call for proposals - european commission...regulation (eu) no 508/2014 of the european parliament...
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EUROPEAN COMMISSION Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) Department A - COSME, H2020 SME and EMFF Unit A3 - EMFF
Call for Proposals
For EU Grants under the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
Implementation of the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) for the EU maritime domain: Ensuring interoperability of
National IT Systems to allow for more efficient information exchange within and across borders
EMFF Work Programmes 2016/2017
Call for Proposals
EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.9
EASME/EMFF/2017/1.2.1.3
Ref. Ares(2017)1345343 - 15/03/2017
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Table of contents
1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND ............................................................................................... 4
1.1. REGULATION (EU) NO 508/2014 ON THE EUROPEAN MARITIME AND FISHERIES FUND (EMFF) ...................... 4 1.2. GENERAL INFORMATION CONCERNING THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS .................................................................. 4 1.3. BACKGROUND .................................................................................................................................... 4 1.4. INFORMATION EXCHANGE BETWEEN MARITIME SURVEILLANCE AUTHORITIES ................................................... 5 1.5. ABOUT CISE ...................................................................................................................................... 5
2. GENERAL OBJECTIVE .................................................................................................................. 7
3. TIMETABLE ............................................................................................................................... 13
4. BUDGET AVAILABLE .................................................................................................................. 13
5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS ................................................................................................ 14
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA ................................................................................................................. 14
6.1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS ......................................................................................................................... 14 6.2. ELIGIBILITY CONDITIONS FOR CONSORTIA ............................................................................................... 16
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA ................................................................................................................ 17
8. SELECTION CRITERIA ................................................................................................................ 17
8.1. FINANCIAL CAPACITY ........................................................................................................................ 17 8.2. OPERATIONAL CAPACITY .................................................................................................................... 18
9. AWARD CRITERIA ...................................................................................................................... 19
9.1. RELEVANCE AND CONSISTENCY (MINIMUM REQUIRED 10 POINTS - MAXIMUM 20 POINTS) .............................. 19 9.2. CROSS-SECTOR AND CROSS-BORDER DIMENSIONS (MINIMUM REQUIRED 2 POINTS - MAXIMUM 10 POINTS) ...... 20 9.3. OPERATIONAL ADDED VALUE AND INTEROPERABILITY (MINIMUM REQUIRED 25 POINTS - MAXIMUM 50 POINTS) . 21 9.4. METHODOLOGY AND PROJECT MANAGEMENT (MINIMUM REQUIRED 10 POINTS - MAXIMUM 20 POINTS) ......... 22
10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS.............................................................................................................. 23
11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS ............................................................................................................ 23
11.1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES ................................................................................................................... 23 11.2. FUNDING FORM .......................................................................................................................... 25 11.3. PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS ............................................................................................................ 28 11.3.1. PRE-FINANCING PAYMENT ............................................................................................................. 28 11.3.2. INTERIM PAYMENT ....................................................................................................................... 28 11.3.3. FINAL PAYMENT .......................................................................................................................... 29 11.4. REPORTING ................................................................................................................................ 29 11.4.1. REPORTING PERIODS .................................................................................................................... 29 11.4.2. REPORTING FORMAT AND DEADLINE ................................................................................................ 29
12. PUBLICITY ................................................................................................................................. 30
12.1. BY THE BENEFICIARIES ................................................................................................................... 30 12.2. BY THE EASME .......................................................................................................................... 30
13. DATA PROTECTION ................................................................................................................... 31
14. PROCEDURE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW .............................................................................. 31
14.1. EVALUATION REVIEW PROCEDURE .................................................................................................. 31 14.2. ADMISSIBILITY AND ELIGIBILITY REVIEW PROCEDURE ........................................................................... 32
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15. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS ................................................................... 32
APPENDIXES
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1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND
The Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises, hereafter referred to as "EASME", acting under the powers delegated by the European Commission (also referred to as "the Commission'' or ''EC"), is launching a call for proposals with a view to supporting projects to enhance interoperability of national IT systems to allow for a more efficient information exchange within and across borders between maritime surveillance authorities in the EU.
1.1. Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF)
This call is launched in accordance with the 2016 and 2017 Work Programmes for the Implementation of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) 1) WP 2016 -section 1.2.1.9. of the annex1 (Implementation of the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE): Ensuring interoperability of National IT Systems within and across borders) and 2) WP 2017 – section 1.2.1.3 of the annex2 (Implementing Maritime CISE: Upgrading MS maritime authorities' ICT systems to enhance information sharing for maritime surveillance in the frame of the Common Information Sharing Environment (CISE) - test CISE interoperability solutions) on the basis of the objectives set out in the Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, and in particular Article 82(b)3.
1.2. General information concerning the call for proposals
The action that is covered by this call for proposals forms part of the EMFF Work Programmes 2016 and 2017, whose implementation is delegated to the Executive Agency for Small and medium-sized Enterprises (EASME).
According to the Act of Delegation, grant agreements will be signed by EASME.
1.3. Background
Europe has 70 000 km of coastline along two oceans and four seas. The European Union’s (EU) maritime regions account for some 40% of its GDP and population. Europe's well-being, economic growth and security are therefore inextricably linked with the maritime domain. Member States carry out a wide variety of security and control related activities in the maritime domain, such as border control, maritime safety and security operations, fisheries, customs and maritime pollution control, general law enforcement activities and military activities. To be able to carry out such activities, the relevant authorities need a wide variety of information such as ship positions and routes, cargo and crew data, intelligence, imaging, events at sea, positions and capacities of surveillance assets, registries, charts and maps and meteo-oceanographic data.
1 Commission Implementing Decision C(2015) 8729 of 11 December 2015. 2 Commission Implementing Decision C 92016) 8422 of 15 December 2016.
3 Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 15 May 2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2328/2003, (EC) No 861/2006, (EC) No 1198/2006 and (EC) No 791/2007 and Regulation (EU) No 1255/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council, Official Journal of the European Union, L 149/1 of 20.5.2014.
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As no authority owns the full picture of what is happening at sea, collaboration is needed between these authorities at national level as well as EU level to make sure that information collected by one authority and useful for another authority can effectively be shared, hence contributing to the cost-effectiveness of maritime surveillance operations at sea.
1.4. Information exchange between maritime surveillance authorities
There are many different initiatives and systems in place or under development for information sharing at national and EU level. Many of these are focusing on sectorial information exchange between relevant authorities, for example FLUX within the field of fisheries, but there are also systems in place that envisage cross-sectorial information exchange.
At EU level, a number of information exchange systems have been introduced through Union legislation, which are now being managed by EU Regulatory Agencies. These systems are generally intended to support the control activities of national authorities carrying out coastguard functions by providing them with intelligence and integrated services. EU Agencies are also required by Union law to co-operate to carry out these tasks in order to provide the best possible services and to avoid duplication. The most recent example is the joint mandate of the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA), European Fisheries Control Agency (EFCA) and the European Boarder and Coast Guard Agency (FRONTEX) to provide integrated services under the European border and Coastguard package.4
At national level, many authorities have improved their own systems or developed solutions to gather additional information in order to enhance the knowledge of their maritime areas of responsibility. The purpose or intent of such developments is in most cases to combine data available in their systems either with the integrated services provided by EU Agencies or with information received from other national authorities.
Initiatives to develop information exchange between maritime surveillance authorities at EU and national level have therefore already been ongoing for some time, but the range of information shared across sectors and borders is still limited mainly due to the lack of technical interoperability and the legal barriers (particularly at national level).
1.5. About CISE
Maritime CISE, the Common Information Sharing Environment for the EU maritime domain, is a voluntary collaborative process in the European Union seeking to further enhance and promote relevant information sharing between authorities involved in maritime surveillance5. It is not replacing or duplicating but building on existing information exchange and sharing systems and platforms referred to in section 1.4. Its ultimate aim is to promote innovation and development of solutions ensuring the interoperability of existing systems and platforms. It seeks therefore to prevent as much as possible situations when relevant information either does not reach the operators who need it, or reaches them with an inappropriate delay in time and requires (manual) effort to gather it from partners.
4 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/09/14-european-border-coast-guard/
5 Maritime security and safety, customs, border control, general law enforcement, fisheries control, marine environment protection/pollution response and defence.
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The CISE process started in 2008 and has since then been supported by numerous studies and projects, such as BlueMassMed, MARSUNO and the CoopP. These projects identified and promoted operational and technical needs for CISE, estimated its potential economic benefits, proposed technical interoperability solutions and types of information to be exchanged between partners. They also elaborated a set of operational scenarios ('use cases') showing the direct link between operational situations and information exchange needs.
The Commission and the Member States have reviewed the progress in the development of CISE through four Commission Communications6 with accompanying Council Conclusions. In 2013-2014, the Commission conducted an impact assessment followed by a Communication7 assessing the overall progress and identified areas for further work. Since 2014, CISE forms part of the European Maritime Security Strategy Action Plan (EUMSS-AP)8. Both the 2014 Communication and the EUMSS Action Plan (action 2.1.4) encourage the development of interoperability solutions for information exchange at national level.
Moreover, the motivation for enhanced information exchange, promoted by CISE, is also supported by important political declarations such as the G7 summits held in Germany-2015 and Japan-2016 and by the related G7 Foreign Ministers' statements on maritime security.9 The latter explicitly welcomed the EUMSS and CISE.
The technical interoperability solutions (i.e. CISE data and service model) are currently being tested by the EUCISE2020 FP7 project10, involving 16 EEA States and including over 30 civil and military authorities. One of the objectives of this project is to examine and further develop CISE concepts in general (see Appendix 1 for more details on these CISE concepts) by using real surveillance systems and data from the national authorities. The project will deliver its final results in 2018. It is expected that the EUCISE2020 network will be maintained after the project ends to further support the implementation process. The present call contributes to the implementation of the action 2.1.4 of the EUMSS Action plan by awarding grants for actions to be developed by authorities responsible for maritime surveillance at national level. It follows up and builds on two calls for proposals funded by the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, which resulted in ten national CISE projects that are currently ongoing11.
6 http://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/policy/integrated_maritime_surveillance_en 7 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2014:0451:FIN 8 https://ec.europa.eu/maritimeaffairs/sites/maritimeaffairs/files/docs/body/20141216-action-plan_en.pdf 9
https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/content/documents/7320LEADERS%20STATEMENT_FINAL_CLEAN.pdf http://www.mofa.go.jp/files/000160266.pdf
http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Meldungen/2015/150415_G7_Maritime_Security.html?nn=479796
10 www.eucise2020.eu/ 11 2014:
http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/maritimeaffairs_fisheries/contracts_and_funding/calls_for_proposals/2014_26/index_en.htm 2015: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/call-proposals-ict-interoperability-improvements-member-states-enhance-information-sharing-maritime
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2. GENERAL OBJECTIVES – THEMES – ACTIVITIES – OUTPUTS
2.1. General Objective
The general objective of the present call is to facilitate the implementation of EUMSS-AP action 2.1.4 by providing support to EU/EEA Member States' maritime authorities in enhancing the interoperability of their national IT systems to allow for more efficient information exchange at national level and across borders.
