the grant funding has a 1:1 contribution ratio, so they may want proof of expenditure / final costings etc before guaranteeing the final amount. Usually with government they make the announcements for the pollies then you work for the next 6month finalising the funding agreement to have it signed. I work with Federal and State govt alot across infrastructure projects.

@Parko5 the total cost is estimated as $4m, so the government commitment is 50% of the investment up to that limit.

I suspect the cost estimate has a healthy contingency, so the government has said, we’ll pay 50% of what it actually costs, but only to a maximum amount, because the government wants certainty on its commitment.

This scope probably can’t be managed as a lump sum fixed price. There will be contractors for the building and fit out, and then other suppliers for the specialist equipment, and maybe a mix of internal and external costs for installation and commissioning of equipment. The R&D Head will need to manage delivery of all the components to get the facility up and running out of their overall R&D budget.

So the level of detail makes perfect sense to me. That’s particularly because R&D facilities usually involve one-off, specialist elements, which can be hard to price, and so it’s better to take on the price risk as the owner/operator, rather than try to lay if off to a contractor. (I’m guessing here, but I do have first hand experience of starting up an R&D facility at the start of my career many moons ago, and some things have not changed!)