Aviation DFMC SBAS Receiver Prototype - GSA/GRANT/07/2017

Deadline: Oct 2, 2017  
CALL EXPIRED

1. CONTEXT

1.1. Introduction

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) provides an augmentation signal to the Global Positioning System (GPS) Standard Positioning Service. Presently EGNOS provides correction data and integrity information using the GPS L1 (1575.42 MHz) frequency band.

The next generation of EGNOS (EGNOS v3) will continue to offer this legacy service and will offer 2 (two) additional features: it will augment the Galileo positioning service (i.e. Dual Constellation capability with GPS and Galileo) and will provide correction data and integrity information with a second signal in the GPS L5 and Galileo E5a frequency band (i.e. Dual Frequency capability in the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands). These features will increase the robustness of the service and improve the performance provided to users for navigation services, notably in terms of positioning accuracy.

Currently the Safety of Life service (SoL), which is provided free of user charges, is used for aviation safety. The EGNOS SoL service was declared operational on 2 March 2011 and several manufacturers have developed user terminals compatible with the applicable standards.

For EGNOSv3, a new generation of user terminal needs to be developed in conformity with the new standards for Dual Frequency Multi-Constellation (DFMC). The SoL service based on GPS & Galileo in the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands is foreseen to become operational around 2024. Before that date the new generation of user terminals needs to have been industrialised, so that aviation users can equip with new receivers.

1.2. Background of the call

The European GNSS Agency (hereinafter ‘GSA’ or ‘the Agency’) is the Agency formed by the European Union to accomplish specific tasks related to the European GNSS programmes. The GSA, according to the existing regulations, is in charge of the accreditation of the European GNSS systems, of the operations of the GSMC (Galileo Security Monitoring Centre), of the contribution to the promotion and marketing of the European GNSS services, and of other tasks entrusted by delegation agreements from the European Commission, as for example exploitation of the systems, support to Public Regulated Service User segment, etc.

Further information can be found on the GSA’s website: http://www.gsa.europa.eu/

This call is based on the Delegation Agreement concluded between the GSA and the Commission on 16/04/2014. Under it the European GNSS Agency (GSA) is entrusted with the management of operational activities relating to the exploitation of the EGNOS Programme.

In this framework, and in accordance with the EGNOS Grants Plan for 2017 published on the GSA website (http://www.gsa.europa.eu/gsa/grants), the GSA is launching a call for proposals “Aviation DFMC SBAS Receiver Prototype”.

 

2. PURPOSE OF THE CALL AND SCOPE OF THE ACTIVITIES

2.1. Purpose of the call for proposals

The purpose of this call is to award a single grant to fulfil the following twofold objective:

 

1. 1)  To design, develop and test in flight a DFMC Satellite Based Augmentation System (SBAS) user terminal for the aviation SoL service, augmenting GPS and Galileo core constellations;

2. 2)  To implement and validate the completeness of the DFMC SBAS receiver standards developed in EUROCAE (Minimum Operational Performance Standard (MOPS)) and ICAO (Standard and Recommended Practices (SARPs))

The outcome of the activity shall be one DFMC SBAS prototype including both a receiver and an aircraft antenna and documented results of the tests performed. This prototype shall ensure the dual-sourcing of DFMC SBAS prototypes, in addition to the one to be created under the existing contract GSA/NP/04/15 and reduce the risk of divergence between Eurocae and RTCA MOPS.

The purpose of this call for Grant is to design, develop and test an aviation DFMC SBAS prototype receiver that will enable industrialisation of the prototype and certification of the receiver in the shortest possible time after completion of the Grant (industrialisation and certification are activities out of scope of the grant). The objective for the GSA is to enable aviation end users to benefit as soon as possible from DFMC capabilities that EGNOS v3 will provide. EGNOS v3 operational target date is foreseen around 2022.

The developed receiver, besides the DFMC SBAS functions (for GPS and Galileo), shall also include Horizontal-ARAIM (Advanced Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) and RAIM (Receiver Autonomous Integrity Monitoring) function.

