THE LISBON STRATEGY 20072013

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EUROMED HERITAGE IV Rules governing the
restricted call for proposals EuropeAid/126266/C/
ACT/Multi Information session Brussels,
10.12.2007
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DEFINITION what is a grant?

• a payment of a non-commercial nature to a
  specific recipient
• for the achievement of an objective forming part
  of a European Union policy
• to support the implementation of an action
  YOUR PROJECT

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DEFINITION what is a grant?

• Therefore a GRANT is
• a project proposed by a potential Beneficiary
• with a co-financing from the Beneficiary of min.
  20 of the total eligible costs
• the EC contribution is for the reimbursement of
  the actual eligible costs incurred
• the Grant Beneficiary is autonomous and owner of
  the action its results
• No retroactivity

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DEFINITION what is a beneficiary?

• The term BENEFICIARY is used with different
  meanings
• the recipient of an awarded grant (from
  Applicant to Beneficiary)
• to identify the Beneficiary country with which
  the EC has an agreed programme of co-operation
  for the benefit of its population
• to identify the final beneficiaries, i.e. those
  who will benefit from the project in the long
  term at the level of the society or sector at
  large

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Changes adopted in EC practice to promote better
quality projects

• Attitudes and approaches to ownership,
  control and visibility
• Focus on results over longer term
• Knowledge and skills of staff
• Working relationships with partners and other
  donors
• Streamlining of procedures (increased
  flexibility)

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DIFFERENCE BETWEEN A CALL FORTENDERS AND A CALL
FOR PROPOSALS
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HOW TO PREPARE YOUR PROPOSAL

• Verify the general and specific objectives of
  Euromed Heritage IV in article 1.2 of the
  guidelines
• ? Are these objectives in line with your
  project?
• Verify the eligibility of proposed actions of
  Euromed Heritage IV in article 2.1.3 of the
  guidelines
• ? Is the scope of your proposed activities in
  line with the eligible actions defined in the
  guidelines?

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BUDGET and SIZE OF GRANTS

• The overall indicative amount is EUR 13.500.000
  (ENPI-South regional action plan).
• EUR 500.000 requested EC grant EUR 1.500.000
• Maximum EC co-financing 80 of the total
  eligible costs
• No double financing the balance must be financed
  from the applicant's or partners' own resources,
  or from sources other than the European Community
  budget or the European Development Fund.

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LOCATION and DURATION

• Euromed Heritage is a regional programme the
  majority of project activities must take place in
  at least two of the Mediterranean partner
  countries and territories (corresponding to
  minimum 40 of the budgeted costs).
• Within the projects, punctual actions, such as
  meetings, seminars, or training sessions, etc.
  may nevertheless be carried out in the EU, as
  well as in other Mediterranean countries.
• The planned duration of an action must be
  between 24 to 48 months.

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HOW TO PREPARE YOUR PROPOSAL

• Verify the eligibility criteria of the Applicant
  in article 2.1.1 of the guidelines
• ? Can you be the applicant?
• and those of the partners in article 2.1.2 of the
  guidelines
• ? Can you be a partner?
• ? Do your partners fulfil the eligibility
  criteria?

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PARTNERSHIPS requirements

• In article 2.1.2 of the guidelines
• Partnerships must be composed of at least one
  organisation from a EU Member State and at least
  one organisation from a Mediterranean partner
  country or territory.
• Partnerships are mandatory, with the minimum
  requirement 1 EU 1 Med.
• A same entity cannot participate more than once,
  either as leader or as partner.
• The partners participate in designing and
  implementing the action, and the costs they incur
  are eligible in the same way as those incurred by
  the grant Beneficiary. They must therefore
  satisfy the same eligibility criteria as the
  applicants.

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ELIGIBILITY of applicants and partners

• Applicants and partners must
• be legal persons, and
• be non profit making, and
• be organisations such as non-governmental
  organisations, cultural associations, private or
  public sector operators, research institutes,
  universities, relevant local or regional public
  administrations, international (inter-governmental
  ) organisations as defined by Article 43 of the
  Implementing Rules to the EC Financial
  Regulation, and
• work in the field of culture, and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and
  management of the action, not acting as
  intermediaries, and

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ELIGIBILITY of applicants and partners

• be nationals of
• - a Member State of the European Union (27
  countries)
• - a country or a territory beneficiary of the
  European Neighbourhood and Partnership instrument
  (Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaidjan, Belarus, Egypt,
  Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova,
  Morocco, Palestinian Authority of the West Bank
  and Gaza Strip, Russian Federation, Syria,
  Tunisia, Ukraine)
• - a country that is a beneficiary of an
  Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (Albania,
  Bosnia, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of
  Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia, including Kosovo,
  Turkey)
• - a Member State of the European Economic Area
  (Iceland, Lichtenstein, Norway)
• - any other country than those referred to above,
  where the reciprocal access to external
  assistance has been established (no country for
  the time being).

