Consultant Innovation Fund

Consultants identified a number of challenges in 2024 and 2025.

These included:

• delays in fund transfers
• not enough time to use the funds before 31 December
• not enough time to act on feedback from the Spark team
• problems with getting the required signatures for approved projects before fund transfers

To address these issues and speed up the process, the following changes have been introduced:

• Pre-submission phase: consultants are strongly encouraged to submit their applications through the Consultant Innovation Fund Pre-Submission Application Form on the portal to get feedback on their proposal. Applications must be submitted by 16 January 2026, and feedback will be given before 6 March 2026. Note: Applications submitted after 16 January 2026 will not be eligible for feedback.
• Final application deadline: 3 April 2026. Applications must be sent through the Consultant Innovation Fund Formal Application Form on the portal. They will be reviewed based solely on the CIF guidelines using the Application Assessment Checklist. No further changes to the application will be possible after submission.
• Fund transfers: scheduled for February, April, and May 2026. The final transfer will occur in May 2026. Note: All required documentation must be returned to the Spark team by the 6th of each month to be included in that month’s fund transfer.
• Memorandum of Agreements (MOAs): Issued via DocuSign for electronic signatures.