Such enhancements will significantly contribute to improving the awareness picture of their areas of operational responsibility, to the enhancement of co-operation between coastguard authorities, and ultimately to the efficiency and cost-effectiveness of individual and joint maritime operations.
2.2. Specific objectives
The specific objective of the present call is to support EU/EEA Member States' maritime authorities in developing dedicated CISE operational services 12(i.e. CISE information services and functionalities) enabling the suitable exchange, integration and exploitation of relevant information for their best operational use. CISE operational services should to the extent possible build upon the available (technical) CISE interoperability solutions13 in order to contribute to enhancing operational interoperability between users.
CISE information services should, amongst others:
• Facilitate an automated exchange of information between maritime authorities across sectors and borders in the EU/EEA;
• Enable complementing the information already existing in the maritime authority’s system;
• Facilitate the reuse, in a complementing manner, of the information services provided by the EU Agencies (EMSA, EFCA and FRONTEX);
• Have the potential to be reused by other authorities responsible for security and control in the maritime domain.
CISE-enabled functionalities should facilitate the management and exploitation of information gathered through the CISE information services in the maritime surveillance IT systems. They could use analytical tools (e.g. algorithms for drift calculation, anomaly detection, etc.) to support complex operational tasks. The participating national and EU authorities will design, implement and test the CISE operational services accordingly to their current and future operational needs.
12 The proposed term is indicative. Other labels such as 'task' or 'advanced' services could be used as
long as they are in line with the described purpose. 13 CISE interoperability solutions (i.e. the CISE Data and Services model) have been developed to
facilitate the automatic and reliable exchange of information among maritime surveillance authorities' systems at national, regional and EU level. Hence, they are designed to significantly increase the interoperability between maritime surveillance systems.
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Examples of CISE operational services can be found in Appendix 2 of this call for proposals.
2.3. Themes – sectors
The activities under this call must involve public authorities carrying out maritime surveillance and intervention missions at sea in the following sectors: maritime transport, customs, border control, general law enforcement, fisheries control, marine environment protection, pollution response and defence.
2.4. Activities and requirements:
Proposals under this call should cover at least one the following types of activities:
1. Development of specific CISE information services14 using the CISE interoperability solutions (CISE Data and Service models). These services should enable the exchange of relevant information, across sectors and borders, between participating authorities (see examples in the Appendix 2).
Applicants may use as reference the following services, prioritised by national authorities in a recent survey carried out by a consultant on behalf of the Commission:15
• Incident/event notification (alert) service • Vessel location service • Vessel voyage service • Vessel details service • Risk information service • Incident history service • Crew list service • Intervention asset service
A description of these services used in the survey can be found in Appendix 3 to this call for proposals.
In addition, a wide range of such CISE information services were illustrated in the 'use cases' defined by the Member States during the Cooperation Project Maritime Surveillance, (CoopP) (see Appendix 5, document D4).
2. Development of CISE-enabled operational functionalities – implemented in the authorities’ maritime surveillance systems. These functionalities should support the collection and exploitation (e.g. fusion, distributed search) of relevant information gathered through exchanges with different authorities using the CISE information services. They should be tailored to the needs of distinct operational scenarios (e.g. SAR operation, countering illegal immigration operation, anti-pollution operation, etc.). They should also enable the development of common operational procedures, to be used in joint operations.
14 CISE Information Services are application services that provide the capability to exchange datawith in
the CISE context between maritime surveillance systems, in compliance with the Data and Service Model.
15 These are only preliminary results; the survey is currently under evaluation.
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Applicants may use as a reference the example described in Appendix 2 as well as the following functionalities, identified in the survey included in Appendix 3:
• Management of notifications for incidents/events • Incident history service • Collaboration services • Dynamic information search and fusion using the Registry of Authorities
(Query)
With regard to the activities 1 and 2, projects could undertake designing, implementing and validation tasks. Projects may include the enhancement of existing software used for maritime surveillance in order to enhance capabilities to manage the exchange of data with partner authorities within the CISE context.
3. Adaptation of the national IT systems for maritime surveillance to become interoperable with systems of other surveillance authorities within the CISE context.
Authorities should: a) Perform the necessary analyses (studies) identifying relevant information that need to
be, for operational purposes, automatically exchanged with other authorities across sectors and borders (i.e. information received/provided today through means of phone, email, fax, etc.) using, if possible, the CISE Data model and/or
b) Upgrade the existing software to support an initial automatic exchange of information with other authorities, across sectors and borders, through dedicated information services. Partners involved in the design/development of the required software should, if possible, use the CISE Data model.
Proposals under this activity that do not build on the EU CISE data model, but still provide solutions which respect the general principles described below (except the one on ‘Building on CISE interoperability solutions’), will be taken into consideration if a logic explanation is given why the CISE interoperability solutions do not fit for their purposes.
Independently from the activities performed, projects might also address the development of (legal) agreements between parties such as Service Level Agreements (SLA), which will determine the terms and conditions of exchange covered by specific CISE information services. Such agreements might address among others the following aspects:
• description of the information exchanged; • description of the purposes justifying the exchanges; • access rights to the information for each authority; • description of the way the information service(s) could be employed; • availability of the service(s); • description of technical (IT) cooperation between partners; • technical and operational problem/conflict resolution mechanisms; • legal responsibility of the information providers.
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Principles:
While developing the CISE information services and operational functionalities under the proposed projects, the following general principles should be taken into account:
Enhance operational efficiency & effectiveness
The operational services must have the potential to substantially increase the efficiency and effectiveness of individual and/or joint operations by the partners involved, by facilitating the decision-making processes within each authority and increasing their cooperation.
The information services should facilitate the automatic exchange of information across sectors and borders between legacy systems of authorities involved in maritime surveillance in order to better serve their operational needs. CISE-enabled functionalities should enable existing IT systems used for maritime surveillance to manage and exploit data from partner authorities within the CISE context.
The operational services developed in the projects should demonstrate their relevance for the present and future CISE users. Applicants should identify their needs for information and develop the information exchanges (services) and/or functionalities tailored to their operational procedures/needs, enabling a suitable interoperability in current and envisaged operational scenarios.
Reusability and sustainability
The solutions funded under this call should be sufficiently mature to facilitate their reusability in operational environments by other maritime surveillance authorities. Applicants should also integrate in their proposals how sustainability of the operational services will be ensured at the end of the project.
Especially under activity 1, the information services developed should be sufficiently mature to be available for reuse by other maritime surveillance authorities. For this purpose, services could be registered in the CISE Service Registry.
Cross-sectorial and cross-border scope
The operational services shall enable the exchange of information between authorities from the same Member State and/or from other Member States with adjacent sea borders, bordering the same sea basin, across sea basins and/or across the EEA/EU maritime domain.
Complementarity with other CISE projects (e.g. EUCISE2020)
Activities and solutions covered by this call need to be distinct but complementary to the services and solutions currently developed and tested in the EUCISE 2020 project and in the projects funded under the previous EMFF calls for proposals.16
16 Participants will be requested to demonstrate that no double funding will occur and they will be
strictly controlled on this aspect. Beneficiaries may only receive funds under this new call for the development/test of the information services and/or CISE-enabled functionalities for which they have
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Building on CISE interoperability solutions
Projects should, if possible, build on the CISE data and service model and are encouraged to reuse, to the largest possible extent, the specifications for interoperability developed in the EUCISE2020 test-bed (e.g., the specifications of the EUCISE2020 gateway/node).
Appendix 4 provides useful information to understand CISE in general and the content of the EUCISE2020 specifications. In addition, Appendix 5 describes the documentation available from the CISE projects (including EUCISE2020) as well as the information from the EUCISE2020 test-bed that will become available upon request, and provided the signature of the non-disclosure agreement in Appendix 717. Applicants must be aware that this documentation might be updated.
Projects should produce concrete and measurable deliverables such as:
For activities 1 and 2 (see section 2.4):
• Information exchanged under each specific operational service (information service or functionality). (as referred to in Appendix 6)
• Agreements on modalities for information exchange (including provider/receiver role, access rights policy, etc.) between the participating authorities.
• The operational process supported by each CISE operational service (information service or functionality).
• Technical specifications of the CISE operational services (information service or functionality).
• Proposed IT architecture. • Other interoperability solutions: useful standards, organizational solutions, etc.
For activity 3 (see section 2.4):
• The authorities’ information exchange needs (as referred to in Appendix 6) • The information managed in the authorities’ IT systems that could be exchanged
through CISE and the conditions/constraints that apply. (as referred to in Appendix 6)
• The requirements and technical specifications to upgrade their systems (reusing CISE interoperability solutions).
• Software upgrade(s) of the authorities’ IT systems, enabling the automatic exchange of information.
not received any funding from other EU projects at present or in the past (see Appendix 4 for reference).
17 A non-disclosure agreement, attached as Appendix 7 will lay down the obligations for the recipient in order to safeguard the confidentiality of the information.
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2.5. Collaboration with other organizations & networking
If a consortium plans to reuse the information provided by an EU-level system (e.g. information services provided for cross-sector purposes), the partners are encouraged to collaborate as much as possible with the organisation managing this system (e.g. EMSA, EFCA, FRONTEX).
During the lifetime of the projects financed under this call for proposals, the Commission might organise specific networking meetings with the beneficiaries to facilitate exchange of experience and good practices, to foster mutual learning and to enhance the European dimension of CISE. Beneficiaries will be expected to participate in these meetings, which could be held in Brussels or other EU locations.
2.6. Time span and main outputs
Since the implementation of the projects will take place during the CISE roll-out phase, proposals should take into account the following indicative timing:
• In 2019, projects reusing the CISE gateway developed in the EUCISE2020 project should deploy their information in a test environment to ensure compatibility with the proposed CISE technical specifications;
• By the end of 2020, projects using the CISE data and services model should also offer their services in a real CISE environment.
A list of relevant indicators (qualitative/ quantitative) to measure the expected outputs and impacts of the project must be included in the proposal.
3. TIMETABLE
The planning foresees:
Stages Timing a) Publication of the call February 2017
b) Deadline for submitting applications 15th June 2017 (in case of hand delivery by 16h00 GMT+1)
c) Evaluation period June-August 2017 (indicative)
d) Information to applicants18 September – October 2017(indicative)
e) Preparation and signature of grant agreements19
October - December 2017 (indicative)
f) Starting date of the action January 2018 (indicative)
18 At the latest within 6 months of the deadline for submission of applications 19 At the latest within 9 months of the deadline for submission of applications
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Implementation period
Projects should not exceed the duration of 24 months.
The project duration shall start on the first day of the month following the date when the last of both parties signs the related grant agreement or at a fixed starting date specified in the grant agreement.
4. BUDGET AVAILABLE
The total budget earmarked for this action is EUR 2,490,000.
This budget might be increased under exceptional circumstances by maximum 20%.
