A GUIDE TO COMPLETING A PROJECT BIDDING FORM

A project bidding form sets out the details of a project proposal and enables the High Commission and the Programme Team and Programme Board in London to assess whether or not the project should receive funding, and it is against this proposal that the project will be evaluated. It is important that this form is completed properly. Please bear in mind the following general advice:

• You should check whether a project idea fits with our strategy and priorities before you develop a full bid. You can look on the FCO website for details of the strategic programmes and their objectives.   You should then complete Section A of the bid form only. This “concept bid” will then be considered by the High Commission or Programme Team, who will let you know whether or not they would like to see a full bid
• If you are submitting a full bid, please answer all questions. Every section of an appraisal is appraised and scored so we need all the information in order to make a proper assessment of the project. However projects less than £5000 only need to complete section A.  
• Please keep your bid clear and concise. We receive a very large number of bids, and may miss important points if there is too much detail. Bullet points are an excellent way of focussing on the key points. But please check the guidance and ensure that you have covered all the questions asked.

SECTION A: PROJECT CONCEPT

A1: BASIC INFORMATION

Information on how to complete the following questions -

Fund/ Programme/Programme Objective/Post Objective: These sections will be completed by the High Commission. These will help to assess whether the project fits with our policy priorities.

Project Title:  A project title should be short and succinct, but be sufficient to give an indication of the change that the project will bring about

Countries Covered: State the country or countries in which the project will deliver benefits. If the project involves multiple countries, have you consulted the relevant British Embassies/ High Commissions?

Project Purpose: One sentence. It is a statement of the immediate outcome or direct change or benefit that the project will achieve. It should be achievable by the project alone, and should not be a higher level objective to which the project can only contribute. The outputs and activities described in the project proposal should be sufficient to achieve the project purpose. You will later define indicators for purpose which describe what success will look like.

Outputs: The quantitative or qualitative deliverables or results of the project activities. These should be sufficient to deliver the project purpose.  You will later develop indicators to define in more detail what success at this level will look like. Number your outputs.

Main Activities: Limited to 200 words. Outline the activities planned to deliver the outputs stated above. EXAMPLES: analysis of training needs in organisation x; identification and selection of potential participants; delivery of training courses. OR: recruitment of a consultant; 3 fact finding visits to areas x, y and z; 1 month consultation based in place A; 2 weeks writing report. Number your activities so that they can be linked to the numbered outputs – so for output 1, you may have activities 1.1, 1.2, 1,3 and for output 2, activity 2.1, 2.2 etc.

Background: Use bullet points and limit this section to 300 words. Summarise:
- The key problems that the project aims to address
- Any extra information needed to make the link between the project purpose and the programme or Post objective
- The timeliness of this project – why is now a good time to be doing this?
- Any relevant legal or technical issues or political constraints
- Relevant work already conducted in this area, including by other donors
- Co-ordination with others working in this field that has taken place in respect of this project.

Longer Term Impact: State the expected wider or longer-term effect or contribution to a higher-level objective if the project purpose is achieved.

Sustainability: Give details of how the project has considered if and how any benefits will be sustained and the consequence if they are not. This should include measures taken to ensure that the project does not remain dependent on UK funding.

A2: BUDGET INFORMATION

Total cost to FCO: State total costs, in GBP (£) and indicate how much will fall to each UK financial year, which runs from 1 April – 31 March. NB: it is not usually possible to use unspent funds from previous financial years in the following financial year.

Proposed start/ end dates: Please indicate when you intend the project to start (subject to approval of funds) and when the project will end given the stated start date.

Co-funding: Please give details of the type of co-funding e.g:
- Financial: cash contribution from another donor agency
- in-kind: provision of someone’s time or a venue without charge
Also give details of the organisation providing co-funding and the (approximate) cash value of the contribution.

Total cost of project: Add the value of any co-funding to the total cost to the FCO. Indicate what % of total project costs are to be provided by FCO.

Other funding applications: Please provide brief details of  applications for funding you have made to other organisations in respect of this project idea.

A3: CONTACT INFORMATION

Post: To be filled in by High Commission Staff.

Implementing Organisation: Provide contact details for the organisation that will be managing/ implementing the proposed project activity.

Beneficiary Organisation: Provide contact details for the organisation that will receive the benefit of the project.

A4: PROJECT STRATEGIC RELEVANCE

To be filled in by High Commission Staff:
Post comments: Post to provide very brief confirmation of how this project fits with Post objectives and/or programme strategy analysis and activities to date. Also note any changes made to the original project bid before submission (e.g. VFM check, refocusing to meet objectives, review of purpose etc).
Programme Team/ Desk officer comments: Record any comments passed to Post in respect of this project before the project was finally presented to the Programme Board.
Programme Board comments/ feedback: Record the comments/feedback from the Programme Board, including any amendments required before the project can be finally approved or reasons for rejecting the bid.

SECTION B: FULL BID

B1: Monitoring and Evaluation of Objectives

Project Purpose: Repeat purpose as stated in A1.
Indicators of success: This section provides the means to measure whether the project purpose has been achieved. How will we know that the overall planned benefit/ change has happened?

Purpose indicators should be a statement of what you would expect to see if the project successfully achieves the benefit/change stated in the project purpose:

e.g. What will be different? What will you see more of? (or less of?) What will people do that they didn’t before? What will you see when this has happened?