Furthermore, a Vertical-ARAIM function shall be taken into account for the purpose of dimensioning the computational capabilities in the design and development of the prototype receiver. The implementation of Horizontal-ARAIM, and the assumptions for the Vertical-ARAIM, shall be based on the current state of standardisation of this feature at the beginning of the activity and updated with its on-going refinement.

Prototyping and validation activities required before production of a commercial product rely upon the availability ofstandardisation documents, notably the SBAS SARPs to be issued by ICAO and the Minimum Operational Performance Specifications (‘MOPS’) to be developed and issued by EUROCAE/RTCA;

Therefore, the grant objective is to enable the development of a prototype at a sufficient level of maturity to, as a minimum, carry out flight tests in a representative environment (Technology Readiness Level 7).

Applicants are consequently requested to explicitly provide their assessment of the TRL level achieved by the prototype developed, including the impacts on the project planning of the above listed dependencies and any others the applicant may identify in its proposal. Applicants are requested to explicitly detail mitigations measures they foresee in order to achieve the TRL7 as a minimum.

The prototype shall consist of:

• -  The receiver:

  o able to process GPS, Galileo and future EGNOS signals in the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands and able to interface with aircraft avionics;

  o also be able to process ARAIM messages (such as the Integrity Support Message) and to compute Horizontal ARAIM, as well as currently defined RAIM solutions

• -  The aircraft antenna able to receive the L1/E1 and L5/E5a frequency bands.

  Prototyping of the user terminal is interdependent with standardisation activities of DFMC receivers at the level of EUROCAE and RTCA. In this perspective, the manufacturer of the user terminal prototype will be required to participate to the development of standards with the relevant standardisation bodies. This includes supporting the validation of the MOPS within EUROCAE WG-62 and RTCA SC 159, aiming at the release of the EUROCAE Receiver using Dual Frequency GPS/GALILEO, with multi constellation SBASMOPS by 2020.

2.2. Core activities

In order to reach the objectives of this call, the beneficiary is expected to conduct the activities described below:

a. Develop a receiver as a minimum with the maturity level required for flight tests (i.e. TRL 7) via the following activities:

i. ii.

DFMC SBAS Receiver definition:

1. Architecture trade-offs

2. Architecture definition

DFMC SBAS Receiver development

1. Testing tools definition

2. DFMC SBAS Receiver Software development

3. DFMC SBAS Receiver integration and test

b. Implement and validate the completeness of the DFMC SBAS receiver standards developed in EUROCAE (Minimum Operational Performance Standard – ‘MOPS’) and ICAO (Standard and Recommended Practices – ‘SARPS’)

The core activities can be grouped into two main phases with specific objectives:

Phase 1: the objective of the first phase of the grant is the delivery of a flexible engineering prototype of the Dual Frequency GPS+Galileo SBAS receiver, to implement the features of the DFMC SBAS Interface Control Document (ICD) as well as H-ARAIM and to flexibly support investigations on relevant issues of the DFMC MOPS while the initial EUROCAE MOPS are being produced (target date for EUROCAE Initial MOPS: end 2018).

The design of the engineering prototype shall already take into account that the commercial product shall be developed at a Design Assurance Level and a Software Assurance Level sufficient to ensure safety certification. It is the responsibility of the beneficiary to perform the safety assessment and to propose the adequate DAL and SWAL levels for the different components/functions of the receiver and to identify all the necessary activities and relevant associated documentation to be produced. This information shall be provided in their proposal.

The platform used shall take into account the use of commercial Hardware or an already available Hardware platform in order to ensure the requested above mentioned flexibility;

Phase 2: the objective of the second phase is the delivery of the prototype receiver at TRL7 as a minimum and delivery of test results required for the finalisation of the MOPS. Phase 2 shall not be started by the beneficiary before the release of the initial DFMC SBAS MOPS by EUROCAE. During the Phase 2, the antenna, compatible with the DFMC SBAS antenna MOPS, shall be either procured or developed, and a Hardware (HW)+Software (SW) version of the entire terminal (receiver plus antenna) shall be produced at the level required for flight tests.