It is estimated that proposals requesting a contribution from the EU of maximum EUR 800,000 would allow the objectives of this call for proposals to be addressed appropriately. The amount requested should be consistent and proportional with the scope of the proposal (number of applicants, number of Member States involved, sectors represented, activities proposed, etc.). Nonetheless, this does not prevent submission and selection of proposals requesting other amounts.
EASME expects to fund up to 6 proposals.
EASME reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.
5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
• Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3.
• Applications must be submitted in writing (see section 15), using the application form provided in annex to this call of Proposals20.
• Applications must be drafted using one of the EU official languages. Submission in English is strongly encouraged and will facilitate the evaluation process. Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA21
6.1. Eligible applicants
1. The following types of entities are eligible to participate in the call:
20 Art. 131 FR.03
21 Art. 131 FR. 201 RAP
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• Public authorities (national, regional, local administration) of Member States of the European Union and EEA involved in the coordination and/or execution of maritime surveillance activities in sectors referred to in section 2.3 of this call for proposals.
• Private, non-governmental, international22, regional and national entities such as: research institutes, academies, relevant industry; and public entities other than the ones mentioned above. These entities cannot act as coordinator of the applicant consortium and should mainly support the objectives of an applicant public authority involved in maritime surveillance.
2. Applicants must be legal entities. They can be public or private bodies. In the event of private bodies, they must be properly constituted and registered under national law. In the event of international organisations, they must be constituted under international law.
To be considered as a public entity, the applicants and affiliated entities shall fulfil all of the following criteria:
• The entity has been created by a public authority or is governed by private law with a public service mission,
• The public interest of the entity must be explicitly mentioned in the relevant legal or administrative act(s),
• In the event that the entity stops its activities, all rights and obligations including financial rights and obligations will be transferred to a public authority.
• The entity is financed totally or to a large extent (more than 50%) by public sources,
For bodies to be considered as public entity, proof of compliance with the above criteria should be provided together with the proposal.
3. Natural persons are not eligible as applicant for the purpose of the present call.
4. Legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs as specified in section 11.2.
For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form. The affiliated entities will have to comply with the eligibility and exclusion criteria.
5. Supporting documents: in order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested for the coordinator and each of the partners:
22 An international organisation can be considered as such if the following criteria are met:
- it is international; - it is a public sector organisation; - it is set up by intergovernmental agreements. The specialised agencies set up by these organisations will also be considered international organisations. The formal proof is the intergovernmental agreement that establishes the international organisation
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• Public entity: copy of the resolution/law/decree/decision establishing the entity OR if not available, any other official document proving the establishment of the entity by the national authorities;
• Private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, VAT registration document;
• Affiliated entities: shall demonstrate their legal/capital link with the applicant.
6.2. Eligibility conditions for consortia
1. Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of minimum three organisations, compliant with the provisions set out in section 6.1. One of these organisations must act as the consortium coordinator, while the others will act as partner(s).
2. The consortium coordinator must be a public authority involved in the coordination and/or execution of maritime surveillance activities established in an EU Member State.
3. All partners of the consortium, including affiliated entities, will provide the coordinator with a power of attorney in writing through a mandate signed for that purpose.23 The mandate shall fully empower the coordinator to act on the partners' behalf in the context of the grant agreement.
4. Within this call for proposals, applicants can participate in maximum two different project proposals, regardless whether they apply as coordinator or as partner of a consortium.
6.3. Observers
It is possible for other relevant parties to participate with an observer status, e.g. public authorities or public entities from non EU Member States/EEA, relevant EU Agencies, or other regional or international organisations active in the maritime surveillance area. Observers will not receive any Union financial support and will not join or sign any statement. Moreover, these entities will not be taken into consideration for determining compliance with the eligibility conditions for consortia set out above.
6.4. Eligible activities
To be eligible, activities must allow to meet the objectives of the call as described in sections 2.1 and 2.2 and in particular activities defined in section 2.4.
The following activities are not eligible:
23 The template for the mandate is available on the EASME website (see section 15).
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• studies and ICT developments aimed at fulfilling the requirements of any EU legislation for the maritime domain24;
• activities already covered by projects funded under the calls for proposals MARE/2014/26 and EASME/EMFF/2015/1.2.1.5 for "Interoperability improvements in Member States to enhance information sharing for maritime surveillance"25;
• activities already covered by the FP7 'EUCISE 2020' project.
Applicants who have already received funds under the previous calls for proposals MARE/2014/26 and EASME/EMFF/2015/1.2.1.5 and/or are participating in the EUCISE2020 project must demonstrate the complementarity of the activities applied for under this call for proposals with the actions already funded.
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA
All applicants, including both the consortium coordinator and other partners, must provide a declaration of honour (see template in the annexed application form), signed and dated by an authorised representative, stating that they are not in one of the situations of exclusion listed in that declaration of honour.
EASME reserves the right to verify whether the successful applicants are in any of the situations of exclusion by requiring the supporting documents listed in the declaration of honour.
8. SELECTION CRITERIA26 27
8.1. Financial capacity
Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding.
For public entities and international organisations:
On the basis of article 131(3) FR and given the eligibility criteria set for applicants under section 6 of this call for proposals, such applicants are considered to have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out and to participate in its funding.
24 Such as Directive 2002/59 on the Community vessel traffic monitoring and information system,
Directive 2010/65 on reporting formalities for ships arriving in and/or departing from ports of the Member States, Regulation 1052/2013 establishing the European Border Surveillance System.
25 http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/maritimeaffairs_fisheries/contracts_and_funding/calls_for_proposals/2014_26/index_en.htm
26 Art. 132 FR, 202 RAP 27 The verification of the financial capacity shall not apply to public bodies or international organisations.
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This type of applicants has to submit a declaration of honour that they have the financial capacity to carry out the project, but no additional supporting documents are requested.
For bodies that are governed by private law:
The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:
A) Total grant value28 is ≤ EUR 60 000:
• a declaration of honour
B) Total grant value is > EUR 60 000:
• a declaration of honour, AND
• the following additional supporting documents:
• the profit and loss accounts and the balance sheets for the past 2 years for which the accounts were closed;
• the financial capacity table provided for in the application form, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form.
For newly created entities, the business plan might replace the above documents.
C) Total grant value is ≥ EUR 750 000:
• In addition to the supporting documents required under B) above, applicants shall provide an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available.
• In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above threshold applies by applicant.
If on the basis of the documents submitted, the financial capacity is not considered satisfactory, the EASME may:
• request further information;
• propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);
• where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries;
• or reject the application.
28 The 'total grant value' is the total grant amount requested for the proposed action, not the portion of the
requested grant per applicant.
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8.2. Operational capacity2930
Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed project.
Applicants, both public and private entities, must be active in the following fields:
Public authorities acting as coordinators: must be responsible for maritime surveillance activities, within any sector, at national/regional/European level.
Other entities: must prove their experience in the maritime domain or in the development of IT systems.
In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration of honour that they have the operational capacity to carry out the project, and in addition the following supporting documents:
• A description of the technical equipment, tools or facilities and patents at the disposal of the applicant for the implementation of the project;
• For each applicant, a list of up to 3 activities (i.e. projects, publications, products, services and/or other achievements) relevant to the call content.
The EASME may request further supporting documents to confirm the operational capacity of any applicant.
9. AWARD CRITERIA31
The application will be assessed on the basis of the award criteria described in this section. The EASME may call upon external experts in support of the assessment of the proposals.
The assessment of the proposals will be based on the quality of the proposed projects. Proposals should therefore elaborate on all the topics addressed by these criteria in order to score as many points as possible. The mere repetition of the mandatory requirements set out in these criteria without providing details or without underlining the added value will be given a low score. In addition, if certain requirements are not expressly covered by the proposal, the relevant qualitative award criterion may be given a zero mark.
29 Art. 131 FR, 202 RAP. 30 On the basis of article 131(3) FR and given the eligibility criteria set for applicants under section 6 of
this Call for Proposals, eligible applicants are considered to have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed project. Therefore no additional supporting documents are necessary.
31 Art. 132 FR, 203 RAP
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A maximum of 100 points will be awarded to each proposal. The minimum overall score required is 60 points. The minimum score for criteria 9.1, 9.3 and 9.4 is 50% of the points assigned to each criterion.
The award criteria for the evaluation of the proposals are the following:
9.1. Relevance and Consistency (minimum required 10 points - maximum 20 points)
• Objectives and Scope (maximum 10 points)
Applicants should provide a clear description of how the proposed action meets the objectives described in Section 2. The projects should also comprise a description of the starting point of the work, the limitations to overcome, and state the target. Applicants should describe the overall strategy for the project and how it will contribute to the development of CISE.
• Consistency and complementarity with services provided by EU and regional information exchange systems (maximum 10 points).
In order to avoid any duplication or incoherence, proposals shall provide evidence of complementarity of the activities and information handled within the project with the information provided by EU systems. For instance, proposals could consider the information provided by:
- The EU Vessel Traffic Monitoring and Information System32, the National Single Windows for ship's reporting formalities33, the IMDatE interface34;
- The European external border surveillance system (EUROSUR)35;
- The Common Emergency Communication and Information System (CECIS)36;
- The Secure Information Exchange Network Application (SIENA)37;
- The FLUX Transport Layer38 and UN/CEFACT FLUX standard messages for fisheries data exchange39;
- The MARSUR network40;
- The EU central and national customs IT systems, as existing and envisaged in the framework of the eCustoms initiative41.
When the project consortium designs a CISE operational service including data normally exchanged by an EU level system/Agency, it may, if possible, ask the authority
32 http://www.emsa.europa.eu/ssn-main.html 33 http://ec.europa.eu/transport/modes/maritime/e-maritime_en.htm 34 http://www.emsa.europa.eu/operations/maritime-monitoring.html 35 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=URISERV:l14579 36 http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/environment/tackling_climate_change/l28003_en.htm 37 https://www.europol.europa.eu/content/page/siena-1849 38 https://circabc.europa.eu/w/browse/d96047e4-42a0-4f31-a0b7-fbfe05cdb1f3 39 http://www1.unece.org/cefact/platform/display/CNP/Electronic+Interchange+of+fisheries+catch+data 40 https://www.eda.europa.eu/what-we-do/activities/activities-search/maritime-surveillance-(marsur)
41 http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/customs/policy_issues/electronic_customs_initiative/index_en.htm
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responsible for the EU system (e.g. EU Agencies or other) to participate (as observer) in the design of the service. If the latter does not participate, the project partners should clearly describe how the information provided by an EU system will contribute to the developed CISE information service.
Applicants are strongly encouraged to engage with the EU Agencies in identifying the best approach for complementarity.
9.2. Cross-Sector and Cross-Border Dimensions (minimum required 2 points - maximum 10 points)
The present call rewards cross-sectoral information exchange within Member States and cross-border collaboration involving at least two Member States. (maximum 10 points) According to the number of Member States and the number of sectors as specified in Section 2.3 involved in the exchange of information (by means of one or several CISE services), the proposal will be awarded according to the following table:
# Sectors
# M
embe
r Sta
tes 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
1 0 1 2 3 4 5 62 1 2 3 4 5 6 73 2 4 5 6 7 8 94 3 6 7 8 9 10 105 4 8 9 10 10 10 10
Applicants shall provide the list of sectors together with the main functions covered by each involved partner in the context of the project. Applicants will not be awarded points for sectors not actively involved in the project.
