Joint Research Equipment Initiative 2000
Frequently asked questions and answers
- What equipment is eligible?
- What constitutes an eligible "external sponsor"?
- How much external sponsorship is required?
- Are international funders acceptable?
- What is eligible as an institutional top up?
- What are the differences between competitions A and B?
- What does 'requested from the JREI' mean?
- What do you mean by running costs?
- Are customisation costs included in the calculations?
- Are discounts eligible as an external contribution?
- Should the standard educational discount be included in calculating equipment costs?
- Can I submit an application again if I was unsuccessful last year?
- What happens if I decide to change institutions after submitting an application?
- What happens if the external sponsor goes out of business or withdraws funding for some reason?
- Does JREI income count towards the next RAE?
- How do we show a JREI award on HESA?
- Can a company demand priority access to a piece of equipment in return for providing funds to support it?
- What if the external sponsor will not sign the form?
- Does the Vice Chancellor have to sign the form?
- Competition A does not include staff costs, so why do I have to state what specific steps will be taken to ensure that all research staff working with the new equipment complies with the research careers concordat?
- What about tendering?
- When does expenditure have to be completed?
- Can I apply to JREI for funds if I want to lease the equipment?
- What is PFI?
- How might PFI be an alternative to the JREI?
- What is meant on the application by access to Research Council facilities/services?
- Do you have any facts and figures about success rates from last year?
1. What equipment is eligible?
Equipment must be an item or a coherent set of items of scientific research equipment for use for a particular research project or projects as described in the case for support. Bids for whole research facilities are ineligible. Bids can include basic laboratory equipment where this forms part of a coherent package with more significant items, but the JREI is not intended to support the 'well found laboratory'. Software on its own is also ineligible. It can only be requested if the hardware on which it will be run is also part of the application.
2. What constitutes an eligible "external sponsor"?
An external sponsor is an organisation external to the institution that is bidding for the funds. A sponsor can be from Government, industry, charity, etc. The source of the funding should be clearly stated. All sponsors are required to complete Annex 1 to the form. The funding must be in cash (not kind) specifically to purchase the equipment and must be new money given for the purpose of participating in JREI. Overheads from grants given for other purposes may not be used as 'external sponsorship'. Funds from the European Commission are not eligible as 'external sponsorship' but may be used as part of an institutional top-up.
3. How much external sponsorship is required?
Applications must be supported by external sponsorship. There is no set figure for the amount of external sponsorship. However, applicants should note that the overall aim of the JREI is to fund up to 50% of the total costs of successful bids. Applications seeking less than 50% of the total cost of the bid from the JREI are encouraged and the amount requested from JREI will be one of the criteria against which applications are judged.
4. Are international funders acceptable?
Yes, external funds may come from any country. Funds specifically from the European Commission, however, are not acceptable as external sponsorship; they may only be used as internal top-up.
5. What is eligible as an institutional top up?
Funds from the institution(s) that submits the application can be used to "top up" the contribution from the external sponsor to a higher percentage of the total cost of the bid. The source of these funds must be clearly stated and must not be from Science Budget/Funding Council or DHFETE sources.
Money received by an institution through another award scheme is not eligible as an institutional top up as this will have been awarded for a specific purpose not to leverage in extra funds through the JREI.
6. What are the differences between competitions A and B?
Competition A is for requests for between £12,500 and £149,999 from the JREI for research equipment. This £149,999 should include VAT and customisation/upgrade costs if applicable.
Competition B is for requests for £150,000 or more from the JREI for research equipment. The figure should include VAT and customisation/upgrade costs if applicable.
Running costs may be requested in Competition B but should be ignored for the purpose of deciding which competition to enter. This means that applications cannot add running costs to a bid just to take it over the £150,000 threshold into competition B.
7. What does 'requested from the JREI' mean?
This is the amount requested from a higher education funding body or Research Council i.e. the total cost of the equipment including customisation or upgrading (and running costs, if applicable) minus the external contribution and any institutional top-up.
8. What do you mean by running costs?
Running costs can only be applied for under competition B.
Running costs are additional costs that you consider to be essential to the running of the equipment requested. These include consumables and may include staff costs provided it can be shown that the staff required are essential to the equipment. In other words, staff can only be bid for if the equipment requires specific expertise to maintain, run or install it. More general overheads such as buildings, services etc are ineligible.
9. Are customisation costs included in the calculations?
Yes, customisation costs should be included in the calculations of total costs of equipment.
10. Are discounts eligible as an external contribution?
Discounts are eligible as an external contribution. Applicants are, however, encouraged not to make this their only external contribution.
11. Should the standard educational discount be included in calculating equipment costs?
When calculating the cost of the items of equipment requested, applicants should subtract the standard educational discount that normally applies to purchases by universities. Applicants should seek value for money in their purchases. If applications are submitted without adjusting figures to take account of the standard educational discount the application may be given a lower grade or funds may be awarded at a lower rate.
12. Can I submit an application again if I was unsuccessful last year?
An application that was unsuccessful last year cannot be resubmitted unless it is substantially revised. You are advised to contact the relevant Research Council to discuss the changes.
13. What happens if I decide to change institutions after submitting an application?
The application will need a new eligible Principal Applicant to take over the running of the grant. Obviously this may affect the assessment of the application, and the responsible Research Council will seek further information from the new Principal Applicant to clarify how the move of the original applicant may have affected the scientific case.
