Important Announcement: Changes to De-Risk Contract Regime

We are pleased to inform you of significant changes to the De-Risk contract regime, effective from 1st June 2025. The regime has transitioned to a Cooperative Agreement without Procurement.

For detailed information, please refer to the new Standard Call for Proposals CfP/4-40026/25/NL/CES.

Action Required:

• Potential Bidders who submitted an Outline Proposal in OSIP before or on 1st June 2025 are requested to submit their Full Proposal under the Call for Proposals CfP/4-40012/23/NL/RK.
• Potential Bidders who submitted an Outline Proposal in OSIP after 1st June 2025 should submit their Full Proposal under the new Standard Call for Proposals CfP/4-40026/25/NL/CES.

Thank you for your attention to this important update. We look forward to your continued participation and successful proposals.

The maximum validity of proposals is 4 months starting form the first submission date.

What ideas are we looking for?

Activities submitted in this channel shall target generic technology developments addressing any of the following application domains: Earth observation, science, exploration, human spaceflight, space safety, space transportation, navigation, or generic technologies. In addition, also covers specific areas like AI, energy systems, innovative propulsion systems, quantum technology, advance manufacturing, MBSE,  etc.

When is it suitable to use a framework?

De-risk Technology (maximum budget 250,000 € – maximum 9 months) 

This is the core option of the de-risk framework dedicated to preparing and de-risking new technology development activities and to reduce the risk associated to these developments. During the activity ESA will help to assess potential added value of the development and will address critical issues. The results of this phase are intended to help orienting a follow-on development activity.

Activities include a combination of the following tasks:

• Identification and analysis of specifications for one or more space applications and the technical assessment of the development actions and associated schedule and cost.
• Assessment of the potential benefits (performance, cost, lead time, risks…) and disadvantages of the potential solution with respect to the state-of-the-art.
• Assessment of potential critical issues related to using a given technology for a specific application, using analysis/simulation and/or breadboarding and testing.
• Preparation of the Development Plan. Define the full development activity with respect to a targeted application, refining the associated specifications and work programme and estimating the cost and establishing the schedule.

De-risk Portfolio (maximum budget 50,000 € - maximum 4 months)

This part of the De-risk framework aims to support established companies to improve their product portfolios with a longer-term development. The aim is to strengthen entities, with established experience in terms of developing products, by helping to maintain a product family to expand the sales of their products beyond present opportunities. The De-risk Portfolio will establish a medium-duration collaboration between a company and ESA, to improve their product portfolio and strengthen their position in the market.

Tasks to be covered:

• Preparation of the Development Plan - Define the full development activity with respect to a targeted application, refining the associated specifications and work programme and estimating the cost and establishing the schedule.
• Preparation of the Business Plan – Define the Business case justifying the investment, identify the benefit for the company in terms of employee number and facility improvement impacts, estimate the impact of the portfolio improvement on the company’s marketing positioning.

Advanced Manufacturing and Quantum Technology Frameworks (maximum budget 250,000 € - maximum 12 months)

The aim of these frameworks is to help companies to improve reliability and time-to-market for technology applications and products for space while benefiting from the expertise and know-how of a recognised applied research organisation, experienced in the complex nature of Quantum Technologies/Advanced Manufacturing developments and engineering.

 Tasks to be covered:

• design optimisation and prototype development
• define processes and roles to support the end-to-end test.
• review and define the required interfaces, standardising them as needed.
• materials, technology, and process screening
• subsystem testing
• instrument / payload assembly.
• integration and verification (AIV) performed in the framework of a suitable
• model philosophy, culminating in the Flight Model.

Framework characteristic summary 

What is the proposal process?

The process is divided in 2 steps, the first step (presented in this channel) is entirely conducted in the OSIP platform. On successful approval of the first, the second step will be entirely conducted in the ESA-star platform.

First Step in OSIP

1. Prepare an Outline Proposal using the template found in the Attachment’s section below.
   1. Note: There is one template to be used for both De-risk Technology and De-risk Portfolio activities. Inside the Template, it is clearly identified what need to be provided for the former and for the latter. The template is attached below.
   2. Note: A specific template for Advanced Manufacturing activities and another specific template for Quantum Technology activities are attached below
2. Submit the Outline Proposal in this channel along with a Letter of Support from the concerned National Delegations.
3. Note: It is needed to be registered in ESA-star. If you have not done so already, complete the “Light Registration” as described in the ESA-star Registration User Manual

At the end of this step ESA will decide if the activity shall move forward to step two.

Second Step in ESA-star

On completion of a successful Outline Proposal evaluation, an email invitation will be sent to the tenderer with instructions on how to enter a Full Proposal into ESA-star.

What happens at the closure of an activity?

Upon successful completion of the activity, ESA and the National Delegation, based on the activity results, may decide to proceed with a follow-on technology development activity. Such a follow-on technology development activity will be subject to a separate procurement action.

There is no guarantee that the follow-on activity will be supported.

To better evaluate the intended tasks to be performed in the follow-on, before the end of the activity, is mandatory to deliver the Development Plan (& Business Plan for De-risk Portfolio) that will be considered as technical base for the procurement of the follow-on.