Three (3) extra points will be awarded if two-way civilian and military data exchange will be enabled by the proposed specific CISE information service(s). If applicable, the type of classification (unclassified, restricted, etc.) of the civil/military exchanged data shall also be specified.
9.3. Operational added value and interoperability (minimum required 25 points - maximum 50 points)
• Justification of the expected added-value (maximum 5 points)
Proposals should describe in detail the impact of project's outcome on the efficiency and effectiveness of national authorities in performing their tasks. Applicants shall justify, providing concrete examples based on operational situations, how the envisaged operational services will enable national authorities to better perform their missions compared to the initial situation.
• Validation of information services and CISE-enabled functionalities using real data (maximum 15 points)
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The testing of the proposed information services and functionalities in the partners’ maritime surveillance systems (using real data) showing the operational added-value of CISE is a priority for this call.
Proposals will be awarded max. 10 points if they cover validation tasks under one single activity and max 15 points for validation tasks for activities 1 and 2 (as specified in section 2.4).
• Information exchanged among the partners: (maximum 10 points)
The breadth of the information exchanges which will be considered by the proposal is an important element to characterize the added-value of the envisaged operational service(s). Proposals will be awarded a maximum of 10 points according to the information (number of data types)42 they will deal with by using the dedicated CISE information service(s) using real data.
To this end, applicants shall fill in the form provided in Appendix 6 of this call.
• Uptake of CISE interoperability solutions (maximum 20 points)
Proposals shall indicate how they plan to reuse, to the largest extent, the CISE semantic and technical interoperability solutions, i.e., the CISE data and service models and the specifications of the CISE building blocks (e.g., EUCISE2020 gateway), so that the solutions developed among all the projects under this call become interoperable. Applicants should describe which CISE models and specifications they plan to reuse (e.g., from the EUCISE2020 project) and which specific specifications/software components will be developed in the scope of the projects.
Please see Appendix 5 for the information planning concerning the availability of CISE/EUCISE2020 documentation.
9.4. Methodology and Project Management (minimum required 10 points - maximum 20 points)
Applicants shall propose a methodology that ensures the delivery of the expected outputs during the execution of the project and that the implementation is coherent, realistic and feasible. The outputs of the project should be clearly described and they should be quantifiable and measurable. In that regard, the projects should provide key indicators for measuring the progress. (maximum 10 points) Applicants shall provide a detailed work plan that demonstrates how the proposed project management will allow achieving the expected outputs with the required quality. It is also important to ensure cost-effectiveness of the proposed project organisation and management of resources. (maximum 10 points) Proposals should describe the following elements:
42 The CISE data model defines the structures for the exchange of several data types (see Appendix 6).
Using these data structures, partners can exchange different information according to their needs. For a complete description of the proposed CISE Data model, please check the data model documentation (see Appendix 5).
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- Roadmap for the implementation of the project. - Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) - structure in work packages43,
actions/activities, timetable44; - A clear and appropriate allocation of tasks and resources to be committed45 in
view of reaching the project objectives and outputs; - A list of deliverables with their due date defined for each work package; - Preliminary risk management plan. Identification of potential risks and mitigation
measures. Capacity to integrate potential updates in the technical specifications during the implementation phase of the project;
- Description of the management structures, identification of roles and responsibilities and coordination mechanisms amongst the consortium members;
- Preliminary quality management plan.
10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS46
In the event of a grant awarded by the EASME, a grant agreement, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the coordinator, as well as the procedure in view to formalise the obligations of the parties.
The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the coordinator of the consortium (hereafter "the beneficiary") and returned to the EASME immediately. The EASME will sign it last.
Please note that the award of a grant does not establish an entitlement for further support after the end of the project.
11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
11.1. General Principles
a) Non-cumulative award47
An action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.
In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget. To ensure this, applicants shall indicate the sources and amounts of Union funding received or applied for the same action or part of the action or for its functioning during the same financial year as well as any other funding received or applied for the same action.48
b) Non-retroactivity49
43 Description should include the lead partner, a list of all partners taking part to this work package, the
description of the objectives, of the tasks, the outcomes, the timing. 44 Gantt Chart or equivalent, showing the progress of each work package including timetable of
deliverables. 45 It should present the staff effort expressed as percentage of total effort of the project and person-
months. 46 Art. 121 FR, 174 RAP. 47 Art. 129 FR 48 Art. 196.4 RAP. 49 Art. 130 FR
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No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.
A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the applicant can demonstrate the need to start the action before the grant agreement is signed or the grant decision is notified.
In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application.
c) Co-financing50
Co-financing means that the resources which are necessary to carry out the action may not be entirely provided by the EU grant.
Co-financing of the action may take the form of:
• the beneficiary's own resources,
• income generated by the action,
• financial contributions from third parties.
Co-financing may take the form of in-kind contributions from third parties, i.e. non-financial resources made available free of charge by third parties to the beneficiary51.
d) Balanced budget52
The estimated budget of the action is to be attached to the application form. It must have revenue and expenditure in balance. A model of a budget overview can be found in Annex of the application form.
The budget must be drawn up in euros.
Applicants who foresee that costs will not be incurred in euros, shall use the exchange rate published on the Infor-euro website available at http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm.
e) Implementation contracts/subcontracting53
Where the implementation of the action requires the award of procurement contracts (implementation contracts), the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interests and retain the documentation for the event of an audit.
Entities acting in their capacity of contracting authorities in the meaning of Directive 2004/18/EC54 or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive 2004/17/EC55 shall abide by the applicable national public procurement rules.
50 Art. 125 FR, 183 RAP. 51 Art.127 Financial Regulation. 52 Art. 196.2 RAP 53 Art. 137 FR, 209 RAP
24
Sub-contracting, i.e. the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action as described in the proposal must satisfy the conditions applicable to any implementation contract (as specified above) and in addition to them the following conditions:
• it may only cover the implementation of a part of the action;
• it must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;
• it must be clearly stated in the proposal.
The grant beneficiary has the possibility to award contracts to provide services or to assist in the implementation of certain limited activities.
The term “subcontracts” is applied to expenses paid by the beneficiary on the basis of:
• Contracts, and
• Invoices/request for reimbursement to external service providers who carry out certain tasks or assist in the implementation of certain limited activities for the project because the beneficiary lacks the resources or expertise to carry them out.
N.B. The model grant agreement imposes additional requirements where the value of the contracts necessary for the implementation of the action or subcontracting of tasks forming part of the action exceeds EUR 130.000.
f) Financial support to third parties
Financial support to third parties is not an eligible expenditure.
11.2. Funding form56
Form of the grant
Funding takes the form of mixed financing.
Mixed financing grants are calculated on the basis of a detailed estimated budget indicating clearly the costs that are eligible for EU funding. The grant amount may not exceed the eligible costs nor the amount requested. Amounts are indicated in euros.
Maximum amount requested
The EU grant is limited to a maximum co-funding rate of 80 % of eligible costs actually incurred.
Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimated budget must be financed from sources other than the EU grant (see section 11.1c).
Contributions in kind57
54 Directive 2004/18/EC on the coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts,
public supply contracts and public service contracts. 55 Directive 2004/17/EC coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water,
energy, transport and postal services sectors. 56 Art. 123 FR, 181 RAP.
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The external co-financing may be made up of contributions in kind in order to cover other costs necessary to carry out the project. Such contributions must not exceed:
- either the costs actually borne and duly supported by accounting documents;
- or, in the absence of such documents, the costs generally accepted on the market in question.
In-kind contributions shall be presented separately in the estimated budget to reflect the total resources allocated to the action. Their unit value is evaluated in the provisional budget and shall not be subject to subsequent changes.
In-kind contributions shall comply with national tax and social security rules. Eligible costs58
Eligible costs are costs actually incurred by the beneficiary of a grant which meet all the following criteria:
a) they are incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of costs relating to final reports;
b) the period of eligibility of costs will be defined in the grant agreement. If a beneficiary can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, expenditure may be authorised before the grant is awarded. Under no circumstances can the eligibility period start before the date of submission of the grant application (see section 11.1b).
c) they are indicated in the estimated budget of the action;
d) they are necessary for the implementation of the action;
e) they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary;
f) they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;
g) they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.
The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action/project with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.
The same criteria apply to the affiliated entities.
Eligible direct costs
The eligible direct costs for the action are those costs which, with due regard for the conditions of eligibility set out above, are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly:
• the costs of personnel working under an employment contract with the applicant or equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action, comprising actual salaries plus
57 Art. 127 FR. 58 Art. 126 FR
26
social security contributions and other statutory costs included in the remuneration, provided that these costs are in line with the applicant's usual policy on remuneration. Those costs may include additional remuneration, including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature, provided that it is paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required and independently from the source of funding used. For the calculation of costs of personnel, the calculation sheet is provided in the annex VI of the model grant agreement on the EMFF webpage59 for project implementation;
• costs of the personnel of national administrations to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned were not undertaken;
• subsistence allowances (for meetings, including kick-off meetings where applicable, conferences etc) provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary's usual practices;
• costs of travel (for meetings, including kick-off meetings where applicable, conferences etc), provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary's usual practices on travel;
• depreciation cost of equipment (new or second-hand): only the portion of the equipment's depreciation corresponding to the duration of the action/project and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account;
• costs entailed by subcontracting awarded by the beneficiaries for the purposes of carrying out the action/project, provided that the conditions laid down in the grant agreement are met;
• costs arising directly from requirements linked to the implementation of the action/project (dissemination of information, specific evaluation of the action, translations, reproduction);
• contributions in-kind: if necessary to implement the action, the beneficiaries may use inkind contributions provided by third parties whether against payment or free of charge. If the in-kind contribution is provided against payment, the beneficiaries may declare costs related to the payment of in-kind contributions as eligible, up to the third parties’ costs for the seconded persons, contributed equipment, infrastructure or other assets or other contributed goods and services. If the in-kind contribution is provided free of charge, the beneficiaries may declare costs incurred by the third parties for the seconded persons, contributed equipment, infrastructure or other assets or other contributed goods and services as eligible. The third parties and their contributions must be set out in Annex 1. The beneficiaries must ensure that the Agency, the European Court of Auditors (ECA) and the European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF) can exercise their rights;
• value added tax (VAT) in relation to eligible direct costs where it is not recoverable/deductible by the beneficiary.
N.B. Applicants must include in the budget proposal the costs for participation of maximum two representatives of the consortium (including at least one representative of the coordinating organisation) to two project meetings organised at EU level during the project lifetime.
59 https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund
27
Eligible indirect costs (overheads)
• A flat-rate amount of 7% of the total eligible direct costs of the action, is eligible under indirect costs, representing the beneficiary's general administrative costs which can be regarded as chargeable to the action/project.
• Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.
