In the recently published Integrated Review, the UK’s vision is to be a leading, responsible cyber power, working with partners to shape cyberspace according to our values.
Our aim is to create a cyberspace that is free, open, peaceful and secure, and which benefits all countries and all people. Work on this has already begun, starting with the announcement by the Foreign Secretary of £22 million of new investment in financial year 2021 to 2022 to build cyber-security resilience in developing countries and globally, particularly in Africa and the Indo-Pacific.
Proposals are invited across three separate ‘lots’, to implement international projects that improve online safety overseas, help tackle cybercrime by improving the application of threat intelligence, as well as increasing our understanding of current and emerging cyber, digital, data and tech issues through research and assessments.
This guidance provides details of the requirements, the eligibility criteria and how to bid.
Bid proposals
Proposals are invited for the following projects, which will cover the period 2021 to 2023. Funding is approved for 2021 to 2022, but funding for 2022 to 2023 is conditional on the next Government spending allocation round. Target budgets for 2021 to 2022 for each lot are indicated in brackets.
Proposals should be clear on what will be achieved by March 2022, and where applicable, what would be implemented and achieved if funding for financial year 2022 to 2023 is available. All activities should complement existing capacity building activity being delivered by international donors. The Cybil Portal is a useful tool for monitoring others’ activity.
Many capacity building projects cannot be fully delivered by a single implementer as they require a diverse range of capability and skills. We therefore welcome bids from consortiums led by non-for-profit organisations.
On the indicative financial year 2021 to 2022 budgets bracketed below, it would be helpful for bidders to provide a range to their bids to demonstrate what impact could be achieved within each range. For example, with lot 1, what would be achieved through inventions totalling £500,000; £1 million; and £1.5 million.
Bid lots
Who can bid
Bids are welcomed from organisations including academia, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), inter-governmental organisations and not-for-profit arms of commercial entities. Bids from not-for-profit led consortia are permitted. Commercial organisations are permitted to join consortia as part of a bidding team. We need to ensure that the commercial element of the proposal, which would be sub-contracted by the not-for-profit, was proportionate.
Guidelines for submitting a proposal
We will not consider proposals that are delivered after the submission deadline. All bid submissions must be in English. The budget must be presented in pound sterling (GBP).
Proposals should include a range of funding options eg. for £250,000 you’ll deliver ‘x’; for £500,000 you’ll deliver ‘y’. The potential impact of COVID-19, including full or partial lockdown, and restrictions on local/international travel, as well as political scenarios (eg. elections) and should also be factored in.
Bidders should not craft proposals in such a way to reach the budget ceiling. Bidders should instead construct their proposals to specifically meet the objectives in pursuit of demonstrable impact and value for money.
For projects running across multiple years, there will be a break clause in March 2022, at the end of the UK financial year. We retain sole discretion to discontinue the project beyond March 2022, depending on funding availability for the subsequent financial year and implementer performance to date.
Criteria for assessing bids
Bids will be assessed against the following criteria:
- value for money – criteria for economy, efficiency, effectiveness, equity, and cost- effectiveness
- alignment with the requirements
- project viability, including capacity and capability of implementing organisation(s)
- project design, including clear, achievable objectives/outputs/outcomes/impact
- good risk, issue and stakeholder management
- implementer experience, past performance
- sustainability of impact
