EU GOVSATCOM for a safer and more secure EU
European Comission
ExpectedOutcome :
Projects are expected to contribute to the following outcomes:
- Identification, assessment and development of one or more suitable use case in the area of surveillance, crisis management and key infrastructure;
- After identification of technical specifications agreed with the contracting authority, support the development and/or improvement of GOVSATCOM demonstration terminals enabling end-to-end validation of the first services provided by the GOVSATCOM HUB;
- Stimulate the definition of the validation strategy of the early developed GOVSATCOM services;
- Foster the identification/definition of GOVSATCOM tools required for the development of the GOVSATCOM terminals for future GOVSATCOM HUB services.
- Develop the application, necessary to enable end-to-end demonstration of the selected use case(s) using services provided by the EU GOVSATCOM Hub and operational terminals;
- Perform extensive in-field activities and a final demonstration aimed at verifying the suitability of the solution, involving the relevant user communities to grow awareness and stimulate adoption of the EU GOVSATCOM services by the concerned users;
- Elaborate the definition of the validation strategy and a user engagement plan and gather users’ feedback to feed the development and the evolution of the EU GOVSATCOM services and prepare for their users’ uptake;
The GOVSATCOM use cases and associated operational terminals could leverage, when possible, on previous developments. The operational terminal shall verify its compatibility with the EU GOVSATCOM services, with the operational constraints and needs, and thoroughly assess the performance in the field while promoting the integration of secure communications in already existing systems and use of other space components, for example EGNSS and Copernicus. The development of terminals interoperable among different SATCOM systems should be also encouraged.
The projects should aim at identifying and address technological challenges related to the provision of GOVSATCOM services and increasing awareness on the benefits brought by the use of secure services provided by GOVSATCOM and will engage the users, public authorities and policy makers to the maximum extent.
Scope :
Proposals should select at least one GOVSATCOM use case and support the adaptation of one or more existing SATCOM terminals in order to carry out the demonstration and ensure engagement of relevant user communities. The target use cases may be selected among (non-exhaustive list):
- Surveillance, including both land and sea scenarios;
- Crisis management, such as telemedicine, humanitarian aid, civil protection, law enforcement, EU external action, maritime emergency, search and rescue;
- Key infrastructure, such as transport (Air, Rail, Road, Maritime) management, space infrastructure, institutional communication, critical infrastructure (energy grid, CBRN, financial infrastructure, telecommunication/ICT).
In particular, the submission of proposals focussing in the following areas is encouraged:
- Response to natural and man-made disasters or Emergency services/ambulances (for Civil Protection);
- Rail traffic management, to improve the limitations linked to geographical barriers (e.g. tunnels, valleys, cities);
- Telemedicine for humanitarian aid.
The projects should improve one or more operational terminals to demonstrate the access of the respective users to an early EU GOVSATCOM service, showcasing the benefits and fostering users’ uptake. The applicants should take into consideration the necessary transfer of know-how and IPR between the consortia developing the operational use case and the reference terminals as a basis. The projects should demonstrate the use of the developed operational terminals and make available to the Commission through the Granting Authority the findings of the development and the demonstration.
In the frame of the demonstration activities, it is expected to involve industrial stakeholders, the equipment should therefore support demonstration activities of the early developed services.
In this topic the integration of the gender dimension (sex and gender analysis) in research and innovation content is not a mandatory requirement.
Specific Topic Conditions :
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 7-9 by the end of the project – The reference TRL definition is the ISO 16290:2013 applicable to the space sector.
General conditions
- Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
In order to achieve the expected outcomes, and safeguard the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security, and more particularly, for the reasons of EU strategic autonomy in space and the security and integrity of EU space assets, and in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, participation is limited to legal entities established in Member States and to third countries that have concluded a specific agreement on participation in GOVSATCOM, in accordance with Article 7 of Regulation 2021/696 and have designated a Competent GOVSATCOM Authority in accordance with Article 68 of Regulation 2021/696.
For the duly justified and exceptional reasons listed in the paragraph above, in order to guarantee the protection of the strategic interests of the Union and its Member States, entities established in an eligible country listed above, but which are directly or indirectly controlled by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity, may not participate in the action unless it can be demonstrated, by means of guarantees approved by the eligible country of establishment, that their participation to the action would not negatively impact the Union’s strategic assets, interests, autonomy, or security.
The guarantees shall in particular substantiate that, for the purpose of the action, measures are in place to ensure that:
a) control over the applicant legal entity is not exercised in a manner that retrains or restricts its ability to carry out the action and to deliver results, that imposes restrictions concerning its infrastructure, facilities, assets, resources, intellectual property or know-how needed for the purpose of the action, or that undermines its capabilities and standards necessary to carry out the action;
b) access by a non-eligible country or by a non-eligible country entity to sensitive information relating to the action is prevented; and the employees or other persons involved in the action have a national security clearance issued by an eligible country, where appropriate;
c) ownership of the intellectual property arising from, and the results of, the action remain within the recipient during and after completion of the action, are not subject to control or restrictions by non-eligible countries or non-eligible country entity, and are not exported outside the eligible countries, nor is access to them from outside the eligible countries granted, without the approval of the eligible country in which the legal entity is established.
The following additional eligibility criterion applies: at least one public entity must participate as member of the consortium selected for funding as the public entities are the main users of GOVSATCOM (according to Art. 65 of the EU Space Regulation 2021/696).
All applicants, including their subcontractors, must fulfill the above criteria, in order to be eligible. Their eligibility will be checked through Ownership & control assessments which will be carried out by the Central Validation Service. Template for ‘Ownership Control Declaration’ is provided among call documents below. The Validation rules are described in 'the Rules for Legal Entity, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment'.
Security sensitive activities
For this grant, security sensitive activities are all activities requiring access to EU classified information (EUCI) in accordance with the Security aspect letter.
The Security Aspect Letter applies to any proposals for which the handling of EU Classified Information is foreseen.
When applicable, according to the abovementioned conditions, the applicants must self-declare a full compliance with the requirements detailed in the Security Aspects Letter by submitting a “Statement of compliance with the Security Aspects Letter”. They may be requested to provide evidence of compliance during evaluation of their proposal or afterwards. Any classified information should be treated according to the GOVSATCOM Programme Security Instructions and the Tailored Security Classification Guide.
In order to request access to the Tailored Security Classification Guide, applicants must download, fill-in and sign the Non-Disclosure Undertaking and send it to the recipient designated therein.
The Security Aspects Letter does not apply to subcontractors that do not carry out security sensitive activities and for which the applicants can demonstrate and substantiate in the proposal the absence of need-to-know and thus the need to gain access to GOVSATCOM Information.
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
- Specific conditions: The Commission estimates that an EU contribution of between EUR 3.00 and 4.00 million would allow these outcomes to be addressed appropriately. Nonetheless, this does not preclude submission and selection of a proposal requesting different amounts.
Documents
Call documents:
Templates for proposals should be downloaded from the Submission System (available at the opening of the call), the links below are examples only:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Ownership control declarations
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 7. Digital, Industry and Space
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual