This round opens at 9am (AWST) on Wednesday, 20 September 2023 and closed at 3pm (AWST) on Tuesday, 31 October 2023.
About
The Standards Compliance Round provides funding support to Western Australian small to medium enterprises (SMEs) to engaging external expertise to carry out the implementation and third-party certification of the following national and international standards:
- ISO 9001 - Quality management standards to help work more efficiently and reduce product failures;
- ISO 14001 - Environmental management standard to help reduce environmental impacts, reduce waste and be more sustainable;
- ISO 45001 - Health and safety standards to help reduce accidents in the workplace;
- ISO 27001 - IT security standards to help keep sensitive information secure;
- ISO 50001 - Energy management standards to help reduce energy consumption;
- AS/NZS 5131 - Steel industry compliance standards to help improve the integrity of structural steelwork; and
- ISO 13485:2016 – Medical devices – Quality management systems – requirements for regulatory purposes*.
The level of funding support under the Standard Compliance Round is 75% of eligible activity costs (excluding GST) up to a maximum funding level of $20,000 per successful applicant.
*Companies wishing to apply under the LCF for ISO13485 accreditation activities should:
-
Ensure their QMS audit will be undertaken by an auditing body recognised by the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), such as European Notified Bodies, or Auditing Organisations in the Medical Device Single Audit Program (MDSAP).
-
Contact the TGA’s SME Assist unit to discuss the requirements an audit of their QMS would need to meet in order to be used towards TGA certification of their product. The TGA’s SME Assist unit can be contacted at: sme.assist@tga.gov.au or 1800 020 653.
Who is eligible
Show moreTo be eligible for funding, applicants must:
- Be registered for GST for at least 12 months prior to application submission date;
- Have an Australian Business Number (ABN);
- Be a for-profit organisation or business (Not-for-profits and charities are ineligible);
- Have its principal place of business (operating facility) in Western Australia and continue to be based in Western Australia for at least the next 12 months following application submission date;
- Employ less than 200 people; and
- Have been operating for at least 3 years in Western Australia at the time of submitting an application for funding.
Previous recipients of funding through the LCF are eligible to apply, subject to conditions outlined in the funding guidelines.
How to apply
Show moreEligible applicants must submit their application online via the SmartyGrants portal.
A preview of the application form detailing the information required is available through the
portal.
Before applying, applicants must read and understand these guidelines and the Financial Assistance Agreement found on the portal.
Assessment process
Show moreApplications will be assessed by an independent evaluation panel following the round closing. Applications will be assessed against their eligibility as well as the objectives for that round, and will then be scored against the following evaluation criteria:
- Relevance/need
- Level of impact
- Level of market/industry engagement
- Value for money
- Financial viability and risk
Tips to applying
Show more- Always double-check your application. It is worth getting someone else to read over it, if possible, before you submit it to ensure it makes sense.
- Remember that assessors are unlikely to be experts in the business’s industry. Overly technical and detailed answers may be difficult for assessors to understand which could lead to lower scores. When writing an application it is useful to write it in a way that anyone could understand, not just those who work in the business’s industry. A good way of doing this is to imagine you are promoting the business via its website or social media where the public will need to understand the core activities of the business.
- Give yourself enough time before the closing date to be able to source quotes and relevant documents. As these documents can often take a bit of time to get hold of - with quotes sometimes taking a number of weeks - if you start an application the day before the closing date, and do not have the necessary documents ready to go, then you might run out of time to get them. Applications without quotes or relevant documents will receive lower scores.
- Good applications provide sufficient detail but are also concise. While you definitely want to provide enough detail to ensure assessors are able to properly assess your application, if you overwhelm them with large amounts of detail it may be difficult for them to determine the point you are trying to make. Again, it is worth double checking your application and getting someone else to look over it to make sure that it is detailed, but to the point.
- Assessors are only able to make a recommendation based on the information you provide in your application. If there is something important that will help your application stand out then include it.
- Always read the eligibility criteria and the eligible activities carefully to ensure the business is eligible to apply, and that the activities the business is seeking funding for are eligible. A good application takes time to write, so if the business is ineligible you don’t want to spend time on an application that will be rejected straight away.