The receiver shall be verified within a representative simulated environment then validation activities and environment characterisation tests shall be conducted through flight trials. Since MOPS will be finalised duringthe Phase 2, MOPS updates shall be taken into account in the development of the receiver. The same approach shall apply to the Applicable Documents subject to update during the course of the project (especially ICAO SARPs). The Grant beneficiary is expected to actively contribute to validating MOPS and other Applicable Documents with data obtained from the tests conducted.

 

 

The duration of each phase is given as an estimate subject to external dependencies taking into account that Phase 2 is started after the release of the initial DFMC SBAS MOPS by EUROCAE. To date, it is anticipated that Phase 1 will last up to 18 months, and Phase 2 should be finished within 48 months after the signature of the grant agreement.

2.2.1. Structure of the activities and work breakdown
The following activities and tasks are expected to be commonly developed through the different phases of

the grant:

Task 0 – “Project Management”
This task includes the overall management for the grant agreement for ensuring the work of the tasks are overall aligned, milestones are achieved and reporting and planning is done efficiently and in a timely manner.

Task 1 – “Standardisation and Dissemination”
This task consists in the dissemination of information (notably test results) and standardisation activities carried out by the beneficiary in coordination with the GSA. The beneficiary shall also produce a roadmap describing the timeline proposed for the introduction of the certified product on the market; this roadmap shall be regularly updated during the course of the project. Task 1 shall be carried out throughout the entire duration of the Grant and is concluded with the “Final Review” (FR).

The following activities and tasks are expected to be foreseen specifically for each phase:

Main Tasks of Phase 1:

The Phase 1 is expected to be structured based on the following macro tasks:

Task 2 – “Dual Frequency Multi Constellation SBAS Receiver Definition”
This task should consist in the definition and design of the DFMC SBAS Engineering Prototype Receiver, including technical trades-off for different implementation solution considering, as a minimum, receiver architecture, H-ARAIM implementation, interferences mitigation, Galileo only operational mode, modes switching and functions apportionment between hardware and software.

Task 2 shall be concluded with the “Preliminary Design Review” (PDR).

 

Task 3 – “Dual Frequency Multi Constellation SBAS Receiver v1 Development”
This task should consist in the development, integration and verification of the DFMC SBAS Engineering Prototype v1 Receiver. This prototype shall enable potential integration (interface specification to be provided by the GSA at the beginning of the grant implementation) with institutional third parties tools/means developed in the frame of EGNOS v3 development to support both ICAO SARPs and EUROCAE/RTCA MOPS validation. The beneficiary shall explain which testing tools (including their qualification level) will be used to perform the activity and which level of maturity is intended to be reached by the end of Phase 1.

Task 3 should be concluded with the delivery of the engineering prototype and the test results: the “Acceptance Review” (AR) completes the tasks of Phase 1.

Main Tasks of Phase 2:

Task 4 – “Dual Frequency Multi Constellation SBAS Receiver v2 Development”
This task should consist in the development, integration and verification of the DFMC SBAS Prototype Receiver v2, including flight tests. An initial delta design activity is foreseen in order to align the architecture and the testing tools defined in Phase 1 with the draft MOPS input provided as pre-requisite to start Phase 2. Task 4 shall not start before EUROCAE has issued the MOPS. At the start of Phase 2, the beneficiary shall prepare a Document (i.e. the "Initial DFMC SBAS MOPS Analysis Report") to critically review the MOPS analysing the open issues subject to an eventual trade-off and to provide the approach and the plan on how to address the analysed open issues at the beginning of Phase 2 (i.e. within the initial Delta Design).

The launch of the Phase 2 by the beneficiary shall be subject to the availability of the Eurocae DFMC SBAS Initial MOPS, as well as the availability of any other applicable documents identified by the beneficiary as required to perform Phase 2.

Task 4 should be concluded with the “Test Readiness Review” (‘TRR’).

Task 5 – “Trials”
This task should consist in the definition of an experimentation plan and in the execution of the relevant test campaign in a representative environment, including flight tests. The test data in an operational environment will support both EUROCAE/RTCA MOPS and ICAO SARPs.

