JISC

This guide to bidding for JISC grant funding opportunities is aimed at individuals and institutions responding to a call for project proposals, particularly for anyone unfamiliar with the process and the criteria for awarding funds.

Anyone bidding for grant funding from JISC should be familiar with and will be expected to comply with JISC's terms and conditions of grant. A second document provides further information on the expectations of JISC in the area of project management and provides project management guidance to bidders and project holders.

JISC funding for projects is often provided on the basis of competitive bids. Your project will therefore be likely to be competing with many other bids from UK universities and colleges.

For your bid to be successful it must

• Stand out from the others
• State its objectives clearly and concisely
• Clarify project outputs and demonstrate wider benefits to the education and research community
• Demonstrate how it supports the JISC Strategy
• Describe how it meets the criteria set out in the call
• Demonstrate that an initial assessment of project risks has been undertaken
• Provide a sound initial project plan and demonstrate robust project management arrangements
• Demonstrate how it is aligned with the objectives of your college or institution
• Document proposed dissemination, embedding and evaluation mechanisms
• Provide clear costings using the template provided
• Comment on sustainability issues when project funding ceases
• Demonstrate value for money or add significant value to the funding requested

This guide has been designed to support you in preparing a project proposal, thereby increasing your chances of success in the funding process.

Examples of bids that JISC has funded in response to grant funding opportunities

Why JISC invites proposals

JISC is funded by the Higher and Further Education funding bodies in the UK. JISC’s money is top-sliced from the funds made available to institutions and most is used on activities and services that are available to all, like the network infrastructure (JANET) and information services.

JISC also encourages the innovative use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) through innovation programmes. These comprise projects and studies that are funded within the education community and, occasionally, in collaboration with international partners. The aims of the programmes are to support the strategic goals of the various JISC committees and can:

• Evaluate and trial potentially interesting new technologies
• Establish good practice or promote standards
• Assist institutions implement new technologies, strategies or processes

 

JISC and its sub-committees must ensure that the activity

• Supports innovation
• Provides a UK wide benefit and adds value beyond that which could be achieved by institutions acting individually or collectively
• Is not possible, or is unlikely, without central support
• Has a clear output and is delivered with demonstrable value for money
• Could not be performed as well and more appropriately by institutions themselves or by another public or commercial body

In all cases JISC is seeking to fund specific areas of work which will be of general interest or benefit to the whole or large parts of the community. JISC cannot fund work that is of benefit only to a single institution; however it may provide additional funding for an internal project in return for documentation of the whole process to be made freely available.

The outcomes JISC aims to achieve through its activities are

• Continually enhance national infrastructure to support the activities of institutions
• Enhance capacity, knowledge and skills in the sector to enable positive and informed change (through piloting new technologies and approaches)
• Provide guidance to the sector on ‘best practice’ models for using technology that can be used at departmental, institutional, regional or national levels
• Provide strategic leadership to the sector and other bodies in specialist areas and influence national and international agendas
• Be a reflective and learning organisation

JISC will fund evaluations, case studies, toolkits, preparation of guides and good practice, trials of new technologies and techniques, and the roll-out of new technologies into institutions. JISC rarely funds proposals where the majority of funding enhances the internal infrastructure of a college, develops software or only involves desk research.

See the roadmap of future grant funding opportunities

JISC will not, in general, provide funding for unsolicited proposals. However most committees are prepared to consider suggestions for other areas which could be included in later funding opportunities. Suggestions should include a description of the topic, how the work would support an issue facing institutions and further the JISC strategy, and an indication of the scale of the work required. These should be sent via email to the relevant JISC Committee Secretary.

The right ideas

Winning proposals always demonstrate that the author has read the call for proposals thoroughly and carefully.

A successful bid will describe a good idea for addressing one or more of the key issues identified in the call or invite bidders to clarify the issue that a proposal may be addressing.

The ideas must be applicable to a wide section of the Higher and/or Further Education community, or provide results that will be of great interest to many other institutions.

Project proposals will be evaluated against a set of criteria that are described in the call. Read the call for proposals thoroughly and carefully and check whether your proposal meets these criteria. It can help to have an independent colleague carry out a check for you.

Examples of evaluation criteria in calls

• Evidence of understanding of the problem
• Impact and wider value to FE/HE
• Appropriateness of the methodology and evaluation techniques selected
• Experience of the proposers
• Feasibility and detail of the work plan/ timetable
• Value for money
• Likely effectiveness of the dissemination plan

Your proposal will be marked by a panel of independent experts. They are unlikely to have much knowledge of you, your team or your institution and will usually have many such proposals to mark. Your proposal must not only stand out as a good idea, it must also be clear, concise and provide all of the information requested in the call within the maximum number of pages stated. A well-written, brief summary of the project that sets out the aims and objectives in an easily understood form will be very helpful.

A clear presentation of the information in your proposal is therefore the key to success.

Making the case

First and foremost your proposal must be based on a good idea. It should be aligned with the requirements of the call, be original, offer real benefits to both your own institution and others if successful and demonstrate a sound awareness of the field and of other work that has already been carried out.

It is essential to have the backing of the host institution or college. This means more than a letter from senior management ‘fully supporting the work’. You should try and demonstrate how it builds on previous work, adds to other work that is already planned or is taking place or helps realise a published strategic aim and will be of benefit to the community more broadly.

