etwinning national support services – 2014
TRANSCRIPT
1
EUROPEAN COMMISSION DIRECTORATE-GENERAL FOR EDUCATION AND CULTURE Education and vocational training School education; Comenius
eTwinning NSS INVIT 2014 EN
EAC/S10/2013
INVITATION TO SUBMIT AN ACTIVITY PLAN
eTwinning National Support Services – 2014
2
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. BACKGROUND.........................................................................................................4
2. THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME...................................5
2.1. General objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme ..............................................5
2.2. Specific objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme in the field of Education and Training .....................................................................................5
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE NATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES...................................6
3.1. General objectives .............................................................................................6
3.2. Specific objectives ...............................................................................................7
4. TIMETABLE ..............................................................................................................7
5. BUDGET AVAILABLE .............................................................................................7
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA ..........................................................................................9
6.1. Formal criteria ..................................................................................................9
6.2. Eligible applicants ...........................................................................................10
6.3. Eligible activities .............................................................................................10
6.3.1. Promotion of eTwinning at national and regional level ...............10
6.3.2. Provision of technical and pedagogical support to participating schools........................................................................12
6.3.3. Monitoring registrations and adequate user behaviour in the eTwinning platform...................................................................12
6.3.4. Promotion and monitoring of the quality of eTwinning projects .............................................................................................13
6.3.5. Identification and dissemination of good practice emerging from eTwinning projects.................................................................13
6.3.6. Providing teachers with adequate professional development opportunities for successful participation ..............13
6.3.7. Coordination with the Central Support Service, with other National Support Services and with the Partner Support Agencies ............................................................................................14
6.3.8. Contribution to the eTwinning portal and the European Gateway on school education..........................................................14
6.3.9. Contribution to the eTwinning support network .........................14
6.3.10. Translation, editing and localisation of texts ................................15
3
6.3.11. Provision of feedback to the Commission and participation in the evaluation process .................................................................15
6.3.12. Liaison with regional and local school authorities .......................15
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA.........................................................................................16
8. SELECTION CRITERIA..........................................................................................17
8.1. Operational capacity .......................................................................................17
8.2. Audit.................................................................................................................17
9. AWARD OF ACTION GRANT...............................................................................17
10. FUNDING CONDITIONS........................................................................................18
10.1. Contractual provisions and payment procedures............................................18
10.2. Double financing .............................................................................................19
10.3. Funding method: budget-based financing .......................................................19
11. SUB-CONTRACTING AND AWARD OF PROCUREMENT CONTRACT ........24
12. PUBLICITY ..............................................................................................................25
13. DATA PROTECTION ..............................................................................................25
14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS...................................26
14.1. Invitation..........................................................................................................26
14.2. Application form ..............................................................................................26
14.3. Submission of the grant application ................................................................27
14.4. Applicable rules ...............................................................................................28
14.5. Contacts ...........................................................................................................28
15. ANNEXES: ...............................................................................................................28
Commission européenne/Europese Commissie, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111 Office: J-70 02/232 - Tel. direct line +32 229-53781 - Fax +32 229-69346
1. BACKGROUND
In March 2002, the Barcelona European Council called on the European Commission to “undertake a feasibility study to identify options for helping secondary schools to establish or enhance an Internet twinning link with a partner school elsewhere in Europe”. The Commission submitted a report to the Seville European Council in June 2002 on using the Internet to develop twinning between European secondary schools.
“eTwinning of schools in Europe and promotion of teachers' training” (eTwinning) was officially launched in January 2005 in the framework of the eLearning programme 2004-2006. The objective of eTwinning was to strengthen and develop school networking via a European-wide scheme which would make it possible for all European schools to build pedagogical partnerships with a school elsewhere in Europe.
eTwinning was subsequently integrated into Comenius, the sectoral programme for schools under the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) for 2007-2013.
eTwinning1 is today open exclusively to teachers and other school staff from pre-primary to upper secondary schools. It offers them four main sets of services:
ideas, advice, and a safe online environment for setting up and carrying out pedagogical projects with partners in other European countries;
professional networking in a European context, including forums and communities of practice ("Teachers rooms" and "eTwinning Groups");
further education opportunities both in face-to-face settings ("Professional Development Workshops", national, bilateral and multilateral seminars) and online ("Learning Events", online courses and webinars, mentorships and peer learning activities);
recognition in the form of national and European quality labels and awards.
Support for participating teachers is provided at national and at European level.
At national level, the National Support Services2 (NSSs) are responsible in particular for promoting eTwinning in their countries, helping teachers to set up and carry out their projects, rewarding schools for their successful participation in eTwinning projects, organising specific training sessions for teachers and ensuring that eTwinning evolves in a way which fits the particular needs of local schools. They receive a grant from the European Commission that covers 80% of their operational costs.
At European level, the Central Support Service3 (CSS) is responsible in particular for the eTwinning platform, a fully multilingual4 website offering tools and services through which teachers can register, find partners and work together. The CSS also plays an active part in the strategic development of eTwinning, provides pedagogical and 1 http://www.etwinning.net/fr/pub/index.htm 2 http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/get_support/contact.htm 3 http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/discover/support_services.htm 4 Available in Bulgarian, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, German, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Latvian, Lithuanian, Maltese, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovene, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
5
technical helpdesk services, organises specific training sessions for teachers5 on eTwinning, and coordinates, together with the European Commission and the EACEA6, the network of National Support Services.
