gndr.orggndr.org/.../newsite/pdfs/27_04_2015_16h_en_final_g… · web viewthis is particularly...

Contracting Authority: European Commission

Civil Society and Local Authorities

Strengthening Regional, European and Global CSO Umbrella Organisations

Guidelines for applicants

Budget line number: 21.02.08.03

Reference: EuropeAid/150-053/C/ACT/Multi

Deadline for submission of Framework Partnership Application Forms:

12/06/2015 at 16:00 (Brussels date and time)

2014Guidelines Call for Proposals EuropeAid/150-053/C/ACT/Multi.docx

NOTICE This call for proposals is published in English, French and Spanish. In case of any discrepancy between the language versions of this call, the English version will prevail.

This is a Call for Proposals to establish Framework Partnerships, understood as a long-term cooperation mechanism through Framework Partnership Agreements and grants to co-finance their implementation. The establishment of a Framework Partnership Agreement does not guarantee the allocation of a grant.

The present Call for Proposals is composed of two stages. In the first stage, only Framework Partnership application forms and strategic plans must be submitted for evaluation. An eligibility check will be performed for each FPA application. Eligibility will be checked on the basis of the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority and the signed ‘Declaration by the Applicant’ sent together with the application. Only Framework Partnership Applications from Applicants having passed the eligibility check will be evaluated. Thereafter, applicants who have been selected will sign a Framework Partnership Agreement and be invited to submit a Grant Application Form. The successful grant applications will then result in the signature of Specific Grant Agreements. At a later stage, additional grants may be awarded, particularly at global or regional levels, for which eligibility would be restricted to organisations having signed an FPA with the EU under the present call. Award procedures for these subsequent grants would be defined later in the course of the FPA implementation.

SUSPENSIVE CLAUSEThe conclusion of some of the Specific Grant Agreements for actions to be selected under this Call for Proposals is subject to the adoption of the relevant financing decision, i.e. the adoption of the 2015-2017 Multi-Annual Action Programme. For more information, please see section 1.3 of the Guidelines.

IMPORTANTOnline submission via PROSPECT : to apply to this call, organisations must use the new electronic system (PROSPECT) developed by EuropeAid to facilitate the submission of applications (see Section 2.2.1.2 of the Guidelines). The aim of PROSPECT is to increase the efficiency of the management of the Call for Proposals and to offer a better service to civil society organisations through a new panel of functionalities such as the on-line submission and the possibility to follow up online the status of their application.

All organisations can find the PROSPECT users' manual on the publication website. (Annex P). An additional manual, specific to this call for proposals is in annex Q. You may also contact our technical support team: [email protected]

Applicants are strongly advised to fill in scrupulously the "Check List for Framework Partnership Application Form" (Annex A, Part A, section 7), the "Checklist for the Grant Application Form" (Annex A, Part B, section 7) and the first two pages of the application form where most of the prerequisites are required/listed, as well as to upload all required documents in PADOR. Any missing supporting document or any incoherence between the declarations and the supporting documents may lead to the rejection of the Application on that sole basis.

A functional mailbox specifically dedicated to this call has been set up: [email protected]. It shall be used exclusively for the purpose explained in paragraph 2.2 of these guidelines i.e., clarification requests within the set deadline. No other functional mailbox will be used. The Contracting Authority reserves the right to close this mail box without prior notice once this call for proposals is closed and not to reply to requests which do not fall under one of the afore-mentioned

of 42Guidelines Call for Proposals EuropeAid/150-053/C/ACT/Multi.docx

mailto:[email protected]



categories. In particular, neither information regarding the indicative time table nor the content of the decision will be given through this mailbox. In that respect, applicants are requested to follow instruction given in section 2.2 of these guidelines.


TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. CIVIL SOCIETY AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES THEMATIC PROGRAMME 51.1. Background............................................................................................................................................51.2. Objectives and priorities of the call for proposals.................................................................................7

2. RULES FOR THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS 122.1. Eligibility criteria.................................................................................................................................12

2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants (i.e. applicant and co-applicant(s)) 12

2.1.1.1 Applicant..........................................................................................................................................122.1.1.2 Co-applicant(s).................................................................................................................................14

2.1.2 Affiliated entities 16

2.1.3 Associates and Contractors 18

2.1.4 Duration and areas of coverage of the Framework Partnership Agreement 18

2.1.5. Eligible actions: criteria applying to the Action Grant 19

2.1.5.1 Eligible actions: actions for which a grant application may be made..............................................192.1.5.2 Eligibility of costs: costs that can be included.................................................................................22

2.2. How to apply and the procedures to follow.........................................................................................242.2.1 Framework Partnership Application 24

2.2.1.1 Strategic Plan content.......................................................................................................................252.2.1.2 Where and how to send Framework Partnership Applications........................................................252.2.1.3 Deadline for submission of Framework Partnership Applications...................................................262.2.1.4 Further information about Framework Partnership Applications....................................................26

2.2.2 Action Grant Application 26

2.2.2.1 Action Grant content.............................................................................................................................272.2.2.2 Where and how to send Grant Application forms....................................................................................272.2.2.3 Deadline for submission of Grant Application forms..............................................................................282.2.2.4 Further information about Grant Application forms................................................................................28

2.3. Evaluation and selection of framework partnership applications........................................................28STEP 1: ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK.....................................................................................................28

STEP 2: VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF THE APPLICANTS...................................................29

STEP 3: FRAMEWORK PARTNERSHIP APPLICATION EVALUATION..........................................30

STEP 4: notification of the contracting authority’s decision......................................................................32

STEP 5: Award of FPA..............................................................................................................................33

STEP 6: Signature of Framework Partnership Agreement and info session 33

2.4. Evaluation and selection of grant applications....................................................................................34STEP 1: administrative check 34

STEP 2: verification of eligibility of the affiliated entity(ies), any new co-applicant and the eligibility of the Action 34

STEP 3: evaluation of the grant application 35

2014 of 42Guidelines Call for Proposals EuropeAid/150-053/C/ACT/Multi.docx document.docx

STEP 4: notification of the contracting authority’s decision......................................................................37

STEP 5: Award of a Specific Grant Agreement.........................................................................................37

2.5. Early warning system and central exclusion database.........................................................................393. LIST OF ANNEXES 40


1. CIVIL SOCIETY AND LOCAL AUTHORITIES THEMATIC PROGRAMME

1.1. BACKGROUND

The European Union is deeply committed to support Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) active in development, in their broad variety of expressions and forms. By articulating citizens' concerns, CSOs are active in the public arena, engaging in initiatives to further development and democracy. The EU engages with accountable and transparent CSOs which share its commitment to social progress and to the fundamental values of peace, freedom, equal rights and human dignity.

The EU considers CSOs to include all non-State, not-for-profit structures, non-partisan and non-violent, through which people organise themselves to pursue shared objectives and ideals, whether political, cultural, social or economic. The EU values CSOs' diversity and specificities. Although recognising that definitions vary over time and across institutions and countries, the EU opts for a broad one, as to include non-governmental organisations, the so-called social partners (trade unions and employers' organisations), cooperatives, professional and business associations, the not-for-profit media, foundations, research institutions, faith-based organisations, among others1. Indeed, the EU is committed to support CSOs at all levels, being it local, national, regional or global. This is at the core of the 2012 Communication "The Roots of Democracy and sustainable development: Europe's Engagement with Civil Society in External Relations", and subsequent Council Conclusions2. At the heart of this policy is the reinforcement of Partner Countries’ domestic CSOs, particularly grass-root community-based organisations. Along this, the policy also recognises the emergence and importance of transnational networks of CSOs advocating for and promoting multilateral norms and standards and engaging in global campaigns while providing fundamental inputs to policy formulation processes.

CSOs are now in fact major players in global development.

This is particularly relevant in the post-2015 process aimed at shaping an inclusive development framework to complete the unreached MDGs and define a series of sustainable development objectives. 2015 is indeed a determinant year to consolidate the international efforts toward the identification of post-2015 goals, targets and indicators, and to decide how this international agenda can be implemented. In this process, the international community at large has a great opportunity to address some of the key global issues facing the world today, and namely the interrelated challenges of eradicating poverty and achieving sustainable development in all its three dimensions (environmental, social and economic) by addressing the structural causes of poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation, in a truly transformative manner. Ownership and effective implementation by all governments and all relevant stakeholders of the post-2015 framework will be essential for its success.

The EU has expressed its support3 for the adoption of a multi-actor approach to the future implementation of the post-2015 agenda, in consideration of actors’ respective capabilities. This is valid also in its review, monitoring and accountability, which should be based on meaningful participation, transparency and mutual accountability, among others, as to involve all partners and stakeholders including civil society.

