Application declaration

This is a supporting legal document which you should read before completing an application form for the Collaborative innovation training fund or the CITB commissioned projects fund.

When you fill in your application form, you will be required to confirm that you can answer YES to all applicable CITB Levy and core funding questions, mandatory requirements, financial information and policy and management systems requirements.

• Questions 1 and 2 – applicable to all bidders that are Levy registered construction employers only
• Questions 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7a – applicable to all bidders in addition to the above
• Question 7b – only applicable to bidders of all options over £50,000

All bidding Levy registered construction employers to confirm that they can answer YES to the following two questions

All bidders requesting any amount of funding over £10,000 to confirm that they can answer YES to the following questions

All bidders requesting over £50,000 of funding only, to confirm that they can answer YES to the following question

Section 1: mandatory exclusions (Q4 above)

All bidders

Please confirm that, in the past five years (or, in the case of tax, the past three), neither your organisation (nor a member of a proposed consortium), nor any person with authority for either has, anywhere in the world, been found guilty of, liable for or threatened with:

(a) Bribery, conspiracy, corruption, fraud, human trafficking, forced labour, money laundering, a proceeds of crime/drug trafficking or tax offence, terrorism, theft or similar

(b) Not paying tax, social security contributions or their equivalent

(c) Acting anti-competitively, breaching the terms or spirit of a public contract bid or contract, grave professional misconduct, any form of insolvency, breaching the Public Contracts Regulations 2015 or having an unresolvable conflict of interest under them

(d) Tax offences, a civil penalty for fraud or evasion, returns found to be incorrect under the abuse principles or equivalent, or failure of an avoidance scheme.

Section 2: insurance (Q5 above)

All bidders

Answer YES to certify whether you already have, or can commit to obtain, prior to the commencement of the Agreement, the levels of insurance cover indicated below:

• Employer’s (Compulsory) Liability Insurance = £5 million (minimum)
• Public Liability Insurance = £1 million (minimum)

Note: this requirement is not applicable to sole traders.

If applicable to your project, you may also be asked for Product Liability Insurance before the issue of a Funding Agreement and/or Professional Indemnity Insurance.

Section 3: policy requirements (Q6 above)

All bidders

You may be asked to provide evidence of policies or certification before the issue of a Funding Agreement.

You are able to certify that your organisation has a health and safety policy that complies with current legislative requirements.

You can confirm that your organisation holds a recognised quality management certification, e.g. BS/EN/ISO 9000 or has an alternative quality management system in place.

You can confirm that you have an environmental management policy or system in place.

You can confirm that you have a safeguarding policy in place.

You are able to provide a copy of any equal opportunities policies or statements that you operate (e.g. relating to race, gender, disability, religion, age and sexual orientation) that complies with all legislation.

If you use subcontractors/third party suppliers, you can confirm that you have processes in place to check whether any of the above circumstances apply to these organisations.

Section 4: financial information (Q7a and 7b above)

4a All bidders (over £5,000)

Please confirm that you could provide one of the following to demonstrate your economic/financial standing:

You may be asked to provide evidence to demonstrate your economic/financial standing before the issue of a Funding Agreement.

(a) A copy of the accounts (audited where applicable) for the most recent two years

(b) A statement of the turnover, profit and loss account, current liabilities and assets, and cash flow for the most recent year of trading for this organisation

(c) A statement of the cash flow forecast for the current year and a bank letter outlining the current cash and credit position indicating any mortgages/liens etc.

(d) Alternative means of demonstrating financial status if any of the above are not available (e.g. forecast of turnover for the current year and a statement of funding provided by the owners and/or the bank, charity accruals accounts or an alternative means of demonstrating financial status).

4b All bidders over £50,000 only in addition to the above

Please confirm that you are able to demonstrate you can meet the following minimum thresholds:

(a) No Director of the applicant has been disqualified either by the Insolvency Service, Companies House, the Competition and Markets Authority, the Courts of Great Britain or an insolvency practitioner in the last five years (this includes automatic disqualification for being declared bankrupt, being given a Debt Relief Order or being subject to debt relief or bankruptcy relief restrictions)

(b) The Auditors’ opinion in the Report to the last filed Accounts must be unqualified and have been prepared on a going concern basis

(c) The filing of accounts and other required returns at Companies House must not be overdue or where the applicant is not a Limited Company the company accounts provided must not be more than 18 months old

(d) That the applicant and all consortium members are Levy registered employer(s) (if applicable) and up to date with all Levy payments and Levy Returns

(e) The applicant has no overdue sums to CITB

(f) The applicant has not breached or defaulted on any contractual arrangement with CITB in the last three years.