Once you have made the case for the work you have to convince the evaluators that you can manage the project. Your proposal should provide an outline project plan, with achievable milestones and deliverables. You should describe the team members, their experience and complementary roles (clarifying where posts will need to be advertised) and provide evidence that the project will be properly managed.

Don't underestimate the problems in recruiting suitable staff to work on the project. Staff with suitable qualifications in areas where the JISC is interested can be in short supply or expensive. If you have appropriate people to be seconded to the work this should be stated in your bid. Alternatively you should provide contingency plans in the event that you experience problems with recruitment.

JISC has funded a toolkit (available soon) designed to provide practical help and advice to Hiring Managers working on JISC projects regarding the planning of recruitment, completing the necessary documentation for recruitment, sourcing the right applicants and making accurate recruitment decisions.

Project management is particularly important where there are several partners in the project. Evidence of previous successful work with the same partners, or in similar consortia, will be valuable. A consortium agreement will be required by JISC for all project consortia along with a statement regarding the IPR position in relation to project deliverables.

A project will only be successful, and of value to JISC and the wider community, if the results are made available to everyone. Your proposal must address the issue of dissemination and embedding thoroughly. Experience has shown that different skills are needed in the dissemination phase. Does your team possess those skills? Can they be made available at the appropriate phase of the work?

Most proposals merely offer to set up a website, write a report and make presentations at conferences. Proposals suggesting innovative mechanisms and evidence of real commitment to dissemination and embedding project outcomes have a much greater chance of success.

JISC funds work in areas where there is rapid change. Calls for long term projects usually ask for evidence of how the project will carry out ongoing evaluation of its performance and its relevance in the face of new developments (formative evaluation). Your plan should include regular reviews and a considered indication of the risks that it may face and how these may be minimised.

JISC promotes the use of appropriate international and industry standards. Your work should be based on these standards wherever possible. The call will make reference to JISC’s standards guidance and you must then describe how you intend to adhere to these.

The proposal must offer good value for money. Most calls will provide an indication of the maximum funding available per project. Do not hesitate to submit cases for smaller amounts of funding if that is all that is justified as these can allow the JISC to fund a greater number of projects.

TRAC (Transparent Approach to Costing) is now the standard method used for costing in higher education in the UK. The application of full economic costing as the basis for cost-based funding is seen as central to securing the long-term financial sustainability of higher education and its ability to deliver high quality learning and teaching and research. Bidders from UK HE institutions should use the TRAC (Transparent Approach to Costing) methodology when calculating the cost of a project or service. Bidders from organisations outside of UK HE should continue to use existing costing practice when submitting a funding proposal to JISC.

All bidders should indicate the funding contribution they are seeking from JISC and the funding and other resources they intend to give towards the activity. It is important that any benefits to the host institution and project partners are taken into account when considering contributions to be provided by bidders. Where a bid involves partners from outside of HE, the partners should cost their activities using current costing practice in their college or organisation and clearly identify partner contributions. When assessing proposals, we will take into consideration the reasonableness of the fEC calculations for the activity. It is important to us that HEIs are costing proposals accurately and seeking the appropriate level of support from us, so that they are not over-committed, and hence are ensuring the long-term availability of their activities. However, we also need to ensure consistency of treatment, and that we are using our funding effectively, across all proposals.

It is very important to provide a brief summary of all expenditure, justifying the amounts and the need. JISC funding will only be provided for staff salaries and on-costs (NI, Pensions, etc), travel and subsistence, dissemination, evaluation, indirect and estates costs. Proposals can include the capital costs of equipment or software where required by and appropriate for a project, such as PCs or servers. You must always provide full justification for any large capital expenditure or software being requested.

Projects should aim to add value to the funding supplied by JISC. This can be achieved if there is matching, or significant, funding from either the host institution or from outside partners. Funding contributions from institutions can be solely in the form of indirect costs.

Some calls will clearly ask for large projects (more than £100,000 per year) over long periods (usually up to three years). Those asking for short studies or case histories will offer more modest funding - £5,000 to £50,000 over 6-months or a year. The effort involved in preparing a response to the call should be proportional to the funding available.

Other calls may ask for proposals for work that is not of a transitory nature. For example, it may be to trial a new service or develop systems that may evolve into a long-term service or product of value to the community. Such proposals will ask for a Continuation (or Exit) Strategy and you must demonstrate that you have considered how the institution would run such a service or market a product after funding ceases.

Freedom of Information

All bids received by JISC are treated as confidential during the evaluation process and only shared with evaluation panel members, unless permission is obtained otherwise. Bidders should be aware, however, that JISC is subject to the Freedom of Information Act and it is therefore possible that JISC may be obliged to release some or all of the information provided to it upon receipt of a vaild request for such information. Information created or received as a result of the bidding and evaluation process is not routinely disclosed until after the process has been completed. Unsuccessful bids are destroyed by the JISC Executive upon completion of the evaluation process.

Checklist for final stages of submitting a bid

Check the deadline and submission process - late copies of bids will not be accepted regardless of any extenuating circumstances.

Ensure you have collated the following information to accompany the main part of the bid

• letter(s) of support from senior management
• cover sheet
• FOI Witheld Information Form
• ensure the main body of the bid follows the font size and page limit guidance
• ensure the bid is submitted in the correct format and does not exceed the file size indicated
• include any optional appendices (staff CVs ONLY unless otherwise stated)

Evaluation process

JISC has a standard procedure for the evaluation of bids and project proposals.