Task 5 should be concluded with the delivery of the final prototype and the test results at the “Final Review” (‘FR’) that completes Phase 2.

2.2.2. Project workflow
Terminology used for the tasks described above (PDR, AR, ...) is used for reference:, the beneficiary is

expected to define the milestones and will keep control of the development of the work.

The applicants shall follow an avionics system engineering lifecycle and describe in their proposal any intermediate additional reviews they deem necessary for each task. The applicants shall include the elements below in the project workflow to be submitted in their proposal; which will then be considered final during the kick-off .

(1) Work plan (deliverable (1)), as described in Section 3 of the B1 form.

 

 

 

(2) Submission of a requirements document (deliverable (2)), detailing the DFMC SBAS prototype system and operational requirements which are the input to the design activity for the prototype’s receiver.

(3) Performance of the core design activity containing at least the following reviews:

a. Preliminary Design Review (PDR) to present to the GSA the inputs to be considered suitable for the detailed design process. Presentation shall highlight in particular the prototypes’ requirements and the preliminary design architecture, the potential risk items and their mitigation plans;

b. Conclusion of the design process by a Critical Design Review (CDR) to present to the GSA the system detailed design and architecture, in particular how the requirements are suitable for the implementation phase, as well as any open action resulting from the PDR stage;

(4) Development and test of the receiver’s prototypes.

(5) Consolidation and approval of the performance validation plan

(6) Assessment of the receiver performance for Safety of Life operations, covering SBAS and H- ARAIM augmentation modes:

a. Receiver’s performance validation in a simulated environment, whose evidences shall be assessed in a Test Readiness Review (TRR) where the GSA shall be invited to participate: aiming at the preliminary in-lab validation the signal processing algorithm;

b. Receiver’s performance validation under real conditions and using real GNSS signals, whose evidences shall be assessed in a Final Review (FR) where the GSA shall be invited to participate: exploration of the achieved performance under real scenarios, to demonstrate that the DFMC SBAS receiver meets the target Safety of Life requirements for each pre-selected operation;

(8) Support to the DFMC SBAS standardisation process by providing data (especially test results) to relevant Standardisation bodies (especially RTCA and EUROCAE).

 

2.3. Applicable and reference documentation

In this section, all applicable documents and reference documents are reported. The beneficiary shall take into account the update of the applicable documents during the course of the grant and inject the modifications into the activities.
Applicants in their proposals shall identify all other applicable standards and documents and submit adjustments during the proposal for tailoring the applicable standards that lead to the development of a certifiable product.

NOTE: The mode of access of the documents is stated in the following tables.

2.3.1. Applicable documents

The applicable documents are split into 2 (two) categories:
1. The documents that will not be updated during the grant agreement, and 2. The document that will be updated during the grant agreement.

Applicable documents not updated during the term of the grant agreement:

 

(TABLE NOT AVAILABLE)

 

2.4. Deliverables

The applicants are expected to submit during the implementation of the action some deliverables. The proposal (in the B1 Form) should define their nature and format (document, prototype, multimedia, etc.).

The deliverables shall include at least the following:

1. (1)  Workplan(includingprojectworkflow)

2. (2)  Systemandoperationalrequirementsdocument

3. (3)  Preliminary technical architecture and requirements of the engineering prototype receiver

4. (4)  Detailed architecture of the DFMC SBAS Receiver as well as associated detailed technical HW, SW and operational requirements

5. (5)  Initial DFMC SBAS MOPS Analysis Report

6. (6)  Safety assessment document

7. (7)  Test plan, cases and procedures (for both the receiver models)

8. (8)  Test reports (for both the receiver models)

9. (9)  User Manual (for both the receiver models)

(10)Dissemination plan
(11)Dissemination documents and multi-media (12)Roadmap for product development up to certification (13)Monthly Progress Report
(14)Receiver v1
(15)Receiver v2

 

(TABLE NOT AVAILABLE)

 

GSA reserves the right to timely inform (e.g. at the Kick-Off meeting) the beneficiary about the place of delivery of deliverables (14) and (15) (either the GSA or other EU institutions).