Ineligible costs
• Acquisition or chartering of assets and surveillance capabilities (e.g. vessels, aircrafts, RPAS, cameras, radars, satellites, sensors);
• return on capital;
• debt and debt service charges;
• provisions for losses or debts;
• interest owed;
• doubtful debts;
• exchange losses;
• costs of transfers charged by the bank of a beneficiary;
• costs declared by a beneficiary and covered by another action receiving a European Union grant. In particular, indirect costs shall not be eligible under a grant for an action awarded to a beneficiary who already receives an operating grant financed from the Union budget during the period in question;
• excessive or reckless expenditure;
• deductible VAT (N.B. VAT is eligible where provided by the relevant articles of the FR60).
Calculation of the final grant amount
The final amount of the grant to be awarded to the beneficiary is established after completion of the action, upon approval of the request for payment containing the following documents61, including relevant supporting documents where appropriate:
• a final report providing details of the implementation and results of the action;
• a final financial statement of costs actually incurred;
EU grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action of the beneficiary. Profit shall be defined as a surplus of the receipts over the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary, when the request is made for payment of the balance. In this respect, where a profit is made, the EASME shall be entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the Union contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary to carry out the action.
60 Article 126(3)(c) of the FR 61 Art. 135 FR
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11.3. Payment arrangements62
11.3.1. Pre-financing payment
A pre-financing payment63 corresponding to 40% of the maximum grant amount will be transferred to the beneficiary within 3064 days of the date when the last of the two parties signs the agreement or from the date stipulated in the grant agreement.
11.3.2. Interim payment
An interim payment of maximum 40% of the grant amount will be made within 60 days of receipt and approval by the EASME of an interim report on the project implementation including a financial statement and payment claim.
The total amount of pre-financing and interim payment shall not exceed 80% of the grant amount.
11.3.3. Final payment
A balance payment will be made within 60 days of receipt and approval by the EASME of the final report on the project implementation including a final technical report, a final financial statement and a payment claim, as well as all other supporting documents that may be requested in accordance with the grant agreement.
The amount of the final payment to be made to the beneficiary will be established on the basis of the calculation of the final grant amount. If the total of earlier payments received is higher than the final grant amount, the beneficiary will be required to reimburse the amount paid in excess through a recovery order.
11.4. Pre-financing guarantee65
In the event that the beneficiary is a private entity and its financial capacity is not sufficient, a pre-financing guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing may be requested in order to limit the financial risks linked to the pre-financing payment. This is not necessary where the amount of the pre-financing is up to EUR 60.000 included.
The guarantee may be replaced by a joint and several guarantee by a third party or by a joint guarantee of the beneficiaries of an action who are parties to the same grant agreement.
The guarantee shall be released as the pre-financing is cleared as the payments of balances to the beneficiary, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the grant agreement.
11.5. Reporting requirements
11.5.1. Reporting periods
The coordinator shall submit the following reports to the EASME:
62 Art. 90, 135 FR, 207 RAP. 63 Art. 109, 110 RAP 64 Art. 92 FR 65 Art. 134 Financial Regulation, 206 Rules of Application.
29
- 2 technical progress reports;
- 1 interim technical implementation report and interim financial statement;
- 1 final technical implementation report and final financial statement.
The first progress report shall cover the period from month 1 to month 6 included and the second progress report shall cover the period from month 13 to month 18 included. Progress reports shall be submitted to the EASME within 15 calendar days of the end of the reporting periods in question.
An interim report is due within 60 days of the end of month 12 of the project and a final report within 60 days of the end of the project duration.
11.5.2. Reporting format and deadline
Progress reports shall be submitted to the EASME in electronic format. They shall explain the progress made on the milestones provided for by the grant agreement. Progress reports are requested for project monitoring purposes and do not result in any payment. Deliverables due for the corresponding period should be submitted with the progress reports.
The interim and final reports are to be sent to the EASME both electronically as well as in paper form.
The interim report shall detail the work progress and achievements as well as assessment of the budget implementation during the reporting period, the outputs delivered, and provide a forecast for the second year of implementation. Deliverables due for the corresponding period should be submitted with the interim report.
The final report shall include an executive summary and shall detail all the actions done, the outputs delivered and the final results achieved. All final deliverables should be submitted with the final report.
Reports must be submitted by the coordinator in English, using the available reporting templates.
In case deliverables are not available in English, the applicant should provide a short summary in English (max 2 pages) together with the corresponding deliverable.
12. PUBLICITY
12.1. By the beneficiaries
Beneficiaries and their affiliated entities must clearly acknowledge the European Union’s contribution in all publications or in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used.
In this respect, beneficiaries and their affiliated entities are required to give prominence to the name and emblem of the European Commission and EASME on all their publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-financed project.
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If this requirement is not fully complied with, the grant may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement.
12.2. By the EASME66
With the exception of scholarships paid to natural persons and other direct support paid to natural persons in most need, all information relating to grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published on an internet site of the European Union institutions no later than the 30 June of the year following the financial year in which the grants were awarded.
The EASME will publish the following information:
- name of the beneficiary
- address of the beneficiary when the latter is a legal person, region when the beneficiary is a natural person, as defined on NUTS 2 level67 if he/she is domiciled within EU or equivalent if domiciled outside EU,
- subject of the grant,
- amount awarded.
Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by beneficiaries, the publication shall be waived if such disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of individuals concerned as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or harm the commercial interests of the beneficiaries
13. DATA PROTECTION
The reply to any call for proposals involves the recording and processing of personal data (such as name, address and CV). Such data will be processed pursuant to Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the EU institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data. Unless indicated otherwise, the questions and any personal data requested are required to evaluate the application in accordance with the specifications of the call for proposal will be processed solely for that purpose by the EASME. Details concerning the processing of personal data are available on the privacy statement at: http://ec.europa.eu/easme/sites/easme-site/files/privacy-statement-calls-EASME.pdf
Personal data may be registered in the Early Warning System (EWS) only or both in the EWS and Central Exclusion Database (CED) by the Accounting Officer of the Commission, should the beneficiary be in one of the situations mentioned in:
• the Commission Decision 2008/969 of 16.12.2008 on the Early Warning System (for more information see the Privacy Statement on: http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm ),
or
66 Art. 35, 128.3 FR, 21, 191 RAP 67 European Union Official Journal L 39, of 10 February 2007.
31
• Article 108 of the Financial Regulation establishing the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES)61 (for more information see the Privacy Statement on:
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/explained/management/protecting/protect_en.cfm) .
14. PROCEDURE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE REVIEW
14.1. Evaluation Review procedure
Unsuccessful applicants may request the review of the evaluation procedure of their proposals within one month after the dispatch of the communication to the applicants of the evaluation results. In case of proposals submitted on behalf of a consortium of applicants, the request must be raised by the coordinator.
The scope of the review will be limited to procedural aspects of the evaluation which includes procedural errors, factual errors, and manifest errors of assessment of the evaluation.
An internal Review Committee will be convened to examine each case. It is out of the scope of the Committee to review the merits of the proposal. The role of the Committee is not to call into question the judgement of appropriately qualified experts and therefore it does not cover assessment by these experts with relation to the evaluation criteria.
The Committee provides specialist opinions on the implementation of the evaluation process on the basis of all the available information related to the proposal and its evaluation in the form of a report with recommendations on line of action for each request. In the light of its review, the Committee will recommend a course of action to the responsible authorising officer. Three recommendations are foreseen: (i) that the complaint is rejected as unfounded; (ii) that the complaint is upheld but the problem concerned did not jeopardise the decision whether or not to fund the proposal; (iii) that the complaint is upheld and a re-evaluation is recommended.
In all cases, a reply will be sent to the applicant within two weeks (ten working days) of the date of reception of the request for review. The Committee shall inform the applicant about the result of the evaluation review at the latest 2 months after the meeting of the Committee.
14.2. Admissibility and Eligibility Review procedure
Any unsuccessful applicant may request a review within 30 days from the date of the rejection letter by the Agency. The rejection letter shall indicate the means for submission of the request for review.
Complaints on failed submission proposals due to an online submission system fault have to be submitted through the IT Helpdesk within 4 calendar days from the call closure date.
The scope of the review will be limited to assess the fulfilment of either admissibility or eligibility criteria as laid down in the call for proposals.
An internal Admissibility and Eligibility Review Committee will be convened to examine each case. The Committee provides specialist opinions in the form of a report with recommendations on line of action for each request. In the light of its review, the
32
Committee will recommend a course of action to the responsible authorising officer. Three recommendations are foreseen: (i) that the complaint is not eligible for admissibility/eligibility review; (ii) that the complaint is rejected as unfounded: (iii) that the complaint is founded, which may lead to the evaluation of the proposals/the participation in the action.
15. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
Proposals must be submitted in accordance with the formal requirements and by the deadline set out under section 5.
No modification to the application is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or for the correction of clerical mistakes, the EASME may contact the applicant for this purpose during the evaluation process68.
Applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process.69
The application form, annexes and relevant documents can be found at:
https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund
Submission on paper
Applicants are requested to send their complete application according to the procedure below.
The application must contain the following documents:
1. Grant application form (including declarations of honour);
2. Estimated budget of the action (budget form);
3. Information on the applicants:
− supporting documents as specified in section 8.1.
− a Legal Entity Form and supporting documents as specified in section 6.2 for all participants and affiliated entities
− a Financial Identification Form (only by the coordinator of the consortium)
The paper version of the application will legally constitute the application. The paper version must include the completed grant application form including the declarations of honour (see point 1 above) and the estimated budget of the action (see point 2 above).
The documents providing further information on the applicants (see point 3 above) shall be provided only in electronic format at application stage; a paper version of these documents may be requested later in the award process.
The application shall be submitted using the correct forms and shall be duly completed, dated, showing a balanced budget (revenue/expenditure), submitted in 1 original copy, signed by the person authorised to enter into legally binding commitments on behalf of the coordinating applicant organisation. Before submission, please make sure to carefully check the last page of the application form, which provides the checklist of all documents to be submitted with the application.
68 Art. 96 FR 69 Art. 133 FR, 205 RAP
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The envelope of the paper version must clearly state the reference of the Call (EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.9/2017/1.2.1.3). It must be submitted in a sealed envelope and must be either70:
− sent by registered mail, posted or dispatched no later than 15th of June 2017 to the address indicated below: Post: European Commission EASME Ref.: EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.9/2017/1.2.1.3 Unit A3 – EMFF Madou Place Madou, 1 B-1210 - Saint-Josse-Ten-Noode, Brussels
In this case, the evidence of the date of dispatch shall be constituted by the postmark.
− delivered by hand (by the applicant in person or by an agent), or sent by courier service, posted or dispatched no later than 15th of June 2017 at 16.00 GMT+1 to the address indicated below:
Hand delivery/Express mail: European Commission EASME Mail Service Ref. EASME/EMFF/2016/1.2.1.9/2017/1.2.1.3 Avenue du Bourget 1 B-1140 Brussels
In case of submission by courrier service, the evidence of the date of dispatch shall be constituted by the date of dispatch on the deposit slip.
