The Clothing and Household Textiles Building Innovative Capability (BIC) program replaced the Post 2005 TCF Strategic Investment Program (SIP) from 1 July 2010 and runs for five years. BIC is based on the SIP legislation but focuses solely on innovation. In SIP terms, claims will be restricted to Type 2 activity covering innovative product design, innovative process improvement and research and development with supplementary claims for obtaining industrial property rights and undertaking market research.
 Eligibility is restricted to clothing and certain household textile producers who either manufacture in Australia or who design for manufacture in Australia. Registration for the coming year must take place before 30 June and requires a Strategic Business Plan. Eligible activity is defined in projects and project expenditure related to salaries, contract and material costs can be claimed. The salaries get a generous 85% uplift, helping first time claimants reach a $200k threshold before they can receive their first grant. The annual cash grant is capped at 5% of the sales of locally sewn items and based on 50% of eligible expenditure. Should the pool of $22.5m be oversubscribed all claimants receive a modulated amount. In recent years this has fluctuated between 73 – 81%.
Due to the extraordinary volume of carried forward grants from the last year of SIP, AusIndustry have advised an expected modulation vote for Year 1 BIC claims of 50% - unfortunately halving the expected benefits. This is expected to be a one-off event and if most carried forward grants are washed out of the system, the modulation rate should track upwards and Year 2 BIC claims should deliver closer to their full value.
TCF Services are the acknowledged leader in the delivery of the SIP and BIC programs. Their ability to define and track eligible activity, quantify eligible expenditure and communicate the innovation is leading edge.
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