The draft grant agreement is specifying the conditions of the ownership and right to use policy of the above deliverables.

2.5. Outputs expected from the implementation of activities

The proposals shall aim to achieve the objectives of the action. All the deliverables (as listed in section 2.4), will be used by EU and GSA in accordance with Article II.9 of the Grant Agreement.

 

3. TIMETABLE

Scheduled start-up date for the action: February 2018, unless the applicants can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed.

Maximum duration of the action: 4 (four) years

This call for proposals shall be conducted according to the following indicative timetable:

a) Publication of the call

19 July 2017

 

b) Deadline for request for clarifications

18 August 2017

 

c) Publication of the clarifications

8 September 2017

 

d) Deadline for submitting applications

2 October 2017

 

e)Evaluation period

October to December 2017

 

f) Information to applicants on the outcome of the

January 2018

 

g) Signature of the Grant Agreement

End of January 2018

 

4. EU FINANCING

Maximum budget allocated for EU financing under this action: EUR 5.000.000 Maximum number of projects: 1
Maximum EU financing rate of eligible costs: 60%

 

Publication of the call does not guarantee the availability of funds for the above action and it places no obligation on the GSA to award grants to any applicant.

GSA reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant. In such a case, the applicant(s) will be asked either to increase his co-financing, propose other co-financing means or to decrease the total costs without altering the substance of the proposal. Grants will not be awarded for more than the amount requested.

 

5. ROLES AND TASKS WITHIN THE CONSORTIUM

5.1. Entities involved in the activities subject to the proposal

The proposal shall clearly identify the entities (legal and/or natural persons) to be involved in the activities subject to the proposal, being the applicant(s) (including coordinator and co-applicants) as well as any third parties, such as affiliated entities and subcontractors and their contributions to the implementation of the proposal under the grant agreement. Parties’ participation in the project will be subject to the requirements as laid down in this Call for Proposals.

5.2. Single Applicant

In case the proposal is submitted by a single applicant, it will be considered as mono-beneficiary if the proposal is successful.

5.3. Coordinator

If the proposal is submitted by a group of several co-applicants these co-applicants will form a consortium and will become consortium members. The consortium members (multi-beneficiaries) should choose within their midst a lead organisation, referred to as the “Coordinator”.

The coordinator submits the application on behalf of the consortium and will be the intermediary for all communication between the co-beneficiaries and the GSA as well as responsible for supplying all documents and information to the GSA in due time upon request. Coordinator will also be responsible for distribution of payments received from GSA to the co-beneficiaries.

Maximum budget allocated for EU financing under this action: EUR 5.000.000 Maximum number of projects: 1
Maximum EU financing rate of eligible costs: 60%

 

5.4. Co-applicant(s)

Each co-applicant will be considered as co-beneficiary if the proposal is successful. Before signature of the grant agreement all applicants within the consortium shall agree upon appropriate arrangements between themselves for the proper performance of the specific actions. In particular by submitting their joint proposal, they shall accept joint and several financial responsibility of the debt of a defaulting beneficiary up to the value of the contribution that the beneficiary held liable is entitled to receive, as stipulated in the General Conditions of the draft grant agreement.

Co-applicants shall immediately inform the coordinator of any event liable to substantially affect or delay the implementation of the action, who will communicate with the GSA subject to grant agreement as well as clauses ensuring compliance with the requirements on ownership and usage rights of results and any pre-existing rights towards the GSA and the European Union as specified in the draft grant agreement.

When a grant is awarded, the co-beneficiaries forward to the coordinator in a timely manner all the data needed to draw up the reports, the financial statements and other documentation required by the grant agreement.

The coordinator and all co-applicants forming the consortium must satisfy the eligibility criteria.

5.5. Affiliated entities

Legal persons having a legal or capital link with applicant(s), which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs. For that purpose, applicant(s)1 shall identify such affiliated entities in the application forms and in the proposal.