In its proposal for Erasmus+7, the new programme for education, youth, culture and sport for the period 2014-2020, the European Commission foresees an expanded role for eTwinning as the foundation of all European cooperation between schools. The following innovations are foreseen:
– a strengthened platform for cooperation between schools;
– the creation of European School Education Gateway alongside to the eTwinning platform with specific collaborative environments for school policy actors and for other stakeholders;
– an external section allowing teachers to network and collaborate with teachers in other parts of the world;
- a significant expansion of professional development opportunities offered to teachers.
2. THE FRAMEWORK OF THE ERASMUS+ PROGRAMME
The following section describes the main policy goals of the Erasmus+ Programme and the specific provisions concerning the eTwinning National Support Services.
2.1. General objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme
The Programme shall contribute to the achievement of:
(a) the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, including the headline education target;
(b) the objectives of the strategic framework for ET 2020, including the corresponding benchmarks;
(c) the sustainable development of partner countries in the field of higher education;
(d) the overal objectives of the renewed framework for European cooperation in the youth field (2010-2018);
(e) the objective of developing the European dimension in sport, in particular grassroots sport, in line with the Union work plan for sport; and
(f) the promotion of European values in accordance with Article 2 of the Treaty on European Union.
2.2. Specific objectives of the Erasmus+ Programme in the field of Education and Training
(a) to improve the level of key competences and skills, with particular regard to their
5 http://www.etwinning.net/en/pub/progress/european_workshops.htm 6 http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/index_en.php 7 http://ec.europa.eu/education/erasmus-for-all/
6
relevance for the labour market and their contribution to a cohesive society, in particular through increased opportunities for learning mobility and through strengthened cooperation between the world of education and training and the world of work;
(b) to foster quality improvements, innovation excellence and internationalisation at the level of education and training institutions, in particular through enhanced transnational cooperation between education and training providers and other stakeholders;
(c) to promote the emergence and raise awareness of a European lifelong learning area designed to complement policy reforms at national level and to support the modernisation of education and training systems, in particular through enhanced policy cooperation, better use of Union transparency and recognition tools and the dissemination of good practices;
(d) to enhance the international dimension of education and training, in particular through cooperation between Union and partner-country institutions in the field of VET and in higher education, by increasing the attractiveness of European higher education institutions and supporting the Union's external action, including its development objectives, through the promotion of mobility and cooperation between the Union and partner-country higher education institutions and targeted capacity-building in partner countries;
(e) to improve the teaching and learning of languages and to promote the Union's broad linguistic diversity and intercultural awareness;
(f) to promote excellence in teaching and research activities in European integration through the Jean Monnet activities worldwide.
3. OBJECTIVES OF THE NATIONAL SUPPORT SERVICES
3.1. General objectives
The general objectives of eTwinning to which the National Support Services have to contribute are as follows:
• to support and further develop the networking of schools and teachers in Europe;
• to make it possible for all schools in Europe to build pedagogical projects with schools from other countries;
• to promote innovative cooperation methods and transfer of quality educational approaches and to reinforce language learning and intercultural dialogue;
• to contribute to the professional development of teachers through their active participation in collaborative projects, communities of practice and specific training activities;
• to foster the updating of teachers' professional skills in the pedagogical and collaborative use of ICT.
7
3.2. Specific objectives The specific objectives of the eTwinning NSS are as follows:
• to promote eTwinning at national and regional level;
• to provide technical and pedagogical support to participating schools;
• to monitor teachers and projects registrations and promote adequate user behaviour on the eTwinning platform;
• to monitor and promote the quality of eTwinning projects;
• to identify and disseminate good practice emerging from eTwinning;
• to promote teacher professional development through eTwinning;
• to liaise with the Central Support Service, National Support Services and Partner Support Agencies;
• to contribute to the eTwinning portal and the European School Education Gateway;
• to contribute to the common tasks of the eTwinning support network,
• to translate, edit and localise texts;
• to provide feedback to the European Commission, the Education, Audiovisual & Culture Executive Agency (EACEA) and the Central Support Service and to participate in the evaluation process.
• to liaise with national, regional and local school authorities;
4. TIMETABLE
Final date for submission of applications is 7 March 2014 at 12h00 (CET) (please read carefully section 14 concerning the procedures for submitting applications).
5. BUDGET AVAILABLE The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of the National Support Services for the year 2014 is 9 668 000 €. The breakdown per country is calculated talking into account the need to provide each National Support Service with the resources necessary for the basic activities, the population and the number of projects in year minus two in each country. Financial contribution from the European Union cannot exceed 80% of the total eligible costs within the maximum amount available for each country. The Agency reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available. Suspensive Clause The 2014-20 EU programme for education, training, youth and sport – Erasmus+ - proposed by the European Commission on 23 November 20118 (hereafter referred to as "the Programme") has not yet been adopted by the European legislators.
8 COM(2011)788
8
However, the European Commission, has decided to publish this call for tenders already now in order to allow for a smooth implementation of the Programme as soon as its legal basis has been adopted by the European legislators and in order to make it possible for the potential interested economic operators to start preparing their tenders in good time. Please note that at a later stage this procedure and the management of the contract stemming from it will be taken over by the Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency upon signature of a delegation act. This prior information notice does not legally bind the contracting authority. In case of a substantial modification of the legal basis by the European legislators, the present call might be abandoned or cancelled and other calls for tenders with different content and appropriate deadlines for submission may be launched. More generally, any action flowing from this call for tenders is subject to the following three suspensive conditions, whose implementation is beyond the contracting authority’s control:
— the adoption by the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union of the final text of the legal basis establishing the Programme, — the adoption of the 2014 and subsequent budgets of the European Union by the budgetary authority, and — the favourable opinion of the comitology committee with regard to the 2014 and subsequent annual work programmes and the general implementation guidelines, criteria and procedures of selection, after referral of the committee of the Programme (comitology procedure).
