Fund Information Sheet

Information Sheet for the February 2007 Funding Round

The Buy Kiwi Made Sector and Regional Initiatives Fund (the fund) is a contestable fund that will support individual sector and regional initiatives that promote the concept of Buy Kiwi Made and the profile of Buy New Zealand Made Campaign Ltd by increasing awareness of the quality and value of New Zealand made goods for domestic consumers.

The purpose of the fund is to:

• provide support for sector and regionally based initiatives that have demonstrable economic merit and are consistent with promoting the objectives of the policy framework for Buy Kiwi Made; and
• assist sectors and regions to develop economic development capability and enable them to engage in projects that will lead to substantive economic benefits by promoting the objectives of Buy Kiwi Made.

There are a number of criteria and parameters for the fund. These are:

• projects must be expected to lead to substantial economic benefits by promoting the objectives of and the policy framework for Buy Kiwi Made and the profile of the Buy New Zealand Made Campaign Ltd. Projects with benefits that spill over to other sectors or regions will be favoured;
• applications will be from a representative group in sectors or regions, or a cross-sector or cross-regional group;
• the proposed project will have strong regional or industry support such as from industry members, local government, economic development agencies, iwi and community groups;
• the initiative will not crowd out private sector activity;
• the initiative is in the form of discrete projects, that have clear milestones that can be monitored and measured;
• the initiative will not be inconsistent with the government’s broader economic, social and environmental objectives or obligations;
• the initiative will be based on partial funding, with an equal financial contribution to be made or obtained by the funding applicant ("in-kind" contributions will not be included in this contribution);
• the initiative will be financially self-supporting at the completion of government support;
• projects must be New Zealand based and focused;
• the recipient for the funds must be a legal entity;
• projects must be consistent with New Zealand law and international obligations; and
• proposals must not meet the criteria of existing government assistance programmes; or meet the criteria of existing funds, but not meet the timing of these funds, where a delay will likely lead to a loss of economic opportunity.

Further information on Buy Kiwi Made and the fund, including relevant Cabinet papers, can be found on the MED website.

Amount available for distribution

A total of $3 million (excluding GST) is being made available through the fund. There are expected to be three funding rounds, in February 2007, October 2007 and March 2008. Up to $1.5 million is available for the February 2007 funding round. There is no set minimum or maximum grant size. However, grants will only be given for projects that meet the objectives, criteria and parameters of the fund, including that the project must be expected to lead to substantial economic benefits. All funding contracts must be completed by 30 June 2009.

Scheduled timeline for February 2007 funding round

22 December 2006: Applications open

2 March 2007: Applications close

March and April 2007: Assessment of applications

Mid to late April 2007: Applicants notified of outcome and successful applicants publicly announced

Assessment

The Ministry of Economic Development will assess each application and rank it against the purpose, criteria and parameters of the fund, as well as the level of economic benefits it will generate. Assessment will be based on the material provided by the applicant and on any other material or information obtained by the Ministry of Economic Development.

The Ministry may seek independent advice at any stage in the process. Each applicant authorises the Ministry to collect any information from the applicant and from relevant third parties and to use that information in respect of the applicant and application. Where that information is known to the applicant, it may request the Ministry to update or correct that information.

The assessment of each application will also involve:

1. a risk management assessment; including a report on the capability of the applicant to manage the project and grant funds
2. consideration of whether the project is likely to provide economic benefits and spill-overs beyond the size of the grant, and the level of these; and
3. where appropriate, consultation with other government agencies, such as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade, New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, Treasury, Te Puni Kokiri and the Ministry of Social Development.

Decision Making

The Ministry of Economic Development will make recommendations to the Minister of Finance, the Minister for Industry and Regional Development and the Government Spokesperson for Buy Kiwi Made, as to the initiatives that should receive funding. The Ministers and the Government Spokesperson for Buy Kiwi Made make the decision and may choose not to award the total allocation in any one round.

The decision-makers may decide not to approve funding even if an application achieves a positive outcome in the assessment, and may approve funding for a lesser amount than that sought by the applicant.

Applicants will be informed of the success or otherwise of their application at the conclusion of the decision-making process, and a public announcement of the successful applicants will be made. Legal or other obligations between the Crown and a successful applicant will not arise unless or until the Crown and the successful applicant have entered into a signed agreement satisfactory to the Crown under the Ministry’s standard terms and conditions for funding, a copy of which is available at the MED website.

Who can apply?

Any representative group in sectors or regions, or a cross-sector or cross-regional group can apply to the fund. However, grants can only be awarded to legal entities with which the government can form a contract. These entities could include territorial local authorities, incorporated societies, registered charitable trusts, and industry bodies that are legal entities. The fund does not provide grants to individuals or to individual firms.

How do you make an application?

Applications must be made on the official application form, which is available on the Ministry of Economic Development website. Where possible you are encouraged to use the electronic Word version as the boxes automatically expand as you type and it provides you with an email able version. Applications received after the closing date of 5pm, 2 March 2007 will not be considered for the February 2007 funding round.

What are the obligations of grant recipients?

The obligations of grant recipients will be set out in the funding agreement which will be a legally binding contract. Funding is only paid out on the completion of agreed milestones, which are monitored by the Ministry. A detailed income and expenditure report will be required at the completion of the project. Grant recipients are required to provide a range of financial and other background information about their organisation and their project. Grant recipients will be required to declare conflicts of interest and other sources of funding, amongst other things.

Grants are awarded on a GST exclusive basis. Grant recipients will need to submit claims against funding awarded to the Ministry in the form of a GST invoice.

Important Information

Potential applicants are advised to seek specific legal advice from a qualified professional person before making an application for funding or undertaking any action in reliance on this document.

The Crown reserves the unrestricted right to, at any time:

• change the criteria or parameters, date, timeline, or any other aspect of this funding process;
• require applicants to provide additional information;
• suspend or cancel this funding process;
• interview any personnel of any applicant or other person as part of the assessment process; or
• do any other act or thing that it sees fit in relation to this funding process.

The Crown does not accept any responsibility or liability whatsoever whether in contract, tort (including negligence), equity or otherwise in relation to the conduct or outcome of this funding process, resulting from any person making an application for funding, resulting from any person taking any action because of having read any part, or all, of any information provided by the Crown or its agents or contractors in relation to this funding process, or resulting from any error, inadequacy, deficiency, flaw in or omission in such information.

Communications and the Official Information Act 1982

Applicants (successful or otherwise) are expected to cooperate with the Ministry on any public communications about this funding process.

The Ministry will consider applicants to have consented to the public release, including by publishing on the Internet, of details of applicants and applications, acceptance or rejection of applications, and any other information that the Ministry believes to be of general interest related to this funding process.

The content of any application and information held by the Crown in connection with an application may be subject to release under the Official Information Act 1982.

The application should clearly indicate those parts of the application which the applicant considers should be withheld from public release, or from release in response to requests under the Official Information Act 1982, together with the reason(s) for withholding the information. It is not acceptable that the entire proposal or that the names and details of applicants be indicated as such. The Ministry will take into account such indications when deciding whether to publicly release information and when responding to requests under the Official Information Act 1982.

Further information

Further information about Buy Kiwi Made can be found at:

MED Website

Buy New Zealand Website

For enquiries contact:

Roz Connelly
Fund Coordinator
Phone: (04) 474 2629
Email: buykiwimade@med.govt.nz

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