Each affiliated entity shall have to comply with the same eligibility and non-exclusion criteria as those applying to the applicant(s) and submit the same forms, including the forms proving the financial and operational capacity (see section 9.1 and 9.2 below).

Affiliated entities can be:

1. a)  several legal persons forming together one legal person or 'sole beneficiary' which may, or may not,

   have been specifically established for carrying out the action (e.g. groupings, joint ventures).

2. b)  legal persons having a legal or capital link with a beneficiary or co-beneficiary, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation (e.g. networks,

   federations, trade-unions).

5.6. Subcontractors
Sub-contractors are not beneficiaries to the grant, nor affiliated entities.

1 For the sake of clarity, the term “applicant”, referred to in this call, shall encompass single applicants, co-applicants and coordinator as appropriate 

Subcontracting2 refers to contracts concluded for the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action.

The beneficiaries remain solely responsible for the implementation of the action. Subcontracting is not allowed among the beneficiaries in the project. Please note that the beneficiaries must have the necessary capacity to perform the project themselves.

Subcontracting of specific tasks or activities (i.e. the externalisation) which form part of the action as described in the proposal must satisfy the conditions applicable to any implementation contract (as specified above) and in addition to them the following conditions:

a. it may only cover the implementation of a limited part of the action and shall in no case cover core activities as described in Sections 2.2;

b. it must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;

c. it must be clearly stated in the proposal.

The applicants must have operational capacity to perform the work proposed in their proposal. This operational capacity will be assessed at the time of the evaluation of the proposal (please refer to section 9.2 below).

In exceptional cases, where the implementation of the action or the technical proposal (B1-B2 Forms) can be done more efficiently and effectively through the award of subcontracts (implementation contracts), the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interests and retain the relevant documentation for the event of an audit. Entities acting in their capacity of contracting authorities in the meaning of Directive 2004/18/EC3 or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive 2004/17/EC4 shall abide by the applicable national public procurement rules.

The costs of subcontracting can be eligible under the conditions indicated in the grant agreement (see also point 2.8 in section 12.2 below). The proposal should clearly specify the activities that will be subcontracted in the description of the action and the corresponding costs must be indicated in the estimated budget.The contract should be awarded in accordance with the conditions set in the grant agreement. Recourse to the award of contracts must be duly justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation.

Any justification provided by the beneficiary needs to be pre-endorsed by the GSA and subcontracting shall require GSA’s approval which may be considered granted in cases where the subcontracting is already fully described in the proposal so accepted by the GSA, given that it will then be implemented accordingly and fulfilling the eligibility criteria specified in the signed Grant Agreement.

The tasks concerned must be set out in the description of the action (i.e. form B1 and Annex I to the grant agreement) and the estimated costs of subcontracting must be clearly identifiable in the estimated budget (Form C1). However, approval of subcontracting by GSA (whether at the time of the evaluation of proposal or later during implementation of the action) does not automatically mean that the related costs 

will be considered eligible and reimbursed. The costs will need to comply with the eligibility criteria set up in the grant agreement in order for them to be reimbursed.

Any modifications on an ad hoc basis while the action is under way must be presented for ex-ante approval of the GSA and for major items will require an amendment to the grant agreement otherwise will not be reimbursed.

It is not necessary to have already selected subcontractors at the time the proposal is submitted. However, cost of subcontractors not selected in accordance with the rules referred to in this Section will not be eligible.

 

6. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

APPLICATIONS MUST COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS SET OUT IN THIS SECTION.

Applications must comply with the following conditions in order to be admissible:

•   Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 17,

•   Applications must be submitted in writing, using the submission set described in section 16,

•   Applications must be drafted in one of the EU official languages with a preference to English. For

  further information please refer to Section 17 below,

•   Applications must respect the maximum rate for EU co-financing,

•   Applications must respect the maximum amount for EU co-financing5.

  In this context, any project directly or indirectly contrary to EU policy or against public health, human rights or against citizen’s security will be rejected.

 

7. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

APPLICATIONS MUST COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA SET OUT IN THIS SECTION.