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ASSOCIATES

• Other organisations may be involved in the
  action. Such associates play a real role in the
  action but may not receive funding from the grant
  with the exception of per diems or travel costs.
  
• Associates do not have to meet the eligibility
  criteria referred to in article 2.1.1.
• SUBCONTRACTORS
• Subcontractors are subject to the procurement
  rules set out in Annex IV to the standard grant
  contract.
• Associates and Sub-contractors are not partners
  and do not have to sign the partnership
  statement.

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HOW TO APPLY administrative info

• Applications must be submitted using the
  Euromed Heritage IV Grant Application Form
  annexed to the Guidelines (to be published in
  the coming days onhttp//europa.eu.int/comm/euro
  peaid/cgi/frame12.pl)
• At this stage, fill in and submit ONLY PART A
• - Concept note (max. 4 pages)
• - Checklist for concept note
• - Declaration by the applicant for concept note
  (to be signed)

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HOW TO APPLY administrative info

• Language English or French
• 1 original and 3 copies electronic format
• (The electronic format must contain exactly the
  same proposal as the paper version enclosed. Do
  not use PDF format)
• Prior registration in PADOR is not obligatory.

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HOW TO APPLY deadline

• The deadline for the receipt of applications is
• Friday 15 February 2008, 1600 CET
• Any application received after the deadline will
  automatically be rejected even if the postmark
  indicates a date preceding the deadline or if the
  delay is due to the private courier service.
• No submission via e-mail!

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CONCEPT NOTE

• The Concept Note must answer the 4 sections in a
  maximum of 4 pages (each section must be answered
  on maximum 1 page - the font size cannot be
  smaller than Arial 10)
• Any Concept Note not meeting those basic
  requirements will be rejected without
  appraisal...

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CONCEPT NOTE

• 1. Summary of the action
• Brief description of the proposed action (and the
  following questions)
• 2. Relevance
• 2.1 How relevant is your proposal to the needs
  and constraints of the target country(ies) or
  region?
• 2.2 What are the problems to be resolved and the
  needs to be met?
• 2.3 Who are the actors involved (final
  beneficiaries, target groups)?
• 2.4 What are the objectives and expected results?
• 2.5 What is the added value of the action (what
  adds the action by reference to (central or
  local) government action and actions
  implemented by non state actors)?
• 3. Methodology and Sustainability
• 3.1 What are the main project activities?
• 3.2 Who will be your main implementing partners,
  what is the length of your relationship with
  them and how will they be involved in the
  project?
• 3.3 How will the project achieve sustainability?
• 3.4 Will it have multiplier effects?
• 4. Operational capacity and expertise
• 4.1 What is the experience of your organisation
  in project management?
• 4.2 What is the experience of your organisation
  and your partner(s) of the issues to be
  addressed?

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STEP 1 Opening session and administrative check

• Use the checklist!!!
• If any of the requested information is missing or
  is incorrect, the proposal may be rejected on
  that sole basis and the proposal will not be
  evaluated further.

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STEP 2 evaluation of the Concept Note
Max. points (15) 5 10 (25) 5 10 10 (10)
5 5 50

• 1. Relevance
• 1.1 Relevance of the problems to needs and
  constraints of the country/region to be addressed
  in general, and to those of the target groups
  and final beneficiaries in particular
• 1.2 Relevance to the priorities and objectives
  mentioned in the Guidelines
• 2. Effectiveness and Feasibility of the action
• 2.1 Assessment of the problem identification and
  analysis
• 2.2 Assessment of the proposed activities
  (practicality and consistency in relation to the
  objectives, purpose and expected results).
• 2.3 Assessment of the role and involvement of all
  stakeholders and proposed partners.
• 3. Sustainability of the action
• 3.1 Assessment of the identification of the main
  assumptions and risks, before the start up and
  throughout the implementation period.
• 3.2 Assessment of the identification of long-term
  sustainable impact on the target groups and final
  beneficiaries.
• TOTAL