In case of hand delivery by the applicant, a receipt must be obtained as proof of submission, signed and dated by the official in the Commission's central mail department who takes delivery. The department is open from 08.00 to 17.00 from Monday to Thursday, and from 8.00 to 16.00 on Fridays. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and Commission holidays.
Applications sent by fax or e-mail will not be accepted.
Electronic copy
In addition to the submission on paper, the applicant is requested to submit an electronic copy of the proposal (i.e. the grant application including the declarations of honour and the estimated budget) and all its annexes (see point 3 above) on a CD-ROM or USB-stick in the same envelope as the paper version.
Contacts
70 Art. 195.3 Rules of Application
34
Requests for further information shall be sent exclusively by e-mail to [email protected] indicating as subject ''2016/1.2.1.9/2017/1.2.1.3 - Implementation of CISE projects"
Such questions, together with their answers, if of a general interest, will be published at: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund In addition, important information for the applicants may, if need be, be published on this website. Applicants are thus strongly recommended to consult this website regularly.
Annexes to this Call for Proposals
• Application form71 (with checklist of documents to be provided)
• Financial capacity table
• Model Grant Agreement (GA) for multi-beneficiary projects including:
− Special Conditions
− General Conditions (hereinafter referred to as “the General Conditions”) (Annex II to the GA)
• Estimated budget of the action (Annex III to the GA)
Templates to be downloaded and completed
− Legal entity form
All applicants (coordinator and partner(s)) must fill in the "Legal entity form" available at the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/legal_entities/legal_entities_en.cfm
− Financial identification form
The "Financial identification form" available at the following address shall be completed only by the coordinator of the consortium:
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/financial_id/financial_id_en.cfm
Templates to be downloaded and used during project implementation:
• Mandate72 (Annex IV to the GA)
• Model technical report forms (Annex V to the GA): progress report, interim report and final report
• Model financial statement (Annex VI to the GA)
• Model terms of reference for the certificate on the financial statements (Annex VII to the GA)
71 Annex I to the GA (Description of the Action). The Application as approved by the contracting
authority will become (Description of the Action). 72 Completed mandates will be requested from successful applicants during the grant agreement
preparation phase.
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• Model report on the distribution of the EU final financial contribution (Annex IX to the GA)
• Form for calculation of staff costs
These templates can be downloaded by applicants for reference at the following address: https://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/european-maritime-and-fisheries-fund
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Appendix 1
Short description of the main technical concepts of the CISE initiative (developed in previous projects)
CISE aims at fostering the exchange of information among systems of different authorities in different sectors and countries minimising the impact, i.e. the modifications needed in each system. To achieve this objective, several interoperability tools were designed (e.g. CISE Data and Service model) that will ensure the technical and semantic interoperability between the systems, i.e. they define a “common language” and the specification to interface (translate) the legacy systems to the CISE environment.
A hybrid CISE environment has been prepared in previous preparatory phases by national authorities to allow for maximum flexibility in the way interoperability can be achieved between different systems. Partner authorities can either connect their systems directly with other systems through a CISE Gateway, or they can group to share a CISE Gateway, or in order to provide additional features they can group to share a CISE Node. The CISE node is a CISE Gateway with additional capabilities (e.g. Data Fusion, etc.). Hence, each Member State can have one or more Nodes or Gateways to best match their internal organisation and procedures.
CISE interoperability solutions. The main technical one is the common 'CISE data and service model'. This IT model will allow the different individual CISE gateways/nodes to communicate among them by using the same language. Each gateway/node will then, through an adaptor translate information back and forth between the 'common CISE language' and each legacy system’s language. Such interoperability tools should thus work similarly to a translation system where all partners (IT systems) are made interoperable via 'translation' to and from a common language. Harmonisation can thus be largely avoided and each individual node can continue operating with its existing language, system, procedures and screen.
The 'common CISE data model' ('common CISE language') has been developed by a joint effort of experts from Member States in the framework of the Cooperation Project (28 partners from 12 European Countries) and is being further developed in the EUCISE2020 project. The CISE Data Model is the common language for the CISE environment, however the translation between each 'particular legacy system’s language' and the 'common CISE language' will be implemented by each authority participating in CISE projects (including the EUCISE2020 project).
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Appendix 2
Examples of CISE information services
Example 1: Vessel identification service:
The Maritime SAR73 Coordination Centre (MCC) of MS 'X' receives a distress call from a vessel. In such situation, the MCC typically carries out an investigation to get all relevant information on the vessel (name, characteristics, type, company/owner and contacts), its passenger/crew, the voyage history, etc. Today such information is mostly being obtained through the manual consultation of different databases, contacting other services by phone, fax, speaking to colleagues from other sectors in the operational centres and/or by sending out an asset.
With CISE, however, the MCC and other interested national and/or EU/EEA authorities could develop a specific 'Vessel identification service' based on which relevant information (agreed among the authorities beforehand) could be automatically exchanged among their systems. As a result, more complete information may be gathered in seconds within the reach of a 'mouse click'. This would save precious time, enhance efficiency and increase cost effectiveness of all individual authorities involved in such CISE enabled SAR information service.
Example 2: Alert on vessels of interest
The border police (BP) of Member State 'X' identify the captain of a fishing vessel as an arms smuggler, but cannot locate the vessel in their waters.
With CISE, however, the MS 'X' BP could develop a new functionality in its IT system to broadcast/receive alerts to all the systems of other partner authorities in the EEA using their CISE information services. Any related authority at national, regional or EU level would receive an alert that reveals the exact nature of the interest (arm smuggling in this case) to the authorised partner authorities. The alert could contain different information depending on the access rights of the authority to which it is addressed. If any authority locates the vessel of interest, they could act according to their national laws or could communicate the information back to MS ‘X’.
At present, such alerts only exist within a limited scope, mainly in the same sector. This new functionality would therefore significantly contribute to enhancing the situational awareness and a quick (joint) reaction of the relevant authorities.
Examples of CISE operational functionalities (applications)
Example: SAR application/ functionality
Maritime Authority 'X' receives by using CISE information services, multiple data on a ship in distress, availability of assets from national and adjacent EEA States and/or their positions, and any other useful relevant details. Authority 'X' can therefore, based on this specific SAR application developed in its system, which fuse and assess this information, acquire the best image of the situation and evaluate possible courses of action. If such functionality - putting together all relevant information in a specific operational scenario - would be identical/ similar with other authorities it could significantly contribute to
73 SAR - Search and Rescue.
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enhancing the cooperation by enabling common operational procedures amongst relevant Coast Guard functions around the EEA.
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Appendix 3
CISE Operational Services proposed in the European Commission (DG MARE) survey
CISE service Description Possible scenario Examples of exchanged information
Collaboration services
These services are composed of a chat and videoconferencing tools.
These tools could be used to improve coordination between authorities, by means of direct human contact, in case of exceptional events or when conducting joint operations. (e.g. management of SAR operation generated by the sinking of a merchant vessel in an area at the junction between several MS territorial waters/EEZ)
Real-time dialogue between operators across sectors and borders enabling coordination in concrete operational situations.
Vessel details service
This service enables the exchange of information (identification and main features) on any type of vessel (commercial, fishing, governmental, leisure…).
This service can be used each time the identity and other essential features of a vessel are required. For instance, when the vessel is implied in smuggling or in an accident/incident.
Identification and relevant features of: * Commercial vessels transiting the European waters * Fishing vessels from European flag and vessels related to fisheries * Commercial vessels not travelling in European waters * Governmental vessels * Leisure boats registers * Other information like the vessel safety plan, etc.
Vessel voyage service
This service enables the exchange of information related to the voyage of a vessel, like the port of departure, arrival, the route, etc.
This service could be used to collect these specific information each time a vessel is involved in an incident, or to assess the risks associated to this vessel, or to identify anomalies in its behaviour.
Voyage details of: * Commercial vessels with a port of departure or arrival in the EU * Fishing vessels from European flags * Commercial vessels of fishing vessels without a port of departure or arrival in the EU * Governmental vessels, etc.
Crew list service
This service enables the exchange of information concerning the crew and/or passengers on board of a vessel.
This information can be used for SAR but also when searching for person of interest on board of the vessel (for law enforcement, for instance) This information could also be collected usually e.g. to check if the crew complies with the minimum safety requirements; for tax or pension calculation; etc.
Concrete information concerning: * Number of persons on board * Crew list details (name and function of the persons) * Ship owner * etc.
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Intervention asset service
This service allows to exchange information about the availability, the characteristics and (when possible) the position of the intervention assets managed by the different authorities.
This service is important for better cooperation during interventions at sea. It can be used, for instance, to facilitate the rapid identification of unknown vessels or during a SAR operation to better plan/perform joint search etc. It can be used also when the intervention requires an asset with specific characteristics (e.g., capable of flying at night, medical assistance on board, etc.)
Availability, characteristics (and position - AIS and radar ) of: * Pollution response assets * SAR assets * Unmanned capabilities * Intervention assets capabilities * Surveillance capabilities * etc
Incident / event notification (alert) service
This service can be used to exchange automatic notifications/alerts, between authorities across sectors and borders, on incidents or events occurring at sea, in your area of responsibility.
Information on incidents and interventions is useful for each authority to be received in real time directly on its systems. E.g. When an inspection is carried on board of a vessel, to know beforehand that the vessel is suspected of trafficking (for instance) by another authority is of paramount importance.
Notification / alerts on: * SAR incidents * MAS incidents * infringements to traffic rules * insurance default * incidents related to illegal fishing * incidents related to border control * past incidents important to understand the history of a vessel * vessels suspected of terrorism, piracy, etc...)
Risk information service
This information is usually not public and consequently not properly distributed to competent authorities. This service enables to share in a trusted manner information on vessels of interest, or persons of interest. Most of this information already exist and can be public or of limited distribution. (e.g., Infringements repository, IUU list, Single hull tanker, Paris MoU banned list; but also lists of vessel suspected of smuggling, etc.) This service also enables the exchange of the results of risk analysis carried out by different authorities.
This information can be used by an authority or a community involved in SAR or in countering illegal immigration, etc. The risk-related information will help different authorities to improve their own maritime awareness on, for instance, risk zones or risk vessel profiles. Additional risk information related to a vessel could also allow different authorities to improve their own risk assessment on vessels of interest.
Information on: * single hull tankers list, * Paris MoU lists * IUU vessel lists * vessel of interest * person of interest * etc.
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Cargo service This service enables sharing the broad description of the cargo (not at the detail level of the Custom declarations, but with enough information to raise the interest of authorities involved in maritime surveillance) for vessels involved in an incident/accident and/or coming from ports outside the EU.
This service could be of interest for different authorities and mainly for those involved in SAR and pollution interventions as well as in emergency operations on board a vessel.
Information on: * Dangerous Cargo list * Customs declaration * Fish catch * Additional Cargo details * etc
Vessel location service
This service allows to receive additional useful information on the position of a vessel.
A Member State authority is looking for the real location of a suspect ship. This service can be used in an iterative way, polling several potential suppliers of this information.