14. What happens if the external sponsor goes out of business or withdraws funding for some reason?
If this should happen before decisions on awards are made an applicant should inform the relevant Research Council at once. If an alternate sponsor can be found who is willing to provide funds on the same terms immediately then the application can proceed. If not, the application must be withdrawn.
If the sponsorship is withdrawn after an award has been made then applicants must contact the relevant funding body immediately. If a new sponsor can be found to provide the same funding or a better deal within a time frame to be decided by the funding body, then the award will proceed. However, if no substitute external sponsor can be found, the award will be withdrawn.
In these instances, applications may be resubmitted the following year.
15. Does JREI income count towards the next RAE?
Grants awarded under JREI should be broken down into the portions provided by the Research Councils, industrial sources and funding councils. Further guidance can be found in RAE 2/99 Research Assessment Exercise 2001: Guidance on Submissions paragraph 3.54.
16. How do we show a JREI award on HESA?
The HEFCE component should be treated in the same way as formula capital funding, as it is likely that items purchased with these grants will be capitalised. As such the grant is a deferred capital grant and released to income for the life of the asset which offsets the depreciation charge. The release to income should be returned in Table 5 (Income Analysed by Source) Head 1a (Funding Council Grants) Sub-head vi 'Capital Grants - Equipment' of the HESA Finance Statistics Return.
The non-HEFCE component (i.e. Research Council or UK Industry) should be returned in Table 4 (Research Grants and Contracts - Breakdown of Income by Cost Centre) under the appropriate heading and source.
17. Can a company demand priority access to a piece of equipment in return for providing funds to support it?
One of the aims of JREI is to facilitate collaboration between applicants and external sponsors. This means that collaborative arrangements to use the equipment or the results of the research that can be done using it are welcomed in JREI. However, the purpose of JREI is also to provide the physical infrastructure for research in HEIs; if 'priority access' for the external sponsor would undermine this aim, the bid may be considered ineligible, or may be less highly rated in the assessment process.
18. What if the external sponsor will not sign the form?
In all cases the external sponsor must sign Annex 1 to the application form. If it is not signed and sent in with the rest of the application, the bid will be rejected as ineligible.
19. Does the Vice Chancellor have to sign the form?
The Vice Chancellor, or in the event of incapacity a nominated deputy, must sign applications for funds in both competitions and failure to do so will result in proposals being rejected.
20. Competition A does not include staff costs, so why do I have to state what specific steps will be taken to ensure that all research staff working with the new equipment complies with the research careers concordat?
The Concordat is a clear joint commitment by universities and research funders to make much needed improvement in the management of contract research staff. The JREI is a major investment of public funds in universities research capacity. As a result, the research funders expect to see serious thought being given to the management of staff who will be employed to work with the additional equipment.
Normal tendering rules apply to all applications. You are particularly recommended to start the tendering process as early as possible where EU Procurement Regulations apply. Applicants whose external sponsorship takes the form of a supplier's discount are reminded that there may be a procurement risk in seeking discounts from a specific supplier prior to a full tendering process. Where applicable, they are advised to discuss the management of any such risk with their institution's procurement staff before submitting the bid.
22. When does expenditure have to be completed?
The expenditure requirements may vary between funding bodies. Details will be clarified formally in the award letters. However, generally expenditure must be claimed by the end of the Financial Year or within one year of the award. For further information please contact the relevant funding body.
23. Can I apply to JREI for funds if I want to lease the equipment?
JREI funds can be used for any method of procurement that meets the scientific aims of the applicants and the aim of the scheme itself to contribute to the physical research infrastructure in higher education institutions. This will very often mean buying the equipment, but leasing or collaboration with other bodies (such as the NHS) might also be suitable options. Bids will be assessed to ensure that the procurement arrangements are appropriate to the need and offer value for money. Applicants should therefore ensure that their chosen method of procurement is clear and well justified as part of the case for support.
PFI (the Private Finance Initiative) is a procurement method identified by two features in particular:
- PFI focuses on the provision of a service, not just the acquisition of an asset.
- Risk is shared with the private sector supplier so that it is carried by whichever party to the contract is best able to manage it.
In this way we seek to achieve better value for money. In a PFI contract we will expect to see the risk transfer reflected in the payment mechanism. In other words, the supplier will only be paid if the service is provided at the required standard.
25. How might PFI be an alternative to the JREI?
PFI would be an appropriate procurement route if, for example, a researcher wanted the use of a particular piece of equipment, but did not need to own it. Using PFI, the researcher might, for instance, buy a specified number of hours use each week. The supplier would be responsible for financing the purchase of the equipment, installing it, operating it, maintaining it and eventually disposing of it. Thus the supplier, not the user, is managing the risks associated with interest rates, commissioning, availability, technological obsolescence and residual value. The user only pays so long as the equipment is available. If the supplier can find other uses for the equipment, he may also be able to achieve economies of scale or a third party income, and this would be reflected in the price to the user.
26. What is meant on the application by access to Research Council facilities/services?
This is relevant to applications for funds from EPSRC who operate a ticketing system for the provision of laser, synchrotron and neutron facilities at CCLRC. Please contact Dr Alison Wall at EPSRC on 01793 444575 for further information before submitting a proposal.
27. Do you have any facts and figures about success rates from last year?
The success rates for JREI 1999 are as follows:
- Competition A: 72%
- Competition B: 58%
Last updated 15 March 2001