Thierry PROST

European Research Council Executive Agency

Head of Unit C.3 "Advanced Grants"

ERC Event

Zagreb, 22. October 2014

ERC granting under Horizon 2020

│ 2

ERC Grants under H2020:

Continuity with FP7 contractual framework…

… with some novelties, mostly aiming at simplification

The H2020 Grant Preparation Process

Overview

Planning of granting operations

│ 3

The H2020 ERC Grant Agreement Where to find? Participant Portal

The H2020 ERC Grant Agreement

│ 4

Core

text

General

conditions Annex II

Specific

provisions Annexes III

FP7

Special

clauses

H2020 A single document with all provisions

• Single article: subject of the agreement

Chapter 1: General

• Action, duration and budget

Chapter 2: Action

• Amount, reimbursement rates, eligible costs

Chapter 3: Grant

• To implement the action: resources, in-kind contributions, subcontracts

• Grant administration: reporting, payments, audits

• Background and results: access rights, protection of results, exploitation, dissemination

• Others: gender equality, ethics, confidentiality

Chapter 4: Rights and obligations

• Roles and responsibilities, internal arrangements

Chapter 5: Division of roles

• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties

• Suspension and termination of the action

Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties, termination, etc

• Accession, entry into force, amendments, applicable law

Chapter 7: Final provisions

6

Annex 1: Description of the Action

Annex 2: Estimated Budget

Annex 3: Accession Forms, 3a & 3b

Annex 4: Financial Statements

Annex 5: Certificate on the Financial Statements

Annex 6: Certificate on the Methodology

Annexes to the grant

The H2020 ERC Grant Agreement

Continuity with FP7

• The Host Institution (HI) is the signatory of the Grant Agreement

• The Principal Investigator (PI) is responsible for the scientific

guidance, manages the budget (within the internal rules of the HI) and

reports on the science

• Minimum time commitment expected from the PI (on project; in EU)

• A Supplementary Agreement to be signed between the PI and the HI

• Separate reporting on science and on finance

• ERC grants are "portable" should the PI decide to change his/her HI

• 100% of direct costs are eligible for reimbursement

• A flat rate of contribution to indirect costs

• No negotiation on the scientific content: The technical annex (called

"Description of the Action") to the grant agreement is based on the

proposal's text.

│ 7

• The PI is the key driver of the ERC project and cannot be replaced

• The PI has the authority over the scientific work to be carried out and the use of

the budget in line with the general practice of the HI

• The HI signs the ERC grant agreement and is legally speaking the beneficiary, all

changes to the grant agreement must be agreed and signed with the HI (and the

PI if related to scientific aspects)

Principal

Investigator

Host

Institution ERCEA

Grant Agreement

Supplementary

Agreement

PI-HI-ERCEA : the contractual relationship

│ 8

ERC Grant Agreements foresee 2 different reporting streams:

Reports covering the financial aspects of the grant

• Prepared by Host Institution (HI) in consultation with Principal Investigator (PI)

• Submitted 4 times over 5 years: months 18, 36, 54, 60

• Assessment by the Grant Management Department and basis for payments

Reports covering the scientific aspects of the grant

• Prepared by PI (on behalf of HI)

• Submitted twice over 5 years: Midterm (M30) & Final (M60)

ERC specific Reporting Streams

│ 9

PI involvement in ERC projects

From now on : systematic collection of data about time spent in the project and in Europe via

the financial reports

If time allocation is reported to be below the minimum foreseen in the Work Programme, HIs

and PIs will be reminded about their obligation to respect the time commitments and the need

to redress the situation

│ 10

minimum total

working time to the

ERC project

minimum total

working time in

EU/AC

StG 50% 50%

CoG 50% (2014)

40% (2015)

50%

AdG 30% 50%

Novelties compared to FP7 Simplification

• Financial viability analysis: only for principal beneficiaries when

requested funding ≥ EUR 500 000 (not for mono-beneficiary actions or

any other beneficiary)

• Certificate on financial statements: Requested only once (claiming

the payment of the balance ≥EUR 325 000 (instead of 375.000)

• Audits up to two years after the payment of the balance (instead of 5)

• Communication: no contact person is mentioned anymore in the

Grant Agreement (no need for amendments!)

• Time-recording abolished for Researchers working 100% on

project

• Non-deductible VAT becomes an eligible cost

• Subcontracting may cover research tasks

│ 11

Novelties compared to FP7 Changes in some financial rules, namely as regard:

• Indirect costs from 20% to 25%

• Small service contracts may give right to indirect costs

• Additional remuneration for researchers: reimbursement is capped at

8,000€ per year

│ 12

Basic

Salary

"Mandatory extras" • Fixed by law or by contract

to remunerate the main

activity of the employee

• Payment not subject to

discretion by the employer

• Not linked to a specific

project

e.g.: 13th month, hazardous

work allowance, etc.

Other bonuses • Only eligible for

non-profit legal

entities

• Subject to specific

eligibility criteria

• Maybe triggered by

the participation in

a specific project

Additional remuneration Standard remuneration

Hourly rate

TOTAL REMUNERATION

The H2020 Grant Preparation process Overview

Info to beneficiaries:

ESR (+ Invitation) Grant

signature

│ 13

Evaluation Grant preparation: Interaction with PI and HI

- Annex 1 (~ part B of the proposal)

- Annex 2 (budget table) - Draft/Signed Supplementary Agreement

- Statement on Changes - Copy of PI passport (Advanced Grants)

100% of the

average EU

funding

period

Call

deadline

Pre-financing

Full "e-processing"

The entire Grant Preparation process is electronic and goes through

the Participant Portal, including:

• Reception of the invitation letter

• Communication with ERCEA officers

• Preparation of Grant Agreement data

• Upload of additional documents (e.g. Supplementary Agreement)

• Electronic signature of the Grant Agreement

• Accession of other beneficiaries (if any) to the Grant Agreement

│ 14

│ 15

Planning of granting operations - Horizon 2020

call

number

of

grants

expected start

of granting

signature of the

first grants

all grants must

be signed by

PoC 2014 (1st deadline) 50 July 2014

actually: 08/08

October 2014

confirmed

31 December

2015

StG 2014 370 December 2014 March 2015

CoG 2014 400 February 2015 May 2015

PoC 2014 (2nd deadline) 50 February 2015 May 2015

AdG 2014 200 May 2015 August 2015

Training & Support

• External Wiki

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/wikis/display/ECResearchGMS/H2020+

IT+Documentation

• Participant Portal

http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/home.html

• Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

http://erc.europa.eu/faq

│ 16

│ 17

Thank you for your attention!