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STEP 2 evaluation of the Concept Note

• 1. Assessment by HQ and delegations
• Minimum of 12 points in the category "Relevance,
  and
• minimum total score of 30 points to be considered
  for pre-selection.
• 2. Ranking according to the total average score
• The list of Concept Notes will be reduced in
  accordance to the ranking to those whose sum of
  requested contributions amounts to twice the
  available budget for this Call for proposals.
• 3. Information invitation of pre-selected
  applicants to submit full proposals and
  information of non-selected applicants

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STEP 3 Evaluation of full proposal

• Euromed Heritage IV Grant Application Form, PART
  B
• (not to be submitted at this stage)
• I. THE ACTION
• 1. DESCRIPTION (including logical framework)
• 2. BUDGET FOR THE ACTION (including expected
  sources of funding)
• 3. EXPERIENCE OF SIMILAR ACTIONS
• II. THE APPLICANT identity, profile, capacity to
  manage and implement actions, list of the
  management board/committee of the organisation

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STEP 3 Evaluation of full proposal

• Euromed Heritage IV Grant Application Form, PART
  B
• III. PARTNERS OF THE APPLICANT PARTICIPATING IN
  THE ACTION description of the partners,
  Partnership Statement
• IV. ASSOCIATES OF THE APPLICANT PARTICIPATING IN
  THE ACTION
• V. CHECKLIST
• VI. DECLARATION BY THE APPLICANT
• VII. ASSESSMENT GRID

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BUDGET eligibility of costs

• Only eligible costs can be taken into account
  for a grant.
• It is therefore in the Beneficiary's interest to
  provide a
• realistic and cost-effective budget.

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BUDGET eligibility of costs

• Costs must
• - be necessary for carrying out the action
• - have actually been incurred during the
  implementation period
• - be recorded in the Beneficiary's or the
  Beneficiary's partners' accounts or tax
  documents
• - be identifiable and verifiable, and be backed
  up by originals of supporting documents
• - and be paid for before final report verification

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BUDGET eligibility of costs
Make sure that your budget is readable and in
line with the proposed action Delete all budget
lines which are not used Lump sums are not
acceptable (indicate provisions)
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BUDGET 15 flexibility rule
Variations in the budget are allowed provided
that they - they do not affect the basic
purpose of the action and - the financial
impact is limited to a transfer between items
within the same main budget heading including
cancellation or introduction of an item, or a
transfer between main budget headings involving a
variation of 15 or less of the amount originally
entered in relation to each concerned main
heading for eligible costs. ? inform the EC in
writing and without any delay (no addendum). ?
not for administrative costs or contingency
reserve.
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BUDGET item 1 Human resources

• indicate whether unit rates are maximum or
  average
• indicate full or part-time utilisation (and its
  percentage)
• indicate if staff are in-house, external
  collaborators or external contractor
  expertise/sub-contracted (if sub-contracted move
  to item 5)
• verify ratio between administrative staff and
  item 10
• per-diem clarify that these are average and how
  web-site applicable rates will be utilised for
  reporting
• reduce number of budget lines based on similar
  activities/unit rates (both for per-diem and
  travels)

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BUDGET item 1 Human resources
In budget item 1, only staff recruited by the
Beneficiary and its partners with an employment
contract (and related payment of salaries) is
eligible. Staff recruited with a service
contract (and related invoices) is to be
considered as sub-contractors. Procurement
rules apply. They should be included in budget
item 5. Salaries are not in-kind contributions,
provided they are paid by the Beneficiary and/or
its partners, and they are supported by
appropriate proves of payment.
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BUDGET item 2 Travel

• Flights only in economy class
• clarify if unit rates are maximum or average
• clarify modalities for local transport

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BUDGET item 3 Equipment and Supplies

• Type of expenditure eligible only if deemed
  necessary by the EC for the Euromed Heritage IV
  Programme.
• No reinforcement of the capacities of the
  beneficiary / partners unless duly justified.
• Indicate/clarify procurement planning and
  procedures (remember art 7 of GC)
• 3.1 if just rental (delete purchase)
• 3.5 Other (please specify) means they have to
  specify!
• Transfer to local partners and/or the final
  recipients at the latest by the end of the
  implementation of the Action
• Certificates of origin

