Digitalise Your SME: getting three quotes that compare.

What the scheme asks for

Digitalise Your SME is run by the Measures and Support Division, the designated Intermediate Body, not by Malta Enterprise. This guide follows the Call 1 Guidance Notes, version 1.0, issued on 3 March 2025. Custom software is listed there as an eligible digital solution, next to off-the-shelf software.

For each sub-activity, an applicant submits either an Investment Proposal or three quotations with the technical specification. The notes say the proposal or quotations are the basis on which the grant is calculated. The quotations route is limited to three distinct items, and multiples of identical items count as one. The Malta page has the wider picture of how the grant works.

Write the specification before you ask anyone

The quotations have to be sought against a set of minimum technical specifications, and the notes say those should be clear, accurate and describe what you need so that suppliers can meet it. The specification can be a range or a lower or upper boundary. It does not have to be an exact value. Quotes that do not meet the specification may not be considered.

For a business system, that means a written list, not a conversation: the jobs the system must do, how many people use it, what it connects to, what data moves in, and which languages it needs. The guide to writing a software brief has a checklist, and the quote builder produces a brief you can adapt.

What “unrelated” means in practice

The notes require the three quotations to come from three different external suppliers that are unrelated to the applicant. They add that the buyer not controlling the seller is not enough on its own. There should be no influence, decisive or not, on the composition, voting or decisions of either business, and no family ties between buyer and seller.

So a supplier who is a relative, a business partner or a company you hold shares in is not a safe third quote. If you are unsure about a particular supplier, ask the Division before you spend time on it.

How to make three software quotes comparable

Software quotes differ in structure far more than laptop quotes do. These requests make them line up:

• Send every supplier the same specification and the same deadline. Do not let one of them rewrite it.
• Ask for the scope in phases, with what is in each phase named, so a cheap quote cannot hide missing parts.
• Ask for hours and weeks as well as a total, so you can see where two quotes really differ.
• Ask for VAT on a separate line. The notes say VAT is not an eligible cost and that suppliers should quote it separately.
• Ask for support and maintenance to be priced apart from the build. The notes list repair and maintenance of the investment, including maintenance agreements, as ineligible.
• Ask for any design, marketing or consultancy work to be itemised too, because the notes list fees for those as ineligible.
• Ask each supplier for a short company background and a website, which the notes also request for every supplier.

The investment proposal route

The alternative to quotations is an Investment Proposal. It describes the need and the technical specifications, what is available on the market (the notes explicitly mention off-the-shelf, fully custom or a hybrid), which suppliers offer it and their price range, and which of those meet your requirements. It suits a project where you have looked at several approaches and want to explain the choice.

If you are weighing a subscription tool against a custom build, the custom versus off-the-shelf comparison is a useful starting point for that explanation. The notes ask you to outline which versions or brands exist on the market, whichever kind you choose.

Timing: apply, get approval, then start

Your business is the applicant. I do not apply for you. The notes say work on the funded activities may only start after the date of granting of the aid, which is the date the grant agreement is signed, and that acknowledgement of your application does not oblige the Division to grant anything. Spending is only eligible if it is approved in the grant agreement. If the project is approved, you buy from one of the quotations you submitted.

Because I am one of the suppliers you might ask, I should say it plainly: you need three quotes from businesses that are unrelated to you, and I am happy to be one of them or to be left out. Whichever suppliers you choose, check the current rules with the Measures and Support Division before you apply. Contact details are in section 11 of the Guidance Notes. A call may have changed since the March 2025 notes.