Fully funded Projects - Guidelines for Preparation of Proposals

This short document has been prepared for all those that are not familiar with the preparation and submission of proposals to ESA. In particular it has been tailored for those that intend to submit proposals for fully funded (100%) activities.

Disclaimer
The information contained hereinafter is intended to provide guidance for proposal preparation and therefore has not any legal or contractual value. The complete set of the applicable legal and contractual documentation is available on EMITS.

Content of document

1. Contractual and administrational issues
2. Structure of the Proposal
3. Do s and Don t s

1. Contractual and administrational issues

Document Structure of ESA's Invitation to Tender (ITT)

Documents

The list below contains the documents that shall be read carefully for the preparation of the proposal:

• Statement of work / Request for Quotation
• General Conditions of Tender for ESA contracts
• Special Conditions of Tender of ITT
• General Clauses and Conditions for ESA contracts
• Special Contract Conditions (Draft) of ITT
• Others (see Draft Contract)

All documents are available under ESA s electronic tender system EMITS. All documents are available under ESA s electronic tender system EMITS. (Information how to access and use EMITS as well as link to EMITS is provided on the ESA Telecom website under EMITS - New Users)

Intellectual Property Rights aspects

• IPR belongs to the Contractor
• ESA and ESA Member States have the free of charge, non-exclusive, irrevocable license to use IPR for their own requirements in the field of space research and technology and their space applications
• Patent filing allowed
• Protection of background know how, if applicable
• Royalties

General points to be noted

• Registration with ESA (EMITS) is necessary for obtaining a Bidder Code without this code no contract can be placed 
• Expenses incurred in the preparation of the proposal will not be reimbursed
• A list of the criteria against the proposal will be evaluated is provided in the Special Conditions of Tender

2. Do's and Don'ts

Do

• Provide a sound justification for the choice of technology
• Clarify roles and responsibilities of partners (e.g. subcontractors) in the industrial team (If a subcontractor is present he should be responsible for at least one WP)
• Provide a clear list of inputs, tasks and outputs for each Work Package (WP)
• Provide a clear list of deliverables
• Include an explanation of the used acronyms and abbreviations where necessary

Do not

• Spend too much on presenting and discussing the background scenario
• Leave space to interpretation as it can generate wrong expectations within the contractual team and ESA
• Correlate quality of proposal with number of pages (be concise!!!)

3. Structure of the proposal

Summary of requirements extracted from the applicable ITT documents: Tender Conditions, Statement of Work, etc.

• Cover Letter
• Technical proposal
• Financial, Management and Administrative Proposal

Cover letter

The required content of the Cover letter is described in detail in the general and special Tender Conditions.

The cover letter shall contain compliance statements concerning the following points of ESA s General Conditions of Tender:

• General information on tenderer s status (bidder code) (A4)
• Validity period of tender (B3): 4 months from closing date
• Compliance statement with respect to technical and management requirements (B10c)
• Compliance statement with respect to contract conditions (B10d)

Furthermore, the following information shall be included:

• Names of persons responsible for the technical and contractual management of the contract
• Name, address, telefax and telephone number of the bidder s contact person
• Name of the author(s) of the proposal

Technical Proposal:

The required content of the Technical Proposal is described in detail in the Special Tender Conditions and the Statement of Work and can contain the following elements.

• General information (always to be provided):
  - general description of purpose and scope
  - abbreviations and acronyms
  - definition of terms
  - applicable documents
  - reference documents
  - structure of proposal

The reference for the following elements is the Statement of Work related to the specific Invitation To Tender (ITT).

• Introduction showing understanding of technical requirements, providing an outline of main problems and proposed solutions and comments on work activities that assist objectives of study
• First iteration of activities described in Statement of Work including selection of a preferred concept (if possible) and technical evidence of validity in terms of feasibility and development risk
• Critical review of the ESA technical requirements and specifications (indicating conformance/deviation with justification)
• First outline of a test plan (listing parameters, environmental conditions, number of test units)
• Study plan showing study logic (use of flow-chart) and including proposed investigations to be performed (with justification)
• Statement of compliance to ESA Statement of Work (indicating deviations with justification)

In some cases also a first iteration of a strategic plan / possible business opportunities for the intended development activities may be required concentrating on main characteristics like

• needs addressed by the product / service studied
• potential target markets and position of product in value chain
• competitive environment
• commercial strategy (time to market, marketing, implementation)

Financial, Management and Administrative Proposal:

The required content of the Financial, Management and Administrative Proposal is described in detail in the General Conditions of Tender and the Special Conditions of Tender .

• Background experience of the company(ies) relevant for the activity
• Organisation and management
  - structure of organisation and industrial group
  - organigram showing tasks, position, authority, name of persons
  - lines of communication and reporting
  - management plan, policies and procedures incl. management control organization
• Description of facilities to be used for the work offered
  - to be used, to be developed/built/purchased (incl. statement whether the related cost are charged to the contract)
  - means of access to information resources (libraries, data banks)
• Key personnel (one level below project manager)
  - overview of study team
  - per key person: position in organisation, proportion of working time devoted to the work offered, curriculum vitae (incl. work experience, responsibility)
• List of deliverable items (indicated in Statement of Work )

Typical deliverables are:

• Work breakdown structure
  (WBS: hierarchy of project, title/ number of work package, responsible company [template available])
  including work package (WP) descriptions (inputs, tasks, outputs [template available])
   
• Planning and scheduling (expected duration in Statement of Work )
  - narrative description
  - logic bar chart
  - identification of payment milestones (related to project achievements: timeline, milestone deliverable, date, payment)
   
• Cost price data for the prime contractor and each sub-contractor (the earmarked budget for activities can be found in the Special Conditions of Tender )
  - PSS-A1 (company cost data sheet)
  - PSS-A2 (company price breakdown form)
  - PSS-A8 (manpower and price summary at work package level)
  - PSS-A15 or PSS-A15.1 (work breakdown structure level 1)
   
• PSS form templates available under EMITS (Reference Documentation - Administrative Documents - PSS Forms )
   
• including conversion rate(s) and other factors on which calculations are based (especially for non Euro countries)
   
• Type of price (defined in the Draft Contract )
  (normally Firm Fixed Price up to 250 kEuro, Ceiling Price above 250 kEuro to be converted in a Firm Fixed Price at project end)
   
• Milestone payments plan linked to achievements (milestone description, schedule date, amount in Euro, company [template available])
   
• Travel and subsistence information (meeting, place, time (t0 + ), participants (company A, B, ) [template available])
   
• Acceptance of contract conditions ( General Clauses and Conditions for ESA contracts , Special Contract Conditions ) with any exceptions to be stated clearly