To fulfil these ambitious objectives and enable the implementation of the post-2015 agenda, one challenge is to ensure stakeholders have the capacity to play their full part in a coherent and coordinated manner. The

1 For a comprehensive definition , please refer to the Regulation (Eu) No 233/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 March 2014 establishing a financing instrument for development cooperation for the period 2014-2020, Annex II.B, available at: http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0233&from=EN2 COM (2012) 492 final, http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0492:FIN:EN:PDF ; Council Conclusions (2012) www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/132870.pdf 3 Council conclusions on a transformative post-2015 agenda, CC 16 December 2014 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/search/?q=Council+conclusions+on+a+transformative+post-2015+agenda


http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/search/?q=Council+conclusions+on+a+transformative+post-2015+agenda

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=COM:2012:0492:FIN:EN:PDF

http://www.consilium.europa.eu/uedocs/cms_data/docs/pressdata/EN/foraff/132870.pdf

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:32014R0233&from=EN

European Commission pays particular attention to the necessity to reinforce capacities of concerned actors. When it comes to CSOs, this is deemed essential.

In the last decade, several evaluations and studies4, including the final evaluation of the predecessor Thematic Programme “Non State Actors (NSAs) - Local Authorities (LAs) in Development” (2007-2013)5 have pointed out a structural weakness of support models to CSOs, also when active at regional and global levels, residing in the lack of strategic relationship and a fragmented financing, particularly to support the implementation of ad-hoc thematic actions. CSOs themselves voiced this concern throughout EU consultations within the two-year worldwide consultation “Structured Dialogue on the involvement of Civil society and Local authorities in EC development cooperation”6. Its final statement and concluding paper, constituting a firm multi-stakeholders commitment to cooperate for an efficient partnership in development, recommended the EU to work towards empowering CSOs, and particularly their platforms and representative organisations active at national, regional and global levels, to participate effectively in dialogues and in all phases of policy-making.

Against this background, since 2011 the European Commission has gradually re-oriented its strategies and programmes, paying particular attention to the strategic strengthening of existing representative NSAs and LAs networks at regional and global level. The evaluation has indeed praised this approach, which has successfully contributed to the regional and continental structuring of these actors, while enhancing their capacity to engage on international issues both with the Union and other development partners.

In line with this, the European Commission holds on its commitment to support CSO regional and global actors per sé in an innovative way, recognising their intrinsic value and potential, also deriving from strong articulations at the local level which allow to connect the national to regional to global levels and vice versa, through the structural reinforcement of representative actor-based umbrella organisations involved in development, active at the regional and global level. The focus thus is on structural reinforcement of actors to enhance their voice and representativity to dialogue with EU institutions and beyond on development policies, particularly in the context of the future implementation of the post-2015 framework.

The focus of this call for proposals will be on the reinforcement of capacities of representative actor-based umbrella organisations, recognising that apex organisations face inherent organisational complexity. This call will complement other Thematic support schemes which are – or will be – developed under the Thematic Programme Global Public Goods and Challenges and the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights, among others.

This call for proposals is financed under priority 2 of the new Thematic programme "Civil Society Organisations and Local Authorities" Multi-annual Indicative Programme (MIP) 2014-2020, dedicated to strengthening regional, EU and global CSOs umbrella organisations.

The MIP is then further operationalized in the Annual Action Programmes (AAP). The AAP for the budgetary year 2014 foresees, as the main objective under Priority 2, the “strengthening of representative, membership-based and actor-based regional, EU and global non-thematic Civil Society umbrella organisations, in order to maximize the effectiveness of their work as development actors in their own right

4 See: European Court of Auditors (2009), Special report no. 4 'The Commission's management of Non State Actors' Involvement in EC development cooperation http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/8038812.PDF.Particip (2008), “Evaluation of EC Aid Delivery through CSOs” http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/how/evaluation/evaluation_reports/2008/1259_docs_en.htm, Floridi, M. and Sanz- Corella, B. (2009) “Capitalisation Study on Capacity Building Support Programmes for NSAs under the 9th EDF” ' http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/documents/final_rep_capit_study_en.pdf ; David McCormick, Yves Rambaud, Paola Minoia (2009) 5 The final evaluation of the Programme “Non State Actors and Local Authorities 2007-2013” (Report Volume I, II and the “Fiche Contradictoire”) available at: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/aidco/index.php/Policy_forum_on_development 6 The 'Structured Dialogue' (March 2010-May 2011) was a multi-actor process for consultation, reflection and stocktaking gathering representatives of CSOs, LAs from Europe and other regions of the world, the European Commission, Member States, the European Parliament and EU Delegations. More information on: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/aidco/index.php/Structured_dialogue


https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/aidco/index.php/Structured_dialogue

