Federico Milani

1
eContent European Digital Content on the Global
Networks

• Federico Milani
• European Commission
• March 2004 Part2

2
Agenda

• Proposal preparation
• Points of attention
• Proposal evaluation

3
eContent 2004 Proposal Preparation Deadline 14
May 2004
4
Proposal PreparationReference documents
www.cordis.lu/econtent

• (1) Work Programme content of the action lines
• (2) OJ notice of the Call open action lines and
  deadlines for proposal submission
• (3) Guide for proposers necessary guidance on
  how to submit a proposal and the forms necessary
• (4) Guide for evaluators details the evaluation
  criteria and process
• (5) Model Contract and General Conditions

EC Pre-proposal service closed consult NCP
5
Good proposal formula

• WHAT ?
• Clear objectives
• (commercial, technical...) baseline, proposed
  approach and methods, existing barriers and
  bottlenecks, risks and competing approaches
• innovative aspects and expected (market) impact
• WHY ?
• Clear motivations
• business case and envisaged revenue models
  already at proposals stage
• HOW ?
• Detailed workplan broken down into workpackages
• monitorable goals and performance indicators
• professional management communication plan

6
Good proposal formula

• By WHOM ?
• Consortium description
• details of each partners competencies and
  contributions
• balance between partners
• For WHOM ?
• Description of the targets of the action in
  connection with the projects business case
• description of the market potential possibly
  with measures to address competition
• To achieve WHAT?
• within the project
• intermediate and final results
• details on exploitation dissemination plans

7
Completeness of the proposal

• Part A - forms A1-A5 for legal, financial and
  administrative information
• Part B - description of the proposal, work
  packages, resources (human/know-how)
• Part C - acknowledgement of receipt
• Where relevant, references, letters of support
  (e.g. third party financial contribution)

8
Part A - Forms

• Download from web (http//www.cordis.lu/econtent/)
  
• Correct and coherent data
• Signed by authorised persons

and some fields are even more important than
some others...
...action line, legal name and status, fax no,
duration, requested EC funding, cost basis,
signature fields...
9
Budget FAQs

• Overheads indirect general cost necessary for
  carrying out the project
• e.g. cost for administration, management,
  buildings and equipment, water, electricity,
  telecommunications, office supplies
• Subcontracting
• up to 20 and less than 100 000 else CE
  approval required
• no conflict of interest
• tendering procedure - min. 3 offers to determine
  best price-quality ratio

10
Budget

• Realistic cost projections
• in line with effort detailed in Part B
• human resources (not too cheap/expensive
  sensible relation between tasks and effort)
• Chosen funding model affects all contracts with
  the Commission
• Additional Cost - Public Sector
• Full Cost - clearly identifiable overheads
• FC with flat rate for overheads (7)
• Pre-financing 40 gt intermediate and final
  payment upon justification of actual costs
  incurred

11
Often encountered pitfalls

• A3 - financial information has to balance
• assets/liabilities
• Profit and loss accounts
• pay attention to / -
• Consistency of
• A5 forms of individual partners feed into A4
  form giving overall budget
• project duration in part B work packages vs part
  A

12
(No Transcript)
13
Part B - Description of Work

• Format
• Pages numbered, not to exceed 30
• Clear title page
• Structure (see Guide for Proposers part B)
• has to address all evaluation criteria
• Appendices
• consortium and partner description
• CVs of key personnel

14
Points of attention

• Importance of abstract and introduction
• consistency in work packages (part B vs A forms)
• reasoned structure of deliverables
• project milestones - WP interdependencies
• demonstration of co-financing capacity and
  resources available
• elaborated business model AL 1.1 (more than a WP
  promising to develop one later on!)
• description of the potential market, addressing
  competition or fall back options

15
Lessons from the past calls

• late deliveries persist
• too vague description of market potential
• too wordy and academic proposals
• not enough demonstration of resources available
  to carry out the work
• less eGovernment/IST/translation proposals
• business plan and sustainability begin to be
  addressed but still not clearly enough

16
eContent Proposal Evaluation
17
Proposal Evaluation

• Eligibility criteria (EC staff)
• Timely arrival to EC by 14 May 2004 17h00
  Luxembourg time
• Consortium composition, completeness, etc.
• Award criteria (EC and experts)
• 35 Quality, relevance, innovation and impact
• 35 Partnership, resources and management
• 15 European added value contribution to
  relevant policies
• 15 Contribution to economic social objectives
• Selection Criteria (EC and experts)
• Financial capacity
• Human resources

18
Post Evaluation schedule

• Evaluation in June
• Commission procedures (July-August)
• Consultation of other services
• Evaluation report to Member States
• Information of participants (September)
• Opening of negotiations with selected proposers
• Contracts with successful proposers by the end of
  2004

19
Realities

• Up to now high participation
• Only excellent proposals will receive funding
• Formally non-eligible and out of scope proposals
  consistently rejected
• With 75 funded projects, innovation becomes an
  issue
• New financial rules of the Commission
• Impact on projects selected for funding
• Joint liability implementing the project select
  your partners carefully!

20
Remember to

• Study the documentation and the evaluation
  criteria thoroughly
• Know the context of the eContent programme
• Follow the guidelines and use the forms provided
• Focus on your idea and find the Action Line it
  fits best - not vice versa
• Make sure your proposal is signed and reaches
  Luxembourg by set deadline (of receipt!)

21
For more information, visit
http//www.cordis.lu/econtent/
http//www.content-village.org/
Thank you for your attention.