The following information if available could be used for cross reference: * AIS and LRIT positions of commercial vessels * VMS position of fishing vessels * leisure boats location from AIS * radars location, passive sensors (on shore or on board of assets) * location information from patrolling boats/planes * etc.
Incident history service
The service facilitates the exchange of information regarding the history of incidents, accidents and inspections related to a specific vessel.
This information could be useful for different authorities involved in investigating a specific vessel or in assessing the risk associated to a vessel.
Information on: * Vessels involved in smuggling or trafficking in the past * Vessels involved in safety incident or accident* Vessels involved in pollution incident * Exchange of specific investigation and intervention reports * etc.
Registry of Authorities (Query)
This service allows participants to easily find the operational contacts of any other authority performing maritime surveillance functions either for computer-to-computer connection or for operators' direct
This service could allow immediate contact between operational authorities in case of an emergency situation or when a direct inquiry is necessary.
It might include: * functions of the authority * email, telephone * condition under which the contact can be reached * area of responsibility * etc.
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contact
Distributed search
This is a function that could allow any of the above services to push and retrieve information in a suitable way in terms of speed, reliability and quality
N/A N/A
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Appendix 4
Description of proposed CISE solutions for interoperability currently tested in the EUCISE2020 project
The CISE Architecture
The CISE Architecture enables Member States to decide whether to nominate a single or multiple providers of CISE services at national level. This means that a provider of CISE services at national level may be nominated to deliver CISE services of interest for one or more User Communities. The delivery of CISE services may be done through the improvement of existing and planned systems (such as the National Single Window or National Coordination Centres). Depending on the choice made by the Member State, a single integrated maritime awareness picture exists or several integrated maritime awareness pictures can coexist.
The CISE Hybrid Architecture Vision defined a set of building blocks that should be implemented in CISE to enable the information exchange between partners.
The CISE access point
This building block is composed of:
• a generic software component called "CISE Gateway". The CISE Gateway takes care of the exchange protocol between participants, including the security, access control and reliability aspects. A reference implementation of the gateway can be used.
• a system-specific software component called "Adaptor". The CISE Adaptor takes care of the mapping of the data model and exchange protocol between the CISE data and service model and the Legacy System. The CISE Handbook is intended to provides example of CISE Adapters but this component requires an ad-hoc development to adapt to the specificity of the Legacy System.
Authority Registry
A directory containing the contact details and information of the CISE participants.
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Service Registry
A directory of all the services offered by the CISE participants. It should contain metadata defining the service contracts and be accessible in an automatic way by the CISE Gateways.
Collaborative Service Platform
A set of tools for virtual collaboration between public authorities. These tools facilitate audio and video communication, instant messaging, etc.
Service Monitoring
This building block monitors the performance and availability of the services in the CISE gateways and can provide statistics, which after an agreement among the Member States, should be consistent and comparable.
Identity Provider
This building block manages all aspects of identification and authentication at National level. CISE participants will rely on the same authentication mechanism, independent from the CISE gateway which they request data from.
Hybrid Connection to CISE
In the CISE Hybrid Architecture, each participant can choose to share or have access to information through a dedicated CISE access point or through a National, Regional or sectorial system. This decision will depend on the internal organisation of the authority (or Member State) and the authority's maritime surveillance systems and IT infrastructure.
A Public Authority directly connected to CISE
A Public Authority has the possibility to provide and consume information from the CISE Network, directly connected to it. In this case, the CISE Gateway may be directly hosted and managed by the Public Authority.
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If this Public Authority handles different Legacy Systems, for instance linked to different business processes, it is possible to connect all of them to the same Gateway. The Gateway will handle the proper routing and access right of information between the different Legacy Systems.
A Public Authority connected through a National Node
At National level, the decision could be to connect to CISE Network through an existing National Node. This node may only redirect messages or may consolidate the information in its own database. The functions handle by the different Legacy Systems and the end users of the Node should be identified to handle a proper access right management.
A Public Authority connected through a Regional or a European Node
Information exchange already exist cross-border at sectorial level. To benefit from the existing infrastructures, it is possible to enrich the existing European or Regional Nodes with information from the CISE Network, or to share more widely, cross sector, the information consolidated at sectorial level. The European or Regional node will have to propagate the access rules and redistribute properly the information to the Legacy Systems to respect the access rights defined by the providers.
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In this option, the Public Authority will depend on the choice of implementation of the European or Regional organization.
For more documentation on CISE or the CISE Hybrid architecture, please check Appendix 5.
The EUCISE2020 Architecture Configurations
Member States and Public Authorities participating in EUCISE2020 Demonstration can choose among three different models, namely A, B and C, to connect to the EUCISE2020 network. Each model is compliant with the CISE Hybrid Vision Architecture and determines how the Member State’s Public Authorities will connect their legacy systems to the network.
National Interface National Interface LS B1 National Interface LS B2
National Interface LS C1 National Interface LS C2
Member State X
CISE Gateway
CISE AdaptorData
ConverterData
Manager
Legacy System A
Incoming Interface
Member State Y
CISE Gateway
Member State Z
CISE Node
CISE Gateway
CISE Network
CISE AdaptorData
ConverterData
Manager
Legacy System B1
Incoming Interface
CISE AdaptorData
ConverterData
Manager
Legacy System B2
Incoming Interface
CISE Adaptor
Data Converter
Data Manager
Legacy System C1
Incoming Interface
CISE Adaptor
Data Converter
Data Manager
Legacy System C2
Incoming Interface
Configuration A Configuration B
Configuration C
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Configuration A
In Configuration A, a single Public Authority belonging to a single Member State is connected to EUCISE2020 Network using one Legacy System with a EUCISE2020 Gateway type A.
The Legacy System provides and consumes EUCISE2020 services available from other European Public Authorities through an EUCISE2020 Adaptor, which is connected to the Gateway type A.
The EUCISE2020 Adaptor ensures the communication and the information exchange between the Legacy System and the EUCISE2020 Gateway.
In this configuration, the responsibilities of the information exchange process are shared between the adaptor and the legacy system as follows:
• The EUCISE2020 Adaptor: o translates the data between the internal LS data model and the EU CISE 2020
data model, o implements the EU CISE 2020 service model.
• The Legacy System: o collects, stores, processes and visualizes data; o invokes EUCISE2020 services; o manages users access profiles, which are input data to EUCISE2020
Application Security Services.
Configuration B
In configuration B, a Member State connects two or more Legacy Systems (from one or several Public Authorities) to the EUCISE2020 Network with a single EUCISE2020 Gateway type B.
Each Legacy System provides and consumes EUCISE2020 services through a dedicated EUCISE2020 Adaptor, which is connected to the same Gateway type B.
The EUCISE2020 Adaptor ensures the communication and the information exchange between each Legacy System and the common EUCISE2020 Gateway.
In this configuration, the responsibilities of the information exchange process are shared between the adaptor and the legacy system as follows:
• The EUCISE2020 Adaptor: o translates the data between the internal LS data model and the EU CISE 2020
data model, o implements the EU CISE 2020 service model.
• The Legacy System: o collects, stores, processes and visualizes data; o invokes EUCISE2020 services; o manages users access profiles, which are input data to EUCISE2020
Application Security Services.
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Configuration C
In Configuration C, several Public Authorities from the same Member State connect their own Legacy Systems to the EUCISE2020 Network with a single EUCISE2020 Node type C.
Each Legacy System provides and consumes EUCISE2020 services through a dedicated EUCISE2020 Adaptor, which is connected to the same Gateway type C.
In this configuration, there is a “1-1” relationship between adaptor and Legacy System and a “1-N” relationship between the EUCISE2020 Node Type C and the adaptors.
The responsibilities of the information exchange process are shared among the Node type C, the adaptors and the legacy systems as follows:
• The EUCISE2020 Node type C: o can collect, store, process data; o can visualise data by means of a dedicated user graphical interface (namely
“EUCISE2020 light client”) – for those authorities without legacy system; o can invoke EUCISE2020 services; o can manage users access profiles, which are input data to EUCISE2020
Application Security Services. o can provide additional EUCISE2020 Advanced/Innovative services.
• The EUCISE2020 Adaptor: o translates the data between the internal LS data model and the EU CISE 2020
data model, o implements the EU CISE 2020 service model.
• The Legacy System: o collects, stores, processes and visualizes data; o invokes EUCISE2020 services; o manages users access profiles, which are input data to EUCISE2020
Application Security Services. For more documentation on the EUCISE2020 architecture, please check Appendix 5.
The EUCISE2020 Interoperability Solutions
The CISE Interoperability solutions enable the exchange of information among the CISE gateways/nodes of the CISE network. All the gateways/nodes must therefore implement them to enable the communication.
The CISE Data Model
The CISE data model represents the common language used to exchange information across sectors and borders. The CISE Data Model has been developed by the Member States during the CISE pilot projects. The model takes into account the existing data standards used in the systems for maritime surveillance in Europe in order to facilitate the adaptation of these systems to CISE.
Design principles:
• sector neutral (no specific business riles embedded), • flexible (it should adapt to any context), • extensible (minimize the impact in case of extension),
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• simple and understandable (for domain experts).
It focuses on information needs related to maritime surveillance to be exchanged between sectors and between borders, the specificity of each sector is not present if it has not been identified of interesting for the other sectors.
For the data model documentation, please check Appendix 5.
The CISE Service Model
In CISE, information can be exchanged following one of these three exchange patterns:
• PUSH: the information is pushed from a participant to one or several other participants.
• PULL: one participant requests the information to one or several other participants. The requester can receive several answers from different participants. The process is asynchronous.
• PUBLISH/SUBSCRIBE: a participant can request notifications for a specific situation every time there is an update (or other pattern).
The CISE Service model implements the business needs defined in the information exchange patterns, thus enabling the CISE Gateways to exchange information. This model describes a) the communication protocol between participants; b) the messaging structures that enable the communication; and c) a list of basic information services that can be provided by any participant.
If a participant does not know who might provide a specific piece of information, CISE offers a dynamic discovery mechanism to search for the participants based on several criteria: the function of the participant, the geographical area of the participant (or the information provided), information freshness or other advanced metadata.
More specifically, the model supports the following aspects:
• Service description: description of the services provided by the CISE participants • Service Types: main data entity exchange, information exchange pattern, service
operation types and their functionality • Service Profile: metadata describing the origin of the service and the data
provided • Service Capabilities: metadata describing how the service can provide data • Addressing: methods for discovering and invoking services in the CISE network
o Message types: message types (and their properties) exchanged through the CISE entity services
o Payload Properties: properties of the information exchanged in the messaged
o Reliability: metadata describing how the message should be transmitted o Capabilities requested/fulfilled: metadata describing the manner in which
the data should be provided
For the service model documentation, please check Appendix 5.
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The CISE Information Exchange Patterns
The following subsections describe how to implement each communication pattern using service descriptions and message objects defined in the previous sections.
Pull. The Pull pattern is based on the need-to-know principle. In this pattern, the CISE consumer requests a piece of information to the CISE provider through the Pull operation using the PullRequest message. The CISE provider replies using the PullResponse of the CISE consumer.