9
Maximum amounts available for the National Support Services per country AT (Austria) € 183 000BE(Belgium) € 222 000BG (Bulgaria) € 205 000CY (Cyprus) € 123 000CZ(Czech Republic) € 274 000DE (Germany) € 828 000DK (Denmark) € 169 000EE (Estonia) € 137 000EL (Greece) € 306 000ES (Spain) € 737 000FI (Finland) € 169 000FR (France) € 818 000HR (Croatia) € 156 000 HU (Hungary) € 192 000IE (Ireland) € 148 000IT (Italy) € 752 000LT (Lithuania) € 167 000LU (Luxembourg) € 98 000LV (Latvia) € 144 000MT (Malta) € 109 000NL (Netherlands) € 266 000PL (Poland) € 782 000PT (Portugal) € 237 000RO (Romania) € 406 000SE (Sweden) € 210 000SI (Slovenia) € 138 000SK (Slovak Republic) € 229 000UK (United Kingdom) € 725 000
IS (Iceland) € 105 000NO (Norway) € 168 000MK (FYROM) € 22.000TR (Turkey) € 315 000CH (Switzerland) € 128 000
Total € 9 668 000
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA 6.1. Formal criteria
Only proposals submitted in one of the EU official languages, using the official application form, completed in full, signed (original signatures or equivalent required) and received by the specified deadline, will be considered.
10
Applicants must submit a balanced budget in terms of expenditure and revenue and must comply with the ceiling for Union co-financing, set at 80% of the total eligible costs within the maximum amount available for each country.
6.2. Eligible applicants
The action grant can only be awarded to those organisations for which the designation letter to act as eTwinning National Support Service for the year 2014 or for the entire period of the Erasmus+ programme, has been addressed to the Directorate-General Education and Culture of the European Commission by the competent national authorities.
In order not to delay the review of applications by the Agency, NSS whose designation has been issued recently can join a photocopy of it to the application.
Organisations already designated in previous years do not need to submit the full documentation. They can confirm the administrative documentation previously submitted is still valid, as foreseen in the application (eForms).
In the event of a change in beneficiary's data (i.e. address, legal status, bank account) new documents must be submitted.
6.3. Eligible activities
With reference to the specific objectives listed in section 2.2, this section sets out the mandatory tasks of the National Support Services during the year 2014.
6.3.1. Promotion of eTwinning at national and regional level Since the main objective of eTwinning is to contribute to the mainstreaming of European school cooperation, the involvement of the highest possible number of schools is of paramount importance for its success. National Support Services are expected to develop a dynamic and proactive communication strategy in order to make the action well known at national, regional, local and school level. Each National Support Service should strive to contribute to the overall action with a number of projects proportional to its share of the European school population. It should also try to ensure a balanced distribution of projects in terms of geographical coverage, types of schools, age ranges and subject areas. In particular, every effort must be made to promote eTwinning at the beginning of the school year ("eTwinning Weeks" campaign) by supporting the European campaign according to what is decided in the framework of the CSS/NSS coordination work. The proposed activity plan must state the steps the NSS intends to take to this end. The NSS will also actively support any other specific campaigns, or special eTwinning activities planned and implemented at the European level during the school year. Each NSS should ensure that eTwinning is promoted by national and regional education portals. eTwinning should have an adequate presence on the public educational portal or a dedicated national website containing core information on the action in the national language(s) and links to the relevant sections of the central eTwinning portal. The NSS will also liaise with the website of the National Agency of the Erasmus+ programme to ensure that eTwinning is present and visible. Where a decentralised educational authority exists, this applies also to regional websites. The NSS should keep track of the traffic visiting the eTwinning national website or web pages and submit data on the subject on demand and in the Final Report.
11
The NSS should promote synergies between eTwinning and other actions for schools of the Erasmus+ programme and keep a good working relationship with the National Agency for the Erasmus+ programme, including through the participation in common NSS/National Agencies task forces. The NSS should be able to report on the activities undertaken in this area and in their results. Promotional activities should clearly identify eTwinning as an action of the Erasmus+ programme. Any national eTwinning webpage or publication must clearly display the Erasmus+ logo. Promotion-related issues are dealt with in the relevant joint NSS/CSS working groups or task forces on communication and promotion. The NSS should adequately participate in such groups and coordinate its promotional activities with the CSS and the other NSSs. The promotion strategy must include the following activities:
• informing national, regional or local school authorities, national agencies for the Erasmus+ programme, teachers' unions, professional organisations, teacher training institutions, parents' associations or any other relevant organisations or agencies;
• setting up and animating a network of multipliers who help to promote the action (i.e. eTwinning "ambassadors" or other forms of national, regional or local eTwinning supporters and/or promoters);
• distributing the publications produced by the CSS; • ensuring an appropriate presence of eTwinning in relevant printed and online
publications such as teachers' specialised press and local, regional or national papers; • organising specific promotional activities during the eTwinning weeks; • ensuring the visibility of eTwinning in education conferences or events. The NSSs' Activity plan and Final Report should give details about the activities listed above and their results.
The following promotional activities are strongly recommended:
• producing and distributing own publications which highlight the pedagogical benefits of eTwinning and provide inspiring examples of projects involving local schools and guidelines for successful participation;
• mailing actions to reach all schools in the country (i.e. newsletters, distribution of brochures);
• organising visits to schools;
• organising bilateral, multilateral, national, regional and local eTwinning conferences, workshops and/or contact seminars;
• setting up national eTwinning awards;
• setting up one or more national events devoted to the eTwinning action. Awards constitute an important incentive for active participation in eTwinning. A part of the global NSS budget should be devoted to rewarding schools participating in successful eTwinning projects. National quality labels also provide a good opportunity for increasing the visibility of eTwinning; NSSs should award the national quality label according to criteria agreed at a European level.