Status: What is the situation at the moment?
Source of information: State where you will be able to find information about whether the indicators have been achieved: e.g. newspaper reports; official reports/statistics etc.

Outputs: List each output detailed in section A1 above on a separate line.

Indicators of success: This provides the means to measure whether the quantitative or qualitative deliverables have been completed successfully. So output indicators should give more detail on what you would expect to see if project activities successfully deliver the results described by the outputs eg. What would be in place? What tangible things would we have? How many people would be involved? To what standard would something have been delivered?

Status: As for purpose.

Source of info: As for purpose.

M&E Plan
How will the project be monitored?: Give details of the systems in place for monitoring: e.g. quarterly progress reports; site visits; spot checks. Who will do these?

Evaluation: Give details of who will to the evaluation and by when. Remember to include any associated costs in the project budget.  NB: initial evaluations must take place within 3 months of project completion.  Please also indicate whether this project is likely to warrant further evaluation in the longer term.

Project Risk Analysis
Risk: This section identifies the risks which would affect the delivery of the project purpose for the given budget. You should consider major risks at all levels of your project – e.g. what might stop you being able to do your activities? What might stop these activities delivering the outputs stated? What might stop the outputs bringing about the project purpose? What might stop the project purpose making the expected progress towards the programme objective? What might make things cost more than planned? What might cause delays?

Likelihood: Indicate how likely it is that this risk will come about: High/medium/low.

Impact: If this risk does come about, how much will this impact the achievement of the project purpose? High/medium/low.

Management: How will you address this risk to make sure the project purpose can still be achieved within budget? You might consider tolerating it (accepting that there is a risk but continuing anyway); transferring it (getting someone else to take responsibility for the consequences if the risk materialises); or treating it (adding some activities into the project plan to address this risk or stop it arising). If you chose to “treat” the risk, remember to include resulting activities and any extra budget in your project bid.  

B2: Activity Based Budget
Activity/ months: The Activity Based Budget allows the Programme Board to assess value for money and, if the project is approved, track the progress of project activities.  The UK Financial Year runs from April – March and it is not usually possible to move funds between financial years. It is important to know in which financial year the funding is required and have a clear idea of when activities are planned. If activities planned for one financial year may be delayed to the following financial year, it is important you notify the High Commission as soon as possible.

Separate your overall budget into the component activities and record the cost that will fall in each month for this individual activity. For example, if one element of your project is to run 3 workshops, please include the number of participants and break costs down into key component parts on separate lines, e.g. Consultant costs (including number of days and rate per day); travel; room hire. Administration costs should not exceed 10% of the total project costs. Include quantity (e.g. how many items produced/ required). However, do not divide staff time between activities but as separate monthly payments. If the High Commission is required to make direct payments to more than one organisation, please also indicate how costs are divided between those organisations.  

Multi year projects: Give a high level indication of when funds will be required in future Financial Years. NB if the project is approved, a more detailed ABB will be required for each relevant financial year in due course.

Value for Money: Give examples of how value for money has been maximised within this project. E.g. getting quotes from a number of potential suppliers; using local rather than international experts where appropriate; how named project implementing partners were identified and why they represent value for money (e.g. have relevant skills, how their fees compare to other similar experts).

B3: Procurement
External contracting and procurement details: The UK is committed to ensuring that activities we fund are not open to fraud or corruption. As part of this, implementing organisations should ensure that any procurement of goods and services is fair and transparent. If an implementing organisation is procuring a good or service worth over £93,000, procurement should be in line with EU purchasing guidelines.  Give details of how you will ensure that procurement is fair and transparent (e.g. getting quotes from a number of potential suppliers; recording why decisions to use particular suppliers were made and making this information available to auditors when requested.) If there is only one potential supplier you should record why you judge this to be the case (e.g. only suitable product/ details of specialist skills.)

B4: INSTITUTIONS
Capacity of implementing organisations: Give brief information to demonstrate that the implementing organisation has the experience and resources to successfully implement a project of this size and nature.  For UK based organisations, specify any local experience. For local organisations, give details of previous work with foreign institutions. If appropriate, you may wish to include the CVs of key project personnel as an annex to this bid.

Level of participation: Indicate how you have identified your stakeholders and how you have involved them in project planning and design and/or their engagement in and commitment to the delivery of the project, including monitoring and evaluation of the project.

Government support: It is important that implementing agencies have considered the implications of government support or the lack of it. Have the relevant government departments been consulted and does this proposal have their support? If yes, to what extent will government be involved or affected by the project? In particular, is this project likely to directly influence government policy? If there has been no consultation, how would lack of government support affect the implementation and/or the long-term impact and sustainability of project benefits?

B5: CROSS CUTTING EFFECTS OF PROJECT
The UK is committed to promoting human rights, diversity and environmental responsibility. This section requires an analysis of how this project can maximise positive impact and avoid any detrimental effects in these areas and details of any necessary adjustments. Also detail what positive benefits can be expected in these areas from this project. Read the Strategic Priorities for further information on the following:

Human Rights
Diversity (incl gender and disability)
Environment
Other

B6: PUBLICITY
Assess:
- whether it is appropriate to seek publicity for this project
- the type of publicity this project is likely to generate
- how publicity could be used to enhance the value of this project (remember to include any additional costs in the project budget).