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BUDGET item 4 Local office

• Type of expenditure eligible only if deemed
  necessary by the EC for the Euromed Heritage IV
  Programme.
• No need to set-up a specific office for a
  project,unless duly justified.
• (cf. 7 for overheads)

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BUDGET item 5 Other costs, services

• do you have a procurement planning?
• and procedures to follow?
• 5.2 modalities of such studies and their related
  management
• 5.3 Expenditure verification the only
  sub-contract without procedures
• 5.4 external evaluations, if included clarify
  modalities/ procedures
• 5.6 no need for bank guarantee no bank charges
• 5.7 seminars, etc. clarify link with 1.3.3
• 5.8 visibility action no lump sum, modalities
  should be provided in the action description

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BUDGET item 6 Other

• Please detail and, if related to other items,
  move these costs to correct budget lines

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BUDGET item 8 contingency reserve

• A contingency reserve not exceeding 5 of the
  direct eligible costs may be included in the
  Budget of the Action. It can only be used with
  the prior written authorisation of the
  Contracting Authority.
• BUDGET item 10 overheads
• The indirect costs incurred in carrying out the
  action may be eligible for flat-rate funding
  fixed at not more than 7 of the total eligible
  direct costs.

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PROCUREMENT

• The provisions of Annex IV to standard grant
  contracts apply mutatis mutandis to contracts to
  be concluded by the Beneficiarys partners
• Tender documents must be drafted in accordance
  with best international practice. If you do not
  have your own set of documents, you may use
  EuropeAid models.

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PROCUREMENT thresholdsArtificial slicing in
order to avoid threshold for publication is NOT
ALLOWED!
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PROCUREMENT
All the public contracts funded (co-funded) by
the Commission have to respect the principles of
transparency, proportionality, equal treatment
and non-discrimination. Negotiated procedure
the cases where the contracting authority
addresses itself to an operator of its choice
without proceeding to competition are
exceptional, and reserved for well-defined,
specific situations that require the prior
written approval of the Commission. always fair
competition
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RE-GRANTING
The Applicant may propose awarding sub-grants.
To be included in the proposal - justification
for re-granting, - types of activities which may
be eligible for sub-grants - total budget used
for awarding sub-grants, - minimum and maximum
amount which may be paid to third parties,-
criteria for determining the exact amount for the
sub-grant. The maximum amount of sub-grant is
limited to EUR 10.000 per third party of the
while the total amount which can be awarded as
sub-grants to third parties is limited to EUR
100.000. The Beneficiary shall remain the only
counterpart of the EC regarding the management of
the sub-granted funds, particularly as far as the
eligibility of expenditure occurred by third
parties is concerned.
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OTHER IMPORTANT DOCUMENTS

• In addition, pay attention to
• Annex II General Conditions !!!!!!
• Annex VI - Model narrative and financial report
• Annex VII- Model report of factual findings and
  terms of reference for an expenditure
  verification of an EC financed grant contract for
  external actions

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to check regularly until the deadline!
Additional information
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EC contract procedures
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Standard documents
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Provisional timeline
Contract finalisation and signature
Second phaseof project preparation
First phase of project preparation
BEGINNING OF PROJECTS...
Final evaluation in HQ EC Dels
Publication of guidelines
Invitation of best concept notes to submit a full
proposal
Deadline for receipt of concept notes
Evaluation of concept notes
INFO DAYS in Brussels on 10.12.07 (EN) and on
15.01.08 (FR) in Damascus on 17.01.08 (EN) in
Rabat on 25.01.08 (FR)
October 07
December 07 -January 08
JULY 2008
May-June 08
Deadline 15.02.08
March 08 April 08
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ANY QUESTIONS?

• 1) Questions answers session of this afternoon
  (1430)
• 2) Questions may be sent by e-mail or by fax no
  later than 26/01/2008 to EuropeAid-euromedherita
  ge_at_ec.europa.eu
• Fax [phone]
• Ref. Euromed Heritage IV
• Please, regularly check the EuropeAid website
• http//ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl
  (search with reference n 126266) in order to be
  informed of the latest news related to this call
  as well as the published QA
• N.B. In the interest of equal treatment of
  applicants, the EC cannot give a prior opinion on
  the eligibility of an applicant, a partner or a
  proposed activities.

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Thank you for your attention Please note
that this document has been prepared for
information purposes only, official instructions
are provided in the published Guidelines and
their related official documentation.