12
The European eTwinning Prizes also play an important role in motivating schools and increasing the visibility of the action. The NSSs shall contribute to the pre-selection of the best national projects among the applicants competing for these prizes and to the annual conference and award ceremony. Each NSS should ensure the participation of an appropriate number of teachers from its country in this event. A budget heading in each NSS budget proposal should cover the travel and subsistence costs linked to this participation. NSSs are expected to contribute to the overall success of the promotional activities by sharing their ideas, experiences and any specific resources or materials created with the purpose of promotion. They should actively participate, as far as their capacities to do so, in the relevant working groups and tasks forces. NSSs are expected to raise and promote interest among their national teachers for eTwinning collaborative projects with schools from Neighbouring countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Moldova, Tunisia, Ukraine), making use of the opportunities offered by the eTwinning Plus scheme.
6.3.2. Provision of technical and pedagogical support to participating schools
Every NSS must contribute to the eTwinning support network with a helpdesk service, open during all working days and accessible by different means. The tasks of the helpdesk will consist of giving information about the eTwinning action and on how to participate in it, and in providing technical and pedagogical advice and assistance in this regard. In particular, it should be available to give help and advice in the effective use of the eTwinning platform.
Preferably, the staffing of the helpdesk and pedagogical support teams at the NSS should be composed of seconded experienced teachers specifically devoted to this support.
NSSs should proactively support teachers and teams encountering difficulties in setting up eTwinning projects and contribute to any action aiming at improving the usability of the eTwinning platform.
NSSs are expected to contribute to the overall quality of the support provided to schools by sharing their experiences and know-how in this field. They are also expected to take part, as far as possible, in the drafting of technical and pedagogical guidelines.
6.3.3. Monitoring registrations and adequate user behaviour in the eTwinning platform
To ensure data reliability and Internet safety, each NSS will check on a daily basis the registrations of users from its country, validate the accuracy of the data submitted and filter out inappropriate registrations.
While watching over ethical issues and avoiding unnecessary interference, the NSS will check and approve project registrations, taking into account the comments of the other PSA/NSS involved in the partnership and will strive to coordinate with them. As a goal, all project registration requests should be approved or rejected within five working days.
NSSs are expected to exchange with each other, and with the CSS, all relevant information concerning schools and projects registrations and to adopt a pro-active attitude towards inactive users supporting them to successfully participate in the action and use eTwinning according to their needs.
13
NSS are expected to contribute to the moderation of forums and other types of interactions among eTwinners on the eTwinning platform and on other social media.
6.3.4. Promotion and monitoring of the quality of eTwinning projects
To ensure the overall quality of the action, each NSS will regularly check project blogs and, if appropriate, give feedback to the participating schools.
The NSSs are expected to be pro-active in fostering the quality and the pedagogical value of eTwinning projects.
NSSs will award national quality labels according to an evaluation procedure agreed upon in the relevant NSSs/CSS meetings or task forces. The same applies for the award of national prizes.
The effective dissemination of good and inspiring practice is the most powerful way of promoting the quality of eTwinning projects (see section 6.3.5 below). NSSs should devote adequate resources to this important task.
NSSs are expected to share with each other their experiences and know-how in fostering the pedagogical quality of projects and to encourage schools to develop projects related to the agreed areas.
6.3.5. Identification and dissemination of good practice emerging from eTwinning projects
The identification and dissemination of good practice is one of the most important tasks of a NSS, since it makes it possible to give recognition to good projects, inspire teachers for their own project work and thus promote quality and diversity in eTwinning.
Each NSS should take advantage of the analysis of project registrations, quality label and prizes entries, Project Cards and public TwinSpaces, to identify good practice and project examples to be showcased through the national and European eTwinning websites, publications and any other adequate means.
6.3.6. Providing teachers with adequate professional development opportunities for successful participation
NSSs should ensure teachers receive adequate training and professional development opportunities (on line, on site, blended courses) in order to exploit the potential of ICT for innovation and collaborative work in education and to successfully participate in projects.
In order to achieve this, NSSs may contact national and regional authorities responsible for teacher training or organise specific online or offline training courses and seminars.
NSSs are in particular encouraged to collect, adapt, locate, create and share educational material for teacher training relevant to eTwinning.
14
NSSs will also organise training opportunities for their teachers at national, regional or local level, also in cooperation with other NSSs.
NSSs are expected to share with each other and with the CSS all relevant information and materials concerning teacher training.
6.3.7. Coordination with the Central Support Service, with other National Support Services and with the Partner Support Agencies
There should be close cooperation between the Central Support Service, the National Support Services themselves, and the Partner Support Agencies; these different stakeholders should mutually reinforce their activities, advise each other about strong and weak points and discuss ways and means of improving and extending participation. Bilateral management discussions and decisions between NSSs should be reinforced. NSSs with successful approaches should have a proactive role towards the other NSSs so as to accelerate the learning curve. To this end, the CSS will organise two Management meetings per year for NSS (and eventually PSA), at the beginning and the end of the school year. These meetings may be held in Brussels or in other European locations.
NSS representatives are expected to take part in the established Working Groups and task forces to agree on key issues relating to the eTwinning action.
Attendance to the two Management meetings and to the meetings of at least half of the Working Groups should be guaranteed, even for countries with a small NSS office.
