headcount less than 50: Turnover less than 10 million euros or balance sheet total less than 10 million euros Micro: Headcount less than 10: Turnover less than 2 million euros or balance sheet total less than 2 million euros
Column 4 Postcode where majority of work will be done	Provide the postcode where the majority of work will take place for each organisation participating in the project.
Column 5 Contribution to the project by each organisation (£)	List the total contribution to be made to the project by each organisation. Where a University is claiming grant funding, the contribution should be £0.
Column 6 Funding sought from Innovate UK	Enter the funding sought from Innovate UK for each contributing organisation for this competition.
Column 7 Other funding from public sector bodies	Include any funding applied for separately for the project from any other public sector bodies and not as part of this competition. Funding from other public sector bodies might include other applications to research councils, other government departments, devolved administrations, other public sector organisations and some charities. The purpose of this column is to provide Innovate UK with information on the total public funding for the project.
Column 8 Total (£)	The total cost of the project for each contributor. This is the sum of columns 5, 6 and 7 and will be entered automatically.
Bottom row Total (£)	The total of each column will be entered automatically.

Please ensure that you click out of each cell after entering your figures.

9. Finance form

Each non-academic organisation in your project must provide a project finance form using the template ‘project finance form’, which is available on the FTP site. This must be submitted in Excel format with the application form by the lead applicant. Each finance form provides a detailed breakdown on each organisation’s total eligible project costs. Please ensure that all total figures listed in your finance summary table match those stated in the ‘form status’ tab within the project finance form.

10. Project appendices

You can only include appendices in support of your responses to the application questions. Submission of any additional appendices/documentation not described in this document will result in your application be judged as ineligible and not sent for assessment. Applications submitted with incorrect appendices, with regard to content or naming convention, will be ineligible and not sent for assessment.

You can submit:

• appendices A: up to 5x A4 pages to support your answer to questions 1 to 4
• appendices B: up to 5x A4 pages to support your answer to questions 5 to 8
• appendices C: up to half an A4 page for each organisation in the project
• appendices D: up to 1x A4 page to support your answer to question 9. Specifically, this should be used to detail the spend profile (cost and grant) by month, linked to milestones, gateways and deliverables as needed

All projects must submit a collaboration agreement.

In order that assessors can open and read the appendices, each appendix must:

• conform to the maximum length specifications stated for each
• be submitted in Portable Document Format (pdf)
• be legible at 100% zoom/magnification
• display prominently the last 6 digits of your ‘application number’ as in the filename of the application form, for example. ‘AppendixA-(123456)’

Please do not submit appendices longer than the specified lengths. Assessors are instructed to only read appendices to the lengths specified in the guidance.

11. Economic assessment and value for money

The economic value assessment is conducted by professional economists employed by CCAV. They assess the predicted value for money of the project from the perspective of taxpayers and UK PLC. In order for the HM Treasury to release funds for grants, the value for money of each project must reach an acceptable threshold. Value for money, or cost-benefit ratio, in this case is defined as:

Cost benefit ratio equals the net economic benefit to the UK divided by the cost to the exchequer.

The net economic benefit to the UK consists of:

Economic benefits

1. R&D and innovation.
2. Employment: a. Newly created jobs. b. Safeguarded jobs. c. Indirect supply chain jobs.
3. Upskilling.
4. Wider benefits for example benefits to those outside of the consortium, such savings to UK consumers, increased UK supply chain content and sales.

Note that increased profits for consortium members are not included within the value for money assessment

Benefits will be discounted considering:

1. Additionality: to what extent would these benefits occur without government support? For example, would the project happen but over a slower timescale, would it take place abroad, or happen on a smaller scale?
2. Displacement: to what extent is a project displacing employment, investment and economic activity in other parts of the UK?
3. Risk: what is the risk of the project not achieving stated economic benefits? This depends on:

• project and consortium complexity
• the investment required
• risk management strategy
• the technology itself

The cost to the exchequer is the size of the grant requested in the application and any other public funding required to achieve the benefits you highlight in this application.

The economic value assessment is conducted by a team of economists who assess the application and provide a view of their analysis to a review panel. This analysis is heavily quality assured by senior economists within CCAV to ensure the judgement is an accurate and independent reflection of the information that has been provided.

If you are invited to interview, CCAV economists may require further information beyond what has been presented in your application. Prior to interview applicants may receive their written feedback from CCAV economists (in tandem with feedback from technical assessors) and have the opportunity to supply a written response containing supplementary information. If requested, this document must be submitted prior to interview. There may also be requests to support the economic assessment after the interview as the process will run in parallel.

A successful project will:

• clearly illustrate how the project addresses the core objectives of the competition, as defined in the competition brief
• provide sufficient technical detail to allow industry experts to make an assessment of suitability
• provide sufficient detail to allow for a thorough value for money appraisal
• provide supporting evidence to validate the arguments that are made within the application. Examples of supporting evidence could include letters of support, copies of board meeting minutes, evidence of successfully delivered relevant projects, internal rate of return analysis with and without CCAV funding
• utilise the available space to provide quality information.

We reserve the right to take a portfolio approach in the final selection.