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/mwikis/aidco/index.php/Policy_forum_on_development

http://eca.europa.eu/portal/pls/portal/docs/1/8038812.PDF.Particip

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/what/civil-society/documents/final_rep_capit_study_en.pdf

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/how/evaluation/evaluation_reports/2008/1259_docs_en.htm

and contributors to policy-making, on development related topics at global and regional levels (including the EU)”. The AAP 2014 has been adopted on the 28 October 2014 and is available at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/decision-aap-cso-la-2014_en.pdf

The AAP for 2015 follows in full continuity the objectives of the MIP and the AAP 2014 and the funds earmarked in the AAP 2015 in support of Priority 2 “strengthening of representative, membership-based and actor-based regional, EU and global non-thematic Civil Society umbrella organisations" will be pooled with the AAP 2014 funds for Priority 2, subject to the adoption of the decision of the AAP 2015.

Therefore, since this call for proposal is finance under both Annual Action Programmes 2014 and 2015, the use of a suspensive clause allows for launching the call ahead of the adoption of the financing decision for the budget 2015.

1.2. OBJECTIVES AND PRIORITIES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALSIn line with the key messages of the Communication on Civil Society, the present call for proposals will allow for the selection of actor-based umbrella organisations with which the EU will establish Framework Partnership Agreements (FPAs) defined as “long term cooperation mechanisms between the Commission and the potential beneficiaries of grants”7.

This approach will allow the EU to develop strategic partnerships with representative regional and global actor-based CSOs umbrella organisations active in development cooperation at the global and/or regional and/or national levels.

The overall objective of this Call for Proposals is to strengthen representative, membership-based and actor-based regional, EU and global non-thematic Civil Society umbrella organisations, in order to maximize the effectiveness of their work as development actors in their own rights and as contributors to policy-making, on development related topics at global and regional levels (including the EU).

For the purpose of this call for proposals, actor-based umbrella organisations are understood as associations/federations of regional and/or national networks/platforms of CSOs, which aggregate and work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources.

These umbrella organisations gather civil society organisations belonging to the same family of actors, such as, inter alia, non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, trade unions, employers’ organisations, foundations, etc. These umbrella organisations are considered non-thematic if they focus on general development issues such as, inter alia, development effectiveness, capacity building of development actors, promotion of enabling environment for CSOs. Non-thematic umbrella organisations can be understood as opposed to organisations that focus on specific thematic fields such as, inter alia, climate change, education, health, migration. Thematic networks remain eligible under other budget lines.

In the context of lot 5, umbrella organisations of CSOs others than NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives and employers’ organisations, may have as members not only regional and/or national networks/platforms of CSOs, but also individual CSOs. For instance, an umbrella organisation of foundations can have as members foundations as such and not necessarily networks/platforms of foundations.

For the purpose of the present call for proposals, networks composed of branches of the same organisation, albeit located in different countries, are not eligible.

The specific objectives of this Call for Proposals are:

1. To strengthen the institutional and operational capacities of CSO umbrella organisations for coordinated actions at global, regional and/or national levels;

7 According to Article 178 of RAP of 42

Guidelines Call for Proposals EuropeAid/150-053/C/ACT/Multi.docx

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/decision-aap-cso-la-2014_en.pdf

The expected results related to specific objective 1 are, inter alia:

Enhanced institutional capacities of CSO umbrella organisations (i.e. improved governance structures, improved planning and budgeting methods);

Enhanced operational capacities of CSO umbrella organisations (enhanced capacity of CSO umbrella organisations to influence decisions of international organisations8 (both with regional and global scope) and other relevant stakeholders (i.e. governmental authorities, private sector); improved capacity of CSO umbrella organisations to contribute to the monitoring of policies and agreements implementation).

2. To reinforce the capacities of CSO umbrella organisations for coordinated actions at global, regional and/or