Info Day – 31/05/2010

Dominique RAMAEKERS-JØRGENSENEuropean Commission DG RTD – H2 Surface Transport

Rail

Road

Wate

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Sustainable Surface Transport - Call 2010

Negotiation

What is the purpose of the negotiation?

Who will negotiate?

What is the basis for the negotiation?

The technical negotiation

The financial negotiation

In practice …

Reasons for delay

Consortium agreement

Where do we stand?

Preparation of proposal

Signature of GA

Preparation of GA

Call

Evaluation

ProceduresISC, Programme Committee

Negotiation

ProceduresProgramme Committee, budget

Grant Agreement

30/08/200914/01/2010

15/02/201023/04/2010

Mid June 201029/10/2010

1-2 months

1-2 months

What is the purpose of the negotiation?

Agree on the scientific/technical details of the project (Work plan, list of deliverables, milestones, timing, dissemination level, etc)

Agree on budgetary matters (Total budget, budget breakdown, activity type, etc.)

Finalise legal aspects (consortium, special clauses, start date, financial viability, etc.)

Prepare the Grant Agreement

Who will negotiate?

Project officers

Legal officers

Coordinators

Project officers

William BIRD Peter CRAWLEY Joost DE BOCK Grzegorz DOMANSKI Alexandra GURAU Michal KLIMA Patrycja KULESZA Maurizio MAGGIORE Dominique RAMAEKERS-JØRGENSEN Ludger ROGGE

Head of Unit ff: Frédéric SGARBI

Legal officers

Petr CERVENY Charles DE CHEFDEBIEN Evelyne GRANATA-LUBAC Ulrich SCHMID Cristina TATU-CARAVAN Cristina FERNANDEZ ESTRADA

Coordinators

Lead the negotiation

Represent the consortium

Only one applicant can be the coordinator

One single person will represent the coordinator

This person is responsible for all the contacts with the Commission This person attends all the meetings

What is the basis for the negotiation?

Negotiation mandate

Rules for participation

Annex II of the Grant Agreement – General conditions

Guidance documents

Negotiation mandate

Timetable for the negotiation

Request for changes of the technical content (based on ESR)

Duration of the project

Maximum EC financial contribution

Date and time of the negotiation meeting

Name of the project officer and administrative officer

Rules for participation

Definitions (legal entity, participants, SME, public body, third country, associated country, etc...)

Minimum condition for participation General conditions for inclusion in the grant agreements Provisions concerning access right and dissemination Consortia (consortium agreement, coordinator,etc.) Community financial contribution (eligibility for funding, eligible

costs, funding limits, etc.) Dissemination and use, and access rights

Regulation (EC) No 1906/2006 laying down the rules for the participation of undertakings, research centres and universities in actions under the Seventh Framework Programme and for the dissemination of research results (2007-2013)

FP7 Grant Agreement – Annex II

Part A – Implementation of the project General principles (coordinator, consortium) Reporting and payments Implementation

Part B – Financial provisions General financial provisions (eligible costs, funding limits, Community

financial contributions, etc) Guarantee funds and recoveries Controls and sanctions

Part C – Intellectual property rights, use and dissemination

Part D – Final provisions Competitive calls Amendments, termination of GA, liability, etc.

Guidance documents

Tip: check Cordis regularly for updates

CORDIS: FIND A DOCUMENT

Technical negotiations

Objective: To agree on the final content of Annex I

Description of work adapted to meet recommendations and comply with the General Conditions of the Grant Agreement

Work described in sufficient details and proportionate to resources

Identification of the work to be carried out by each beneficiary

List of deliverables (content, timing, needed resources, dissemination level), milestones (+ assessment criteria)

Indicative time schedule for reviews to be established (mainly for large projects)

Financial and legal negotiations

Objective: To agree on budgetary and legal matters

Total costs and budget breakdown to be agreed upon Start date and duration of the project Timing of the reporting periods

Amount of pre-financing Special clauses Identification of sub-contractors and third parties Financial capacity of coordinator and of any other participant with

EC contribution > EUR 500.000

In practice: Supporting IT tool

NEF is used for:

Preparation of the Description of Work GPFs (Grant Agreement preparation forms)

Advantages:

• Easy and transparent follow-up of negotiations• Description of work according to format• Integration with EC project management IT tools• Deliverables defined for further uploading

In practice: Description of work (1)

1st step: Convert your proposal into Annex I using NEF

Please: DO NOT implement the recommendations yet,

DO NOT introduce changes

Part A: Budget breakdown (GPF A3.2) Project summary (GPF A1) List of beneficiaries Workplan tables (WT1 – WT8): list of WPs, list of deliverables, WP description, list of

milestones, tentative schedule for reviews, project efforts (PM) per WP and per beneficiary, project efforts and costs.

Part B: B1: Concepts and objectives, progress beyond the state of the art, S/T methodology and

work plan B2: Implementation (management structure, beneficiaries, consortium as a whole,

resources to be commited) B3: Impact B4: Ethical issues (if applicable) B5: Gender aspects (optional)

In practice: Description of work (2)

2nd step: Revise the 1st draft according to the recommendations in the negotiation mandate and the comments of the project officer during the negotiation meeting or by bilateral contacts.

Please pay attention to the following: Type of activity: RTD, DEM, OTHER, MGT and COOR (only applicable to

coordination actions), SUPP (only applicable to support actions) Number of deliverables (and timing) Milestones

Tip: Do not define the periodic reports and final report as deliverables

One work package = one -and only one - type of activity!

In practice: Costs details

Provide the costs details in NEF with the (revised) description of work

Provide the costs without decimals (e.g. EUR 500.000,00)

Check the cost models, activity type

Tip: Check carefully the management costs – These shall NOT include the technical coordination costs (Ref: General conditions, Guide to Financial issues)

Reasons for delay

Slow or unclear response from consortium

Changes in the description of work not properly identified or justified

Discussions over the budget Reduction of budget coordination/management costs “Unnecessary” changes in budget breakdown Insufficient cost justification, in particular for “other major costs”

Sub-contracting Beneficiaries not validated

Documents (e.g. signed GPFs, ) not submitted

Consortium agreement

Prerequisite for the signature of the Grant Agreement

Model of consortium agreement to be found on Cordis

Agreement itself not checked by the Commission’s services

Tip: Inform the project officer as soon as the consortium agreement has been signed by all beneficiaries

More information ?

Do not hesitate to contact the project officer!

Guidance documents on Cordis (http://cordis.europa.eu)

Participants portal (http://ec.europa.eu.research/participants/portal)

General conditions of the Grant Agreement

Thank you for your attention