6.3.8. Contribution to the eTwinning portal and the European Gateway on school education
Through the active monitoring of the eTwinning action in its country and a close relationship with the participating teachers and schools, each NSS should be able to suggest to the Central Support Service good projects to be showcased in the portal. The gallery of commented good practice should become the best teaching material for schools wanting to participate in an educationally valuable partnership experience. The NSS will also contribute through the timely provision of:
• news and press releases on eTwinning developments in its country; • comments, from a pedagogical perspective, on the projects suggested for the gallery,
highlighting their merits; • translations into their language(s) of texts to be posted in the portal, produced centrally or by
other NSSs, PSAs (see point 6.3.10). All texts provided for the eTwinning portal and for the eTwinning Plus website, except the ones to be published in the national section of the Desktop, should be provided in the national language of the NSS and in English. The guidelines for the editorial process, including any content indicators and feedback, should be discussed and agreed upon in the relevant joint NSSs/CSS working group.
6.3.9. Contribution to the eTwinning support network
Each NSSs will contribute, as far as possible, to the common tasks of the eTwinning support network. In particular, in order to ensure a real multilingualism in all eTwinning
15
activities, NSSs are expected to contribute to the moderation of the eTwinning Groups or to the organisation of Learning Events identifying or providing experts able to run a Learning Event in their language. NSSs will also participate in task forces, focus groups and in the design and promotion of surveys concerning the action.
6.3.10. Translation, editing and localisation of texts
Multilingualism is a main feature of eTwinning that has to be preserved.
NSSs will contribute to the translation or editing of centrally produced information to be posted on the main eTwinning portal or on the eTwinning Plus portal, ensuring that it is correct and adequate for their school population.
Each NSS will be responsible for translating more specialised information required for its own activities. NSSs should also translate abstracts of their projects to be showcased in any part of the portal, and any other relevant information on their own activities, into one of the most widely spoken languages, preferably English.
Translations in countries that share a language (and could thus share the costs of translation or editing of originals) and of countries that have more than one official language will be treated on a case-by-case basis.
6.3.11. Provision of feedback to the Commission and participation in the evaluation process
Each NSS should regularly produce general information about the development of the action in its country and should provide an annual report summarizing all relevant data and any other relevant information for the monitoring and steering of the action resulting from its experience. It will produce a selection of best practice cases for the annual report on the action.
NSSs will collaborate with the European Commission, the Executive Agency and the Pedagogical Team of the CSS in designing and carrying out evaluations and in providing information needed for any external assessment of the action.
6.3.12. Liaison with regional and local school authorities
The NSSs should link and collaborate with the regional and local authorities, in particular in the countries where education is decentralised. Special attention should be devoted to raising awareness and support for the action among headmasters.
This collaboration should cover all aspects of the eTwinning action, to a degree appropriate to the specific national situation. Where relevant, particular care should be taken to involve regional or local authorities in the actions (such as awarding prizes, quality labels, etc.) which affect their schools.
Activities will start on 1.1.2014 and will end on 31.12.2014.
16
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA
Applicants and (co-)beneficiaries must state that they are not in any of the situations described in Articles 106(1), 107 and 109 of the Financial Regulation applicable to the general budget of the Union and set out below.
Applicants will be excluded from participating in this Call for Proposals procedure if they are in any of the following situations:
(1) they are bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the courts, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters, or are in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
(2) they or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control over them have been convicted of an offence concerning their professional conduct by a judgment of a competent authority of a Member State which has the force of res judicata;
(3) they have been guilty of grave professional misconduct proven by any means which the contracting authority can justify including by decisions of the EIB and international organisations;
(4) they are not in compliance with their obligations relating to the payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established or with those of the country of the responsible Authorising Officer or those of the country where the grant agreement is to be performed;
(5) they or persons having powers of representation, decision making or control over them have been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering or any other illegal activity, where such illegal activity is detrimental to the Union' financial interests;
(6) they are currently subject to an administrative penalty referred to in Article 109(1) of the Financial Regulation.
Applicants will not be granted financial assistance if, in the course of the grant award procedure, they:
(1) are subject to a conflict of interests;
(2) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the Agency as a condition of participation in the grant award procedure, or fail to supply this information.
(3) find themselves in one of the situations of exclusion, referred to in Article 106 (1) of the Financial Regulation;
In accordance with Article 109 of the Financial Regulation, administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on beneficiaries who are guilty of misrepresentation or are
17
found to have seriously failed to meet their contractual obligations under a previous contract award procedure.
To comply with these provisions, applicants for a grant exceeding EUR 60.000 must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in any of the situations referred to in Articles 106(1) and 107 of the Financial Regulation.
8. SELECTION CRITERIA
Applicant 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. They must have the professional competencies and qualifications required to complete the proposed activity plan.
Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their status as a legal person, to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities, to other EU grants received or requested for the year 2014 and to the system in place to keep track of the eTwinning transactions in case there is not a separate bank account for the eTwinning grant.
8.1. Operational capacity
In order to allow an assessment of their operational capacity, organisations applying for a grant above EUR 60 000 must submit, together with their applications:
(1) - The CV of the person/s in charge of the coordination and of the financial aspects of the eTwinning action, in case these persons are different from those in charge of the 2013 contract.
8.2. Audit
Grant applications for over 100 000 EUR must be accompanied by an external audit report produced by an approved external auditor. This report shall certify the accounts for the last year available.
This obligation does not apply to public bodies and international organisations under public law.
9. AWARD OF AN ACTION GRANT
The award of action grants to the NSS shall be subject to the principles of transparency and equal treatment. Applications that pass the eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria, as described in this invitation to submit an Activity plan, will be awarded, provided that the budget and the proposed activity plan for 2014 appear reasonable (cost/efficiency of the proposed action plan).
18
10. FUNDING CONDITIONS
In the period 2014-2020 financial support for eTwinning National Support Services is provided through the Erasmus+ Programme.
This support takes the form of action grants - one agreement per National Support Service - allocated to the organisations designated by the national competent authorities.
