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Large Science Facilities

WHAT IS A LARGE SCIENCE FACILITY?

OSI and the UK Research Councils define a large science facility as one where the total investment in the build is more than £25m or 10 per cent of a Council's annual grant-in-aid, whichever is less.  Large Science facilities are also typically organised, managed and funded on a National, European, or International scale.

UK POLICY ON SUPPORTING LARGE SCIENCE FACILTIES

The Science and Innovation Investment Framework 2004-2014 sets out the Government's policy on supporting large science facilities and is available on the right under related documents.

THE UK's LARGE FACILITIES "ROAD MAP"

Every two years, RCUK, a strategic partnership of the UK's eight Research Councils, publishes an updated "Road Map" showing the prospective large science facilities that the Research Councils believe are of strategic importance for UK science over the next 15 years. Each Council is responsible for entries onto the "Road Map" within its fields of expertise. Suggestions for inclusion in the next revision of the "Road Map" which is due in 2007 may be made at any time through the appropriate Research Council.

Inclusion on the Road Map implies no commitment from the UK Government, RCUK or the Research Councils to fund any particular project. Neither does inclusion imply possible contributions from any other source or type of funding. Large science facilities are funded through a number of mechanisms in the UK, and that will continue to be the case.

CURRENT "ROAD MAP"

The current "Road Map" was published in December 2005 and the previous version, published by OSI in 2003, is also available on the right under related documents.

PRIORITISATION OF LARGE SCIENCE FACILITIES AND THE LARGE FACILTIES CAPITAL FUND (LFCF)

RCUK initiates a prioritisation exercise every two years to highlight the strategically important large science facility projects they believe should enter construction in the short to medium term and which should be considered for funding from OSI's Large Facilities Capital Fund (LFCF). This exercise takes into account the most recent version of the "Road Map", and involves the preparation of a draft prioritisation list across all disciplines, drawing on appropriate criteria including;

  • the importance (depth) of science knowledge delivered;
  • the contribution of the facility to the international positioning of UK science and science strategy;
  • the timeliness of the proposal;
  • the breadth of the science base that will benefit.

This prioritisation process identifies projects for funding in the current or next Government spending review period up to approximately 5 years ahead. This stage of the exercise will, as far as is possible, identify total project costs, including capital and resource (including recurrent or operating costs). Cost information is not however used as a criterion for prioritisation.

Once a draft prioritised list is agreed by the Research Councils, it is submitted to the Director-General Science and Innovation, (DGSI), in OSI, for consideration against the available LFCF budget. DGSI then provides advice to Ministers on which projects should be earmarked for funding from the LFCF. The results of the prioritisation exercise, as approved by Ministers, are then published by OSI.

The current prioritised list is available under related documents and was agreed in June 2006. Final decisions on funding for specific projects from the LFCF will be announced in due course and at the relevant stage in the OGC Gateway Review process. The list of projects from the previous prioritisation round in March 2003 is also available under related documents.

THE OGC GATEWAY REVIEW PROCESS AND THE LARGE FACILTIES CAPITAL FUND (LFCF) 

All projects hoping to draw down funding from the LFCF are expected to proceed through the Office of Government Commerce (OGC) Gateway process in order to access funding. The OGC Gateway Process examines a programme or project at five critical stages in its lifecycle to provide assurance that it can successfully progress to the next stage. Further information on the OGC Gateway Process can be found under external links on the right.

These pages and the processes they describe will be regularly reviewed in the light of comments from their readers, which may be sent to Jackie Roberts, OSI, Bay 360, DTI, 1 Victoria Street, London, SW1H 0ET or Jackie.Roberts@dti.gsi.gov.uk

© Crown copyright 2007