Instructions and Template	
For Base4NFDI Basic Service Proposals
Integration Phase

Version 2.2
2025-03-07	

I	General Instructions

The proposal template provides a mandatory structure and a number of tables to be completed. Apart from that, applicants may decide how to present the content. All sections of text in grey are intended to provide guidance for completing the proposal and should be deleted in your proposal submission.

Proposals for Base4NFDI Basic Services must be submitted via the spokesperson of the NFDI Section supporting the proposal to base4nfdi-office@lists.nfdi.de in PDF format. This implies that the proposal as well as results and work progress of the Basic Service has been presented and discussed in a Section meeting and was met with approval.

Further information about the next submission deadline and the whole evaluation process can be found at the Base4NFDI website, which will be updated continuously,. Proposals must be written in A4 format, 11 pt Arial font with line spacing of 1.5. The length of the proposal may vary depending on the complexity of the proposed service but may not exceed 15 pages (excluding cover page, financial tables of chapter 6 and appendix). A different font or line spacing may be used in tables, figures, footnotes and the list of references, provided the text is still easy to read. The proposal and appendices are to be written in English (BE). Please use the proposal template contained in part II of this form.

The requested funding amounts should not include programme allowances (for indirect project costs). Budgeted allowances will come from Base4NFDI flex funds and vary by the phase (Initialisation, Integration, Ramp-Up for operation) for which funding is requested.
Funding – with the exception of well-argued cases – will be limited to a maximum of two years and a maximum of €447.300,00 per year.

For further information please refer to https://base4nfdi.de or contact Base4NFDI base4nfdi-office@lists.nfdi.de whenever answers are not available online.
Changes to version 2.1 of this document (2024-11-19) are highlighted with grey background colour. Change notes can be found on www.base4nfdi.de. Please remove all remaining background highlighting for the final proposal.
II	Proposal Template – Integration Phase
1	General Information

•	Name of proposed Basic Service (in English)
•	Acronym of the proposed Basic Service
•	Service "subtitle" explaining key functionality
•	Corresponding NFDI Section
•	Lead institution
	The lead institution is the coordinating institute for the Basic Service for the current stage of 	development.
	Please enter the institute’s name and address.
•	Name of lead institution principal investigator
	The primary contact and coordinator of the Basic Service.
	Please enter the name and email address.
•	Participating institutions
Table 1: List of participating institutions
Principal Investigator	Institution, location	Contact E-mail	Member in [consortium]	Funding requested [yes | no]	

	List all participating institutions. If applicable, make clear if there are partner institutions 	without funding.
•	Initialisation Phase
Provide information on the start date of the Initialisation phase, the planned runtime and the estimated end (month / year).
•	Planned duration of the Integration phase
The Integration phase typically runs 2 years.
•	Statement on efforts required by consortia for integration of service
Briefly explain what is required or what effort is needed by the consortia to integrate your service (time, personnel, technical, organisational or other requirements, etc.). This text will be presented as a short explainer to the consortia in the questionnaire, where they will vote on the proposal. (max. 200 words)
•	Summary of the proposal in English and German
up to 1,500 characters each, including spaces