The beneficiary may not benefit from other EU funds for the same activity. In cases where the eTwinning NSS are located within the same organization as other bodies receiving grants from the European Commission, the grant request must distinguish clearly between the functions of the eTwinning NSS covered by the grant and other functions. This clear separation of tasks will also need to be reflected in the final report.
An EU grant is an incentive to carry out activities that would not be possible without the support of the Union. It is based on the principle of co-financing. The EU grant supplements the applicant organisation’s own financial involvement and/or any national, regional or private support it may have obtained.
Acceptance of an application by the Executive Agency does not constitute an undertaking to award a grant equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary. Furthermore, under no circumstances may the amount awarded exceed the amount requested.
The award of a grant does not establish an entitlement for subsequent years.
10.1. Contractual provisions and payment procedures
In the event of definitive approval by the Agency, a grant agreement or a grant decision drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary. The NSS located in one of the 28 E.U. Member States will receive a grant decision. The NSS located outside the European Union will receive a grant agreement.
Agreement: the 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed by the beneficiary and returned to the Agency immediately. The Agency will sign them last.
Decision: the decision must not be returned to the Agency. The general conditions applicable to the decision are available in annex to the present document and in the 'Documents register' of the Agency website: http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/index.htm. As regards grant decisions, beneficiaries understand that: Submission of a grant application implies acceptance of these General Conditions. These General Conditions bind the beneficiary to whom the grant is awarded and shall constitute an annex to the Grant Decision.
A pre-financing payment of 70% will be transferred to the beneficiary within 30 days either of the date when the last of the two parties signs the agreement, or of the notification of the grant decision , provided all possible guarantees are received. Pre-financing is intended to provide the beneficiary with a float. The account or sub-account indicated by the NSS must make it possible to identify the funds transferred by the Agency
19
The Agency will establish the amount of the final payment to be made to the beneficiary on the basis of the final reports. If the eligible costs actually incurred by the organisation are lower than anticipated, the Agency will apply its rate of funding to the actual costs, and the beneficiary will, where applicable, be required to repay any excess amounts already transferred by the Agency under the pre-financing payment.
10.2. Double financing
Applicants may receive only one action grant per financial year from the budget of the European Union.
To ensure this, they must give details in their application form of any other grant requests which they have submitted or intend to submit to the European Institutions stating in each case, the budgetary year, the budget heading, the European Union programme and the amount requested.
10.3. Funding method: budget-based financing General provisions
Budget-based grants are calculated on the basis of a detailed estimated budget. The budget attached to the application form must be complete and in balance, i.e. total estimated expenditure must equal total revenue, including the Executive Agency grant application. The budget must indicate clearly the costs that are eligible for EU funding. The EU grant is limited to a maximum co-financing rate of 80% of eligible costs.
The budget must be drawn up in Euros. Applicants not based in the euro zone must use the exchange rate published in the Official Journal of the European Union on the date this Invitation to submit an Activity plan is officially transmitted by EACEA.
Please note that this exchange rate will be provisionally used at the application stage; the actual exchange rate to be used during the implementation of the Activity plan and for the final determination of the grant, will be the exchange rate established by the European Commission and published on its website (http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro) applicable for the month of January 2014.
Part of the total estimated eligible expenses must be financed from sources other than the Union grant. Applicants must indicate the sources and amounts of any other funding received or applied for in the same financial year for the implementation of the project or activity plan concerned.
The allocated amount may not exceed the amount requested.
The Union grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit for the beneficiary. Profit is defined as a surplus of receipts over eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary. The amount of the grant will be reduced by the amount of any surplus.
Eligible costs
Eligible costs of the activity plan are costs actually incurred by the beneficiary, which meet the following criteria:
- they are incurred during the duration of the activity plan as specified in the grant agreement, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and certificates on the activity plan's financial statements and underlying accounts;
20
- they are connected with the subject of the agreement and they are indicated in the estimated overall budget of the activity plan;
- they are necessary for the implementation of the activity plan which is the subject of the grant;
- 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;
- they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;
- 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 project with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents. eTwinning National Support Services are reminded of the need to keep clear track of costs, also in connection with internal staff working both on eTwinning and on other actions; it is essential to document the amount of time worked for the eTwinning action through time sheets or other appropriate tools and to keep this documentation available for five years in case the NSS is audited.
Eligible direct costs
The eligible direct costs 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 activity plan and which can therefore be booked to it directly. The following direct costs are eligible, provided that they satisfy the criteria set out in the previous paragraph; these costs grouped under four categories, correspond to the four posts of the budget form:
I.A - Staff costs
This should include wages for internal staff (permanent employees and temporary staff, as long as they appear in the pay roll of the NSS). This should not include ad hoc external contributions, which can be regarded as purchases of services. These costs should be included in the appropriate budgetary line: e.g. a service contract to a designer for improving the website should rather be inserted in "Information and communication" costs; a fee for external account auditors comes under "Operating costs".