7.1. Eligible applicants

a. Applications by legal persons (consortia or mono-beneficiary) established6 in and/or natural person(s) being nationals of any of the following countries, are eligible:

 EU Member States

 

 Switzerland, Norway

2. Corporate bodies must be properly constituted and registered under their applicable law. When an applicant does not have legal personality, a physical person must be designated to provide the legal responsibility;

3. As set under paragraph 2.1, the scope of this call has been the subject matter of a recent procurement GSA/NP/04/15. In order to meet the principle of establishing dual source and avoid double funding, the awarded contractor, its subcontractors (and entites belonging to the contractor’s Group) are not eligible to participate. A declaration of compliance is expected in Form A3 and A4.

The single applicant (see ref. to section 5.2), the coordinator (see ref. to section 5.3) and all co-applicants (see ref. to section 5.4) forming the applicant consortium, as well as the affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5) shall satisfy the same eligibility criteria.
Exceptionally, subcontractors are requested to fulfil eligibility criteria 7.1.(d) and provide a declaration in this direction.

7.2. Structure of the consortium (multi-beneficiaries)

The coordinator will submit the proposal on behalf of the consortium. It shall be the intermediary for all communication between the co-applicants and the GSA and responsible for supplying all documents and information to the GSA in due time upon request.

The proposal consequently must be submitted by a consortium composed of at least two (2) entities out of which:

•   the coordinator shall be a legal person;

•   the co-applicant(s) can be either legal and/or natural person(s).

  For the sake of clarity, the term “applicant”, referred to in this call, shall encompass co-applicants and coordinator as appropriate.

  All co-applicants in the same consortium shall agree upon appropriate arrangements (internal cooperation agreements) among themselves for the proper performance of the action. In particular, they shall accept joint and several liability of the debt of a defaulting partner up to the value of the contribution that the partner held liable is entitled to receive.

  The grant agreement shall be signed by coordinator of the successful consortium; provided that a mandate (Annex IV of the grant agreement) has been provided to it by the other co-applicants. A copy of this mandate shall be provided to the GSA.

  Legal persons having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5), and may declare eligible costs. For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form.

7.3. Supporting documents proving compliance with the eligibility criteria

The applicant(s) and any affiliated entities shall provide the following supporting documents as further detailed below to establish their eligibility:

 

 

 All the applicants (including single applicant, coordinator and co-applicants) and any affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5) shall provide the following supporting documents to establish their eligibility:

•   A duly filled and signed Legal Entity Form (LEF) accompanied by the relevant evidence (see below) of the applicant's legal status has to be provided at the stage of submission. A specific form in all official languages of the EU is available at the following internet page (use of the English forms is preferred): http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm

•   A duly signed declaration that the applicant is not receiving any EU financing for the activities similar to those of this call for proposal, in particular through the contract GSA/NP/04/15.

•   In addition:

•   private legal person(s) : extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register OR a copy of the certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

•   public legal person(s) : a copy of the resolution, law, decree or decision establishing the public company, or as an alternative, any other official document establishing the public legal person by the national authorities may be submitted;

•   natural person(s) : legible photocopy of identity card and/or passport OR an official VAT document (if applicable).

For the Consortium: In addition to the above supporting documents, each applicant shall further submit letters confirming their participation to the project, their role in the consortium (lead applicant/coordinator or co-applicant/co-beneficiary) and the main task to be performed.

 The single applicant and the coordinator7, who will be receiving payments, shall provide:

 A duly filled Financial Identification Form (FIF),
which can be downloaded from the following website: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/financial_id/financial_id_en.cfm

It must be duly filled in and signed, and if applicable be accompanied by the relevant bank statement.

IMPORTANT NOTE (1): Applicant(s) may participate in multiple applicant consortia, if the actions covered in the respective Technical Proposals (B1 form) are different from each other in order to comply with the principle of non-cumulative financing and award.

