NAVISP Element 2 Full Proposal
This guide explains the documentation and formal steps required once your NAVISP Element 2 project has been approved and enters the Full Proposal stage. Select a step below to open its details, or select a box in the diagram to jump straight to it.
📖 Handy vocabulary
- esa-star: ESA's procurement platform used for registration, tendering, and proposal submission. Separate from the idea submission platform OSIP.
- Full Technical Proposal: The main document describing the technical work, schedule, management approach, deliverables, and costs.
- PBF (Price Breakdown Form): ESA's standard financial forms used to define project costs and funding requests.
- ECOS: ESA Costing Software, a tool that can be used to generate compliant Price Breakdown Forms.
- Bidder Restricted Area (BRA): The private esa-star Tendering workspace where proposal documents are uploaded and submitted.
The full proposal requires entity registration in ESA's System for Tendering And Registration, esa-star for all partners in the project, each of whom will receive an entity code in the format 1000xxxxxx. Supporting documentation is available.
As explained in the User Manual, registration is completed in two steps:
- Light (Valid Partial) Registration enables services up to and including Full Proposal submission.
- Full (Valid Full) is required for contract award.
Award of a contract requires "Valid Full" status. There are processing times involved with the full registration, including document review for SME status claims, so entities are encouraged to complete the full registration early to avoid a bottleneck for contract award.
✔ What you need to do
- Complete (at least) the Light Entity Registration in esa-star to enable proposal submission.
💬 Common mistakes
- Not completing and claiming SME registration for Small Medium Enterprises (requirement for >50% co-funding).
- Waiting until after proposal submission to reach Valid Full status.
🎯 Quick self-check
The Full Proposal template can be found on esa-star Publication, which also includes the full Tender Package with other useful information including the Tender and Contract conditions. The template includes instructions in red italic text and blue italic text which are to be deleted before submission.
The Full Proposal template should be split into three separate components for eventual upload as shown above. This is because the Cover Letter needs to be assessed by ESA first in a dedicated subfolder before unlocking the submitted proposal, and the CVs are separated for data protection.
✔ What you need to do
- Download the Full Proposal Template from esa-star Publication.
- Split the document into its constituent components (Cover Letter, Full Technical Proposal, CVs) for work.
The proposal documentation package forms the contractual basis of the project. All documents need to be mutually consistent and formally signed where required.
The Cover Letter provides an overview of the administrative and financial information, including the entities and their nationalities, entity types, funding requests, and contact information for the technical, contractual, and data protection matters of the prime contractor.
Annex A should include a copy (an image is fine) of the Authorization(s) of Funding from the National Delegation(s) authorizing the requested amounts.
Annex B is used to provide the required information for the project entry on the NAVISP Web Site. Alternatively, it can be provided using the NAVISP Web Site Information Web Form.
The Full Technical Proposal describes the technical work, management approach, schedule, and deliverables.
- Objectives and work plan
- Milestones and schedule
- Cost breakdown and justification
Short CVs demonstrating relevant expertise of all key personnel.
- Typically 1–2 pages per person
- Focus on project-relevant experience
ESA's Price Breakdown Forms (PBFs) are used to define the project budget. For projects under €10M (almost all NAVISP projects), they can be filled out manually.
If the extra support of a dedicated tool is desirable, the ESA Costing Software (ECOS) tool can be used to generate compliant PBFs. Short video tutorials are offered for using ECOS.
PBF1 provides a high-level overview of the project costs, replacing the former PSS A2 form. Each partner in the project is required to fill out their own PBF1 form, and the Prime contractor will also include the total subcontractor costs in the subcontractor price section.
The budget contribution from the company co-funding is included in the Company Contributions line item in the Total Company Costs section.
The exhibit tabs are used to provide more detail on costs aside from labor such as facilities, purchased services and goods, and travel. The PBF entry on esa-star Publication includes a User guide that explains definitions and interpretations for various cost elements including labor.
The link for submission can be found through esa-star Publication, in the same Tender Action where the Full Proposal template and other Tender items were found. When logged in, the Prime Contractor's Bid Manager will see a button labeled Create Bidder Restricted Area. Clicking this button will redirect to the esa-star tendering portal in a dedicated work area where documents can be uploaded.
✔ What you need to do
- Use the Bidder Restricted Area button on the NAVISP Element 2 call and create a work area in esa-star Tendering.
- Upload the Cover Letter, Full Proposal, CVs, and PBFs and submit.
💬 Common mistakes
- Uploading documents in the wrong area.
- Failing to upload required documents, such as PBF forms or the Authorization(s) of Funding as part of the cover letter.
- Not digitally signing the cover letter or PBF forms.
🎯 Quick self-check
All contractual documents and formal submissions are handled through esa-star. Ensure your organisation, roles, and authorised signatories are correctly registered before submitting any documents.