I.B – Travel and subsistence costs
This should include all travel and subsistence costs incurred by the NSS staff to participate in conferences, visits, training, working groups, etc., organised by the NSS itself or by third parties. Please note that the subsistence costs by destination should not exceed the following ceilings established in Euros and costs in countries other than the ones listed below are not eligible:
21
Belgium BE 232 Malta MT 205
Bulgaria BG 227 Netherlands NL 263 Czech Republic 230 Austria AT 225 Denmark DK 270 Poland PL 217 Germany DE 208 Portugal PT 204 Estonia EE 181 Romania RO 222 Greece EL 222 Slovenia SI 180 Spain ES 212 Slovak Republic SK 205 France FR 245 Finland FI 244 Ireland IE 254 Sweden SE 257 Italy IT 230 United Kingdom UK 276 Cyprus CY 238 Iceland IS 261 Latvia LV 211 Norway NO 260 Lithuania LT 183 Croatia HR 180 Luxembourg LU 237 Turkey TR 142 Hungary HU 222 Switzerland CH 301 FYROM MK 171 Armenia 138 Moldova 173 Azerbaijan 311 Ukraine 316 Georgia 209 Tunisia 156
Reimbursements of travel and subsistence costs incurred by teachers, experts, school authorities, etc. participating in conferences, seminars or workshops (organised by the NSS itself, by another NSS/PSA or by the CSS) have to be included in I.C. The same ceilings apply.
I.C - Information and communication costs
This budgetary line includes, among others:
- Costs in connection with promotional activities, prizes, awards;
- Costs for the national eTwinning website;
- Design, production and dissemination of publications also in electronic format (leaflets, booklets, posters, CD, DVD, etc.);
- Translations (for the portal, publications, newsletter, guideline, brochure, etc.);
- Advertising in relevant general or specialised media;
- Travel and subsistence costs for the participation of teachers, headmasters, inspectors, experts, school authorities to national and international eTwinning activities;
22
- Documentation, including the purchase of publications or subscriptions to information services.
II. - Operating costs
This includes all costs that cannot be adequately inserted under the first three categories, for instance:
- Costs in connection with information systems and data processing, including hardware, software and maintenance of both hardware and software;
- Costs in connection with rental of office space, cleaning, security;
- Equipment, telephone, office supplies, general mailing;
- Costs - if any - generated by the agreement itself: separate bank account, fee for
external auditors;
- Costs related to staff training.
Please note that the purchase of durable goods (hardware, office equipment etc.) is subject to the depreciation rule: in claiming the costs for such goods in the final report, you should apply your national rule on depreciation.
Non-deductible VAT is eligible, unless it is related to activities of the national public authorities.
Only invoices dated in 2014 are eligible, even if they refer to an activity taking place earlier or later (for instance to allow buying cheaper flight tickets through an early reservation).
Ineligible costs
The following costs shall not be considered eligible:
- return on capital;
- debt and debt service charges;
- provisions for losses or potential future liabilities;
- interest owed;
- doubtful debts;
- exchange losses;
- costs declared by the beneficiary and covered by another activity plan receiving a European Union grant;
- excessive or reckless expenditure;
- contributions in kind.
Calculation of the final grant amount - Documents to be submitted for budget-based financing
The Executive Agency will establish the final amount of the grant on the basis of the following documents:
23
- a final report providing details of the implementation and results of the activity plan;
- the final financial statement of costs actually incurred;
a) In cases of action grants below or equal to EUR 60 000 the beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a sample of supporting documents composed of:
- The three highest staff member costs for the whole eligibility period; - The three highest value subcontracts; - 25% of the costs declared under travel and subsistence.
b) In case of action grants of more than EUR 60 000, but less than EUR 100 000 the
beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a “Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report - Type I” produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer.
The procedure and the format to be followed by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, are detailed in the following “Guidance Notes”:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/documents/guidance_notes_audit_type_i_08.2012_en.pdf
The use of the report format set by the “Guidance Notes” is compulsory.
c) In cases of action grants of EUR 100 000 or more the beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a “Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report - Type II” produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer. The certificate shall certify, in accordance with a methodology approved by the Agency, that the costs declared by the beneficiary in the financial statements on which the request for payment is based are real, accurately recorded and eligible in accordance with the grant agreement.
The procedure and the format to be followed by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, are detailed in the following “Guidance Notes”:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/documents/guidance_notes_audit_type_ii_01.08.2012_en.pdf
The use of the report format set by the “Guidance Notes” is compulsory.
The calculation of the final grant amount by the Agency is based on a detailed final financial statement of the beneficiary, accompanied by supporting documentation for the incurred expenditure. If the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary are lower than anticipated, the Agency will apply the rate of co-financing stated in the grant agreement to the expenditure actually incurred. The Agency also reserves the right to reduce the amount of the grant if the organisation has not fully implemented the agreed activity plan.
Where applicable, the beneficiary will be required to reimburse any excess amounts paid by the Agency in the form of pre-financing.
24
11. SUB-CONTRACTING AND AWARD OF PROCUREMENT CONTRACT
Where implementation of the project requires sub-contracting or the awarding of a procurement contract, the beneficiary must obtain competitive tenders from potential contractors and award the contract to the bid offering best value for money, observing the principles of transparency and equal treatment of potential contractors and taking care to avoid conflicts of interests.
Subcontracting is intended for specific, time-bound, project-related tasks which cannot be performed by the institution designated as eTwinning NSS. In all cases, tasks to be subcontracted have to be identified in the proposal and the estimated amount entered in the budget. If this is not the case, prior written authorisation from the Agency must be obtained.
Contracts referred to in paragraph 1 may be awarded on the following basis: (a) they may only cover the execution of a limited part of the activity plan: the total costs
for subcontracting may not be more than 35 % of the total costs of the activity plan; (b) recourse to the award of contracts must be justified having regard to the nature of the
tasks covered by the activity plan and what is necessary for its implementation; (c) the tasks concerned and the corresponding estimated costs must be set out in detail in
the application budget table (worksheet "Subcontracting"); (d) the beneficiary shall retain sole responsibility for implementing the activity plan; (e) the beneficiary must undertake to ensure that the conditions applicable to him
concerning conflict of interests, ownership/use of the results, confidentiality, publicity, evaluation, suspension, assignment, checks and audits are also applicable to the contractor;
(f) the following specific rules with regard to procurement apply:
- contracts with a value below € 12 500 can be paid on a presentation of an invoice;
- contracts with a value between € 12 500 and € 25 000 are subject to a procedure involving at least three tenderers;
- contracts between € 25 000 and € 60 000 are subject to a procedure involving at least five tenderers.