Multicast Pull (EUCISE2020 Pull Unknown). In the multicast pull pattern, the CISE consumer requests a piece of information to a group of CISE providers using the PullRequest operation. The CISE providers might be known previously or the CISE consumer could look for providers using the CISE Authority/Service Registry.
Push. The Push pattern is based on the responsibility-to-share principle. In this pattern, the CISE provider sends a piece of information to the CISE consumer (which might be of interest) using the Push operation and message.
Multicast Push (EUCISE2020 Push Unknown). In the Multicast Push pattern, the CISE provider sends a piece of information to a group of CISE consumers (who might be interested in it) using the Push operation. The CISE consumer might be known previously or the CISE provider could look for consumers using the CISE Authority Registry.
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Publish/Subscribe. The Publish/Subscribe pattern results from the combination of the need-to-know and responsibility-to-share principles. In this communication pattern, the CISE consumer subscribes to a piece of information from the CISE provider using the PullRequest operation with the subscribe PullType. When the piece of information is available in the CISE provider, the provider notifies all the subscribers.
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Appendix 5 Relevant documents for the applicants
CISE Documentation74
# Document Author Description Status75 Access D1 Communication from the
Commission to the European Parliament and the Council - Better situational awareness by enhanced cooperation across maritime surveillance authorities: next steps within the Common Information Sharing Environment for the EU maritime domain (COM/2014/0451 final)
European Commission
Available Public
http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2014:0451:FIN
D2 General information on CISE European Commission
Available Public
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/frontpage/1046
D3 CISE Architecture Visions Document
European Commission
Initial description of the high-level architecture for CISE, including user needs and high-level requirements
Available Public
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4039
D4 Use Cases from the Cooperation Cooperation Project
Description of the nine use cases defined by the
Available Public
74 If any document is not available, please contact EASME. 75 Should the documents be updated after the deadline of submission of proposals; the successful applicants will be invited to address such updates in their projects for their
implementation.
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# Document Author Description Status75 Access Project Maritime
Surveillance, (CoopP)
Member States’ authorities in the context of the Cooperation project.
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4039
D5 Terms of Reference of the EUCISE2020 Industrial tender.
• 20160718 EUCISE2020 LOT 1 TOR
• 20160513 EUCISE LOT 1 TOR - Annex 1 - RequirementsTraceability_Rev5
• EUCISE2020_D4_1_Needs Analysis_v6.2
• EUCISE2020_D4_3_Technical_Specifications_v2.2
EUCISE2020 EUCISE2020 User and Technical requirements for the CISE Gateways/Nodes, used for the procurement procedure launched for implementation the EUCISE2020 gateway/node.
Available Limited to maritime surveillance authorities in the EU/EEA.
Access will be granted following the signature of the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement in Appendix 7.
D6 CISE Data Model Cooperation Project Maritime Surveillance, (CoopP)
Documentation of the CISE Data Model
Available Public
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4039
D7 CISE Service Model Cooperation Project
Document describing the CISE Service Model
Available Public
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/maritimeforum/en/node/4039
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# Document Author Description Status75 Access D8 EUCISE2020 System Design
• GA_D6.1 Detailed Design of Prototype CISE
• CN_D2.1 UNCLAS TESTBED DESIGN rev 2.0
• 20170410 National Procurement TOR rev4
EUCISE2020 Design of the EUCISE2020 Node Configuration A (see Appendix 4), including the interfaces to other CISE components, security aspects, communication with the CISE registries, the specification of the Adaptor, etc.
To be released on 31 March 2017
Limited to maritime surveillance authorities in the EU/EEA. Access will be granted following the signature of the Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement in Appendix 7.
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Appendix 6
Applicants are requested to fill the table below according to the following guidelines:
- If the possibility to exchange a data type mentioned in the left column will be assessed in a preparatory study or if the said data type will be made available thanks to the IT developments planned under this Call, a cross 'X' must be inserted in the column 'data exchange covered by the proposal'.
- The column 'examples' is meant to provide concrete and non-exhaustive indications on the data elements falling under the different data types.
- Filling the column 'comment' is recommended to provide further details on the exact type of data covered by the proposal.
Additional lines may be added for data types not listed in table.
Data type Examples Providing authority
Receiving authority Comments
Ship details Merchant vessels registries
Fishing vessels registries
Leisure Boat registries
Surveillance and
intervention assets: real-
time position and
details
Assets for Search and Rescue
Assets for oil pollution
Assets for law enforcement Assets for immigration control
Assets for customs missions
Assets for fisheries control
Assets for firefighting
Assets for C2 W command and control warfare
Cargo
Dangerous Cargo
Cargo (customs declaration)
Information on illegal cargo
Catch (fisheries)
Person
Crew lists
Ship-owner
Passenger lists
Persons involved in an event
Position and movement of vessels
Coastal AIS
Satellite AIS AIS collected by assets at sea
LRIT
Coastal radar
Satellite radar Radar positions collected by assets at sea
56
Data type Examples Providing authority
Receiving authority Comments
VMS (fisheries)
Satellite imagery
Observation
Voyage (port of call…)
Incidents or anomalies
Accident/collision
SAR operation
Illegal immigration
Drug trafficking
Human trafficking
Smuggling (customs)
Illegal fishing
Weapons trafficking
Fire
Pollution
Other infringements
Risks
Accident/collision
Illegal immigration Drug trafficking Human trafficking Smuggling (customs) Illegal fishing Weapons trafficking Fire Pollution
57
Appendix 7
Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement
Mr./Ms. ............................................................... I.D. No.76 ........................ in his/her
capacity of legal representative of …………………………. (name of the public
authority) with registered offices at (street /square) ...................., No. ........, Country…….
City.............. Province ...............Post code................... Tax Id. No. ….................,
hereinafter referred to as the Recipient.
WHEREAS
a) In the context of the EUCISE 2020 project, the EUCISE 2020 Consortium has
produced documentation and software shaping a system for information sharing
among European maritime authorities. In particular:
1. Terms of Reference of the EUCISE2020 Industrial tender
a. 20160718 EUCISE2020 LOT 1 TOR
b. 20160513 EUCISE LOT 1 TOR - Annex 1 -
RequirementsTraceability_Rev5
c. EUCISE2020_D4_1_Needs Analysis_v6.2
d. EUCISE2020_D4_3_Technical_Specifications_v2.2
2. EUCISE2020 System Design (available as of 31 March 2017)
a. GA_D6.1 Detailed Design of Prototype CISE
b. CN_D2.1 UNCLAS TESTBED DESIGN rev 2.0
c. 20170410 National Procurement TOR rev4
hereinafter (the Confidential Information):
b) According to the Commission Implementing Decision concerning the adoption of the
work programmes for 2016, 2017 and the financing decision for the implementation
76 Please attach copy of a valid ID.
58
of the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund, EASME will call for proposals77
aiming at upgrading Member States maritime authorities' ICT systems to enhance
information sharing for maritime surveillance in the frame of the Common
Information Sharing Environment (CISE).
c) In order to achieve the objectives of that call for proposals, applicants should be
encouraged to make use of semantic and technical specifications as well as other
interoperability solutions developed so far in CISE and tested in the 'EUCISE2020'
project.
d) Following the above, the EUCISE 2020 Consortium has agreed to disclose the
Confidential Information to the Recipient for the purpose of preparing proposals to be
submitted under the call for proposals and implement the action for those consortia
whose proposals have been selected for funding (the Purpose);
THE RECIPIENT
1. Undertakes to ensure that the Confidential Information is not used for any purpose
other than the above-mentioned, The Recipient shall take all necessary steps to
prevent any disclosure of the Confidential Information, or its use for any purpose
other than the above-mentioned Purpose.
2. Undertakes to keep the Confidential Information secret, sharing it exclusively with
the other members of the consortium formed for the purpose of the call for proposals
and any other third party on a need to know basis (subcontractors, in-house
consultants) for the above-mentioned Purpose.
3. Undertakes and is responsible for ensuring that the same obligations provided in this
Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement shall bind the employees of the
Recipient, the other members of the consortium and any other third party for the
above-mentioned Purpose.
4. States that the Confidential Information shall be kept in a safe place under the
responsibility and the control of specifically authorised personnel. Where
appropriate, the EUCISE 2020 Consortium will be informed of any incident which
77 Call for proposals for the joint implementation of action 1.2.1.9 of the 2016 EMFF Work Programme
and action 1.2.1.3 of the 2017 EMFF Work Programme
59
could affect the security or integrity of the Confidential Information. Any such event
must be duly registered.
5. Shall return after the termination of the relationship between EASME and the
Recipient all copies of the Confidential Information and any related documents to
EASME and shall not retain any copies of them.
6. States that it is aware that the Confidential Information provided by the EUCISE
2020 Consortium or any other participants of the EUCISE 2020 project is not of
public knowledge.
7. States that neither this Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement nor any
Confidential Information provided grant the Recipient with any licence, interest or
right with respect to the ownership of the Confidential Information, with the
exception of the right to use the Confidential Information solely for achieving the
Purpose. In this respect, the Recipient acknowledges that the Intellectual Property
Rights on the Confidential Information belong exclusively to the EUCISE 2020
Consortium.
8. States that the termination of the relationship between the EASME and the Recipient
shall not release the latter from the obligations hereby undertaken regarding the
Confidential Information supplied by the EUCISE 2020 Consortium or any other
participants of the EUCISE 2020 project.
9. States to be fully aware that any unauthorised disclosure, release or use of the
Confidential Information, whether intentionally or by mere negligence, including the
use, development, release, marketing and similar, would significantly damage the
EUCISE 2020 Consortium. Therefore, the Recipient undertakes to compensate any
possible damages arising from the said actions, also by means of economic
compensation, to be paid to the EUCISE 2020 Consortium. In this respect, the
EUCISE 2020 Consortium reserves the right to start civil or criminal proceedings.
The Recipient shall be held liable for any unauthorised use of the Confidential
Information and breach of this Confidentiality and Non-Disclosure Agreement
caused by its employees, the other members of the consortium and any other third
party (subcontractors, in-house consultants) with whom the Confidential Information
has been shared for the above-mentioned Purpose.
60
10. Acknowledges and accepts that the EUCISE 2020 Consortium or any other
participants of the EUCISE 2020 project and the European Commission and
EASME cannot be held in any way liable for any consequence arising from the use
of the Confidential Information.
11. Undertakes to immediately notify the EUCISE 2020 Consortium and EASME in the
event it is called to disclose in whole or in part the Confidential Information in
judicial or administrative proceedings, or is required to do so by law, and undertakes
to disclose only the Confidential Information which is expressly required to disclose,
in any case with no prejudice of the right of the EUCISE 2020 Consortium to avail
itself of the defence provided by law in such cases.
Signed, dated and stamped by the Recipient in …………., on ../../…..
____________________________
Electronically signed on 15/03/2017 10:03 (UTC+01) in accordance with article 4.2 (Validity of electronic documents) of Commission Decision 2004/563