2	Summary of Initialisation Phase Results (max 3 pages)
II.2.1	Change in Background and Motivation since the Start of the Initialisation Phase
Are there any changes compared to the proposal in the Initialisation Phase? If yes, please explain briefly, if no, please state ‘There are no changes compared to the proposal in the initialisation phase’.
If there have been any conditions or notes for the application for the Integration phase issued by the Technical Expert Committee in their proposal review for the initialisation phase, please share details on how these issues were addressed or resolved / what changes were made to the work plan?
II.2.2	Results of Initialisation Phase
Please report on the status and results of initialisation phase work and on deviations from the proposed work plan. Please also describe the work that still needs to be completed by the end of the initialisation phase in order to begin the orderly transition to the Integration phase.
II.2.2.1	Interim Report on Requirements for Finalisation of the Initialisation Phase
Please provide an overview on the Base4NFDI Initialisation Phase requirements - as listed below - for finalisation of the initialisation phase that reflects the current status of service development. The overview should contain information on the status of each requirement, a summary of outcomes (e.g., links to publications, repositories or other documentation) and if necessary an outlook on plans for completion until the end of the current phase. All relevant information should be in this proposal, and detailed information is documented in the Open Project report. Further information is documented elsewhere.
The complete documentation on each requirement can be found in Open Project, containing information on target group definitions for the service, use cases and benefit descriptions per target group, results from preparational work, and preliminary concepts (e.g., technical, implementation and training). A current version of this documentation in Open Project will be provided as an export in the form of a PDF report as an attachment to this proposal.  A more detailed how to guide can be found elsewhere.
a)	Requirements Analysis (D1.4.1)
Due: 3 months after start date
Percent finished [via Open Project]:
Status: survey | analysis | report / planned | running | finished
Overview of relevant outcomes: Name/link to relevant outcomes. A comprehensive summary can be found in the Open Project attachment to this proposal.
Outlook: [If not finished 100 %, how do you plan to proceed?]
b)	Software Evaluation (D1.4.2)
Due: 6 months after start date
Percent finished [via Open Project]:
Status: analysis | report / planned | running | finished
Overview of relevant outcomes: Name/link to relevant outcomes. A comprehensive summary can be found in the Open Project attachment to this proposal.
Outlook: [If not finished 100 %, how do you plan to proceed?]
c)	Service Design (D1.4.3)
Due: 6 months after start date
Percent finished [via Open Project]:
Status: analysis | report / planned | running | finished
Overview of relevant outcomes: Name/link to relevant outcomes. A comprehensive summary can be found in the Open Project attachment to this proposal.
Outlook: [If not finished 100 %, how do you plan to proceed?]
d)	Service Prototype (D1.4.4)
Due: 12 months after start date
Percent finished [via Open Project]:
Status: prototype / planned | running | finished
Overview of relevant outcomes: Name/link to relevant outcomes. A comprehensive summary can be found in the Open Project attachment to this proposal.
Outlook: [If not finished 100 %, how do you plan to proceed?]
e)	Service Piloting and User Testing (D1.4.5)
Due: 12 months after start date
Percent finished [via Open Project]:
Status: piloting / planned | running | finished
Overview of relevant outcomes: Name/link to relevant outcomes. A comprehensive summary can be found in the Open Project attachment to this proposal.
Outlook: [If not finished 100 %, how do you plan to proceed?]
Attach a current version of the documentation in Open Project as an export in the form of a PDF report from the TA1 Work Space with up-to-date information on D1.4.1 - D1.4.5.
II.2.2.2	Other
[Optional] Additional information on outcomes of the Initialisation phase (e.g. the number of workshops and/or educational events provided and resources (documentation, reports, designs, training,...) published if not covered above).
II.2.3	Update on Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of the Proposed Basic Service
Please provide an updated Technical Readiness Level (TRL) of the proposed Basic Service. Supply a TRL of the current version of your Basic Service framework (at the time of application for integration) and the targeted TRL by the end of the initialisation phase. The required minimum TRL to enter the Integration phase is 5-6. For the definition see the initialisation phase template.