25
12. PUBLICITY All grants awarded in the course of a financial year must be published on the Internet site of the European Union institutions during the first half of the year following the closure of the budget year in respect of which they were awarded. The information may also be published using any other appropriate medium, including the Official Journal of the European Union.
The beneficiary authorises the Agency to publish the following information in any form and medium, including via the Internet:
- the beneficiary's name and the address,
- the subject of the grant,
- the amount awarded and rate of funding.
Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, the Agency may agree to forgo such publicity, if disclosure of the information indicated above would threaten the safety of the beneficiaries or harm their business interests.
Beneficiaries must clearly acknowledge the European Union’s contribution in all publications or in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used.
Furthermore, beneficiaries are required to give prominence to the name and logo of the European Commission on all their publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-financed project. To do this they must use the format and the logo of the relevant programme, which will be provided by the Agency.
If this requirement is not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced.
13. DATA PROTECTION
All personal data (such as names, addresses, CVs, etc.) will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the European Union institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data.
Unless marked as optional, the applicant's replies to the questions in the application form are necessary to evaluate and further process the grant application in accordance with the specifications of the call for proposals. Personal data will be processed solely for that purpose by the department or Unit responsible for the Union grant programme concerned (entity acting as data controller). Personal data may be transferred on a need to know basis to third parties involved in the evaluation of applications or in the grant management procedure, without prejudice of transfer to the bodies in charge of monitoring and inspection tasks in accordance with European Union law. The applicant has the right of access to, and to rectify, the data concerning him or her. For any question relating to these data, please contact the Controller. Applicants have the right of recourse
26
to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time. A detailed Privacy statement, including contact information, is available on EACEA's website:
http://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about/documents/calls_gen_conditions/eacea_grants_privacy_statement.pdf
Applicants and, if they are legal entities, persons who have powers of representation, decision-making or control over them, are informed that, should they be in one of the situations mentioned in:
- the Commission Decision of 16.12.2008 on the Early Warning System (EWS) for the use of authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies (OJ, L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 125), or
- the Commission Regulation of 17.12.2008 on the Central Exclusion Database – CED (OJ L 344, 20.12.2008, p. 12),
their personal details (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the EWS only or both in the EWS and CED, and communicated to the persons and entities listed in the above-mentioned Decision and Regulation, in relation to the award or the execution of a procurement contract or a grant agreement or decision.
14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS 14.1. Invitation
The Invitation to submit an Activity plan is sent to the NSS by the European Commission, DG EAC and is available on the website (http://ec.europa.eu/education/calls/index_en.htm).
14.2. Application form Grant applications must be drawn up in one of the official EU languages, using the eForm specifically designed for this purpose and available at:
https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/PPMT/ The eForms will be available as from 16 December 2013. In order to access the eForms no login or password are required. An IT helpdesk for technical matters is available if you encounter problems in accessing and dealing with the eForms and their annexes. You can contact the helpdesk by email at: [email protected]
Before accessing the eForm to submit the application, NSS will have to register their organisation in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal9 and receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The PIC will be requested in the eForm.
9 The Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If your organisation already has a PIC that has been used for other programmes (for example the Research programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present application.
27
The Participant Portal is the tool through which all legal and financial information related to organisations will be managed and allows applicants to upload different documents related to their organisation. These documents have to be uploaded once and will not be requested again for subsequent applications by the same organisation.
Information on how to register can be found in the portal under the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal
Each eTwinning NSS must complete the grant request consisting of:
1) eForm containing the details of the beneficiary institution, coordinator, legal representative
2) a detailed activity plan filled in the Word document provided in annex to the present document and constituting the first annex to the eForm
3) declarations of honour and the bank account form, duly completed and signed by the Legal representative. This constitutes the second annex to the eForm. The bank account form can be found at: http://ec.europa.eu./budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/financial_id/financial_id_en.cfm#en using the format provided in annex to the present document and constituting the second annex to the eForm
4) budget tables provided in annex to the present document, including an estimation of subcontracted costs, constituting the third annex to the eForm
The activity plan must reflect the above framework of objectives, tasks and target groups, while at the same time taking into account national needs, policies and strategies, and outlining the concrete arrangements for its implementation.
14.3. Submission of the grant application Only applications submitted on the correct eForm, duly completed with the requested four annexes, showing a balanced budget (revenue/expenditure) and submitted electronically by Tuesday 07/03/2014 at 12h00 (CET) will be accepted.
No changes to the application can be made after the application has been submitted. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects and complement documentation, the Agency may contact the applicant for this purpose.
Applicants will be informed of the receipt of their proposal.
Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be taken into consideration for a grant. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the reasons will be sent to the applicant.
All unsuccessful applicants will be informed in writing.
28
14.4. Applicable rules Regulation (EU, EURATOM) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 1605/2002
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 1268/2012 of 29 October 2012 on the rules of application of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union
Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing "Erasmus+": the Union Programme for education, training, youth and sport
14.5. Contacts If you have any questions, please contact:
Carla GIULIETTI: [email protected] phone: +32-2-296.85.74
or:
15. ANNEXES:
1 - General Conditions to a Grant Decision
2 - Template to be used for the Activity plan (Word document) and to be annexed to the eForm
3 - Template for the declarations of honour and bank account form to be signed by the Legal representative (Word document) and to be annexed to the eForm
4 - Budget table (Excel file) to be annexed to the eForm