 

8. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Article 105a, paragraphs 1 to 4, 6 and 7, except point (b) of the first subparagraph and the second

APPLICATIONS MUST COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE EXCLUSION CRITERIA SET OUT IN THIS SECTION.

subparagraph of that paragraph, paragraphs 8, 9, 11 and 13 to 17 of Article 106 and Article 108 of Financial Regulations shall apply to grant applicants and beneficiaries. Article 107 shall apply to applicants. Applicants shall declare whether they are in one of the situations referred to in Article 106(1) or Article 107 and, where applicable, whether they have taken remedial measures as referred to in point (a) of Article 106(7).

8.1. Exclusion from the participation

Exclusion criteria are specified in the standard Declaration of Honour (A5 Form) of this call. The same exclusion criteria apply to all affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5).

8.2. Exclusion from award

Applicants will not be granted EU funds if, in the course of the grant award procedure, they:

•   are in an exclusion situations established in the A5 form;

•   have misrepresented the information required by the GSA as a condition of participation in the grant award procedure or fail to supply this information upon request by GSA.

  The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

  Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants that are guilty of misrepresentation.

8.3. Supporting documents proving compliance with exclusion criteria

All applicants and any affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5) must sign and submit a Declaration of Honour (A5 Form).

Please note that according to this A5 Form, the successful applicants – subject to the outcome of the risk assessment8 performed by GSA on a case by case basis – may be required to send a number of supporting documents related to aspects of the Declaration of Honour before the respective grant agreement can be signed. Collecting these supporting documents may take some time and applicants shall ensure their timely availability for performing this requirement accordingly. Applicants shall approach the GSA in due time in case they are of the opinion that certain points of the declaration are not applicable to them (e.g. due to their legal structure).

 

 

9. SELECTION CRITERIA

APPLICATIONS MUST COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE SELECTION CRITERIA SET OUT IN THIS SECTION.

9.1. Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application by each applicant and affiliated entity (thresholds applying by applicants):

 

 

Total grant amount < EUR 750 000:

• -  a declaration on their honour (A5 Form) and,

• -  the table provided for in the application form (A6 Form), filled in with the relevant statutory

  accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form. For newly created legal persons, a business plan might replace the above documents.

  Total grant amount ≥ EUR 750 000, in addition to the above:

- an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last

financial year available.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if GSA considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory and in any other case GSA may deem it appropriate, it may:

• -  request further information;

• -  propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;

• -  propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing paid in instalments;

• -  propose a grant agreement with a lower percentage of a pre-financing;

• -  propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee;

• -  reject the application.

  The verification of the financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies and international organisations.

9.2. Operational capacity (B2 Form)

The applicant(s) shall demonstrate an expertise in areas like development, integration, and manufacturing of GNSS receivers and antennas for aviation and providing expertise in the field of GNSS R&D.

Applicants must show they have the operational (technical and management) capacity to complete the activities to be supported by this Call for Proposal and must demonstrate their capacity to manage the activities corresponding to the size of the project for which the grant is requested.

In particular:

• -  The team responsible for the activities must have an eminent technical competence on GNSS technology and a high degree of specialisation on aviation and GNSS, specifically EGNOS and Galileo,

• -  Applicants must have a high degree of specialisation in areas relevant for the activities subject to the proposal with recent examples of design, development, and industrialisation of GNSS Avionics receivers,

• -  Applicants must demonstrate their experience in standardisation processes especially EUROCAE and RTCA,

• -  Applicants must prove that they are able to assess core technologies supporting the DFMC SBAS receivers and are also able to design, develop and integrate such innovative technology solutions.

  In this respect, applicants have to submit in addition to the Declaration of Honour (A5 Form), the following elements:

• -  description of the profile of the individuals9 primarily responsible for managing and implementing the activities;

• -  a description of the technical equipment, tools or facilities at the disposal of the applicant;

• -  description of the role of each applicant (coordinator, co-applicants and affiliated entities) in the organisational structure in general and regarding the performance of activities subject to grant agreement.

In the case of affiliated entities (see ref. to section 5.5) taking part in the project, the above requirements apply to each affiliated entity.

 

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