3	Working Concept for the Development of the Basic Service (max 2.5 pages)
Describe the overall concept for the development of the Basic Service with regard to the Integration and Ramp-Up phase. Describe the Integration phase in more detail. Note that for the Integration phase the involvement of the consortia, the first outline of a business and operational model and concepts for training (relating to identified target groups and content) as well as outreach need to be addressed.
II.3.1	Service Integration Concept
Describe in particular the integration with the services of the partner consortia. Also address your strategy to ensure interoperability with relevant consortia services (e.g., workshops, incubators, engagement). Summarise your awareness of how your service engages with the NFDI landscape at technical, semantic, organisational and / or legal level - based on the findings from the initialisation phase. Where applicable, describe how your service is built based on commonly accepted community standards.
Provide information on status and/or plans of uptake of the service in NFDI Consortia, e.g. provide the name of the NFDI Consortium and describe in brief the status of contact, work in progress, possible incubators, possible planning, and/or other means of integration.
What key performance indicators (KPIs) will be used to measure the success of your service by the end of the Integration phase? Consider basic technical KPIs for your service but also in regard to communication and training activities. Please remember that during the Ramp-Up phase, the service needs to scale to a larger user group. Clear estimates for requirements should be determined by the end of the Integration phase. We recommend that you consider a consultation with the Base4NFDI team, e.g. the Service Stewards and TA2, on this topic.
Please explicitly state if you plan to make any changes to the openness concept (e.g., use of non-openly licensed software components, restrictions on openly licensed publication of code or other output, or the incorporation of proprietary software).
Please clarify any changes regarding overlap with EOSC EU Node services, taking into account the development of new services within the EU Node and provide an updated assessment if you service will be complementary, overlapping, or an entirely new offering.
II.3.2	Future Development and Ramp-Up Outlook
Describe the envisaged transition to the Ramp-Up phase. Please describe which quality criteria you consider relevant for your service (e.g., what users can and cannot expect, availability, support, uptime, etc.) and how your business model for eventual service provisioning would look like.
How do you envisage your service becoming interoperable with the EOSC EU services or describe any plans to integrate with or reuse elements of these services. A comprehensive summary is provided in this policy paper. Describe any other existing relations with EOSC (e.g., have you worked with task forces of EOSC or are you planning to be involved?). Add any events (conferences or hackathons) you attended or plan to attend in the EU context.
II.3.3	Risks and Challenges
Give an update on the risks and challenges that may occur through operations of the service on behalf of the Integration or Ramp-Up phase.
4	Support Actions from Base4NFDI / NFDI Sections, and 	Integrating NFDI Consortia / Efforts (max 1 page)
Base4NFDI will offer support on overarching aspects of service development (e.g., training, user experience and testing, community engagement and networking). Please specify the additional support you explicitly need from the Sections and from Base4NFDI or any other support. An example is shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Support needed from Base4NFDI / Service Stewards / Section
Support from	Work package / Description of contribution	Contact person	
Base4NFDI	Support organising workshop/training	Lara Mustermann, Musterinstitut, lara.mustermann @musterinstitut.de	
Section Metadata		Lara.mustermann@mustermail.de	
...			

Please describe the contributions required from each consortium to integrate the Basic Service with their respective consortium services. If these are common to all, please provide a list of all the consortia that will integrate the Basic Service in the Integration phase. A letter of commitment from these consortia is required.
Table 3: Contributions required from the integrating consortia
Support from	Involved effort	Consortium (contact)	
Consortium 1	Provision of resources, participation in incubator project	Max Mustermann, Musterinstitut, max.mustermann@mustermail.de	
Consortium 2			
...			

5	Work Programme (ca. 6 pages)
This section should describe the structure of your work programme for the Integration phase as it relates to the overall objectives of the proposed Basic service.
II.5.1	Overview of Work Packages
The work programme for the integration of a Basic Service is divided into different work packages, deliverables, and milestones within. Please add all institutes working in a work package and the institute leading the work package. An overview of what is expected from a basic service in each phase can also be found on our website.
We recommend a work package on community engagement and communication to allocate resources to, for example, the realisation of but also participation in workshops. Special attention should be paid to centrally coordinated activities and offers by Base4NFDI staff like a monthly Jour Fixe with Base4NFDI and the other service teams, quarterly consulting regarding training with a focus on target group and learning goal definition that is continued from the Initialisation phase. Resources should be put aside for EOSC interoperability activities. It is expected the team will contribute to a checklist for EOSC interoperability and attend twice yearly a EOSC Connectivity meeting with the Base4NFDI team. This also includes being aware of developments of onboarding resources to EOSC documentation from the EOSC Association and other relevant frameworks relevant to the particular service.
Please consider these requirements when planning your work programme for the Integration phase:
•	Conducted service integration (D2.4.1)
•	Integration of IAM (if applicable)
•	Implementation of service modules/interfaces/functionalities, service landing pages, service hubs, workflows
•	Demonstrate adoption with success stories from a disciplinary related consortium and a non-related one
•	Demonstrate interoperability of the service
•	Service Assurance Framework – A formalised agreement defining service commitments, which may be contractually guaranteed (Service Level Agreement, SLA), non-guaranteed (Best Effort), or similar models, depending on service components.
•	Quality and sustainability studies (D2.4.3)
•	Meet software quality criteria
•	Designate service provider(s)
•	Describe service quality / limitations
•	Draft business / operating models
•	Clarify legal aspects; GDPR
•	Admission of a service to service portfolio (D2.4.4)
•	Define key performance indicators
•	Security, e.g., incident management, privacy policy, etc.
•	Consider interoperability (EOSC)
•	Training and Outreach
•	Documentation of service
•	Training activities incl. web presence
•	Usability Testing
•	User study activities in coordination with Base4NFDI

Note that deliverables are tangible outcomes of the work (software, documents, plans, designs, training material…), while milestones can signify conceptual changes or specific moments in time. Here the achievement of the goals of one of the development phases and the transition to the next phase is considered a milestone.
Table 4: Overall work programme with work packages, deliverables, milestones, and responsible partner.
Work package	Deliverables (D) and milestones (M)	Responsible partner	
1. content	D1.1
D1.2
M1.1
...	institution	
2. other content	D1.1
D1.2
M1.1
...	Some other institution	
...	...	...	

II.5.2	Detailed Work Programme
Please provide a detailed description of the work packages, using one subsubsection per work package. Please include a Gantt chart summarising the duration, dependencies, deliverables and milestones of the WPs.
II.5.2.1	WP1
II.5.2.2	WP2
II.5.2.3	WP3
6	Funding Request
List the task area in the table heading and the individual work packages in the table. Add additional lines as necessary.
Table 5: Funding request by work package
	Year 1	Year 2	Total (in €)	
Work package 1				
Work package 2				
Work package 3				
...				
Total project funds				

List the name of each institution, adding additional lines if necessary.
Table 6: Funding request by institution
	Year 1	Year 2	Total (in €)	
Institution	Totals in €			
Lead institution				
Participating institution 1				
Participating institution 2				
Participating institution 3				
...				
Total project funds				

Please note the current staff funding rates of the DFG at the time of application, only on this basis funding is possible. In addition, please keep in mind the maximum budget that can be requested in the Initialisation phase (cf. Section I).
Any proposed instrumentation funding must be explained separately below the table.
Table 7: Funding request by funding category
	Year 1	Year 2
(if applicable)	Total (in €)	
DFG funding category	Totals in €			
Staff				
Direct project costs				
Total project funds				

List the number of person months for which funding is requested under the given staff categories of the DFG Personnel Rates.
Table 8: Funding request by staff category
	Year 1	Year 2 (if applicable)	
Staff category	Number of person months	Number of person months	
Postdoctoral researchers
and comparable			
Doctoral researchers
and comparable			
...			

On the following page you will find a template to confirm the accuracy of the information provided in this application (Principal Investigator) as well as the commitment of all participating institutions (institute directors) listed in section "1 General information". You can reproduce the template accordingly. Please provide confirmation for the lead and every participating institution listed in Table 1.
[NAME OF INSTITUTION]

We herewith certify that we have submitted this proposal to Base4NFDI and that the information provided therein is accurate.

Head of the lead / participating institution

_____________________________	_____________________________
First name last name					City, date, signature

Principal Investigator

_____________________________	_____________________________
First name last name					City, date, signature

III	Appendix
The appendix may only include the following information and documents:
a)	Bibliography and list of references
Please list all sources and data repositories, information infrastructures and software that you have used to describe the status quo in your proposal. Indicate which sources were written or developed by members of the participating institutions (for example, by highlighting the source in bold).
b)	Letters of commitment (LoC) supporting the Basic Service development (cf. section 4 	of this form)
It is standard for project partners to commit to the project activities. Partners are named in the paragraph "general information - participating institutions" of this template. Letters of commitment (LoC) are requested only in three cases: 1) from an NFDI consortium that commits to co-develop the service with consortium funds a LoC should detail the specific contributions of this consortium to the service, and/or 2) from an NFDI consortium that commits to use the service a LoC should outline the concrete steps to be taken by this consortium towards this goal, or 3) from other persons or institutions - also external to the NFDI - that do not actively participate but contribute to the service in any form.
LoCs can be submitted until two weeks after the application deadline.

Please do not provide generic consortia support letters. General support including the approval of 50% of the NFDI consortia will be requested in a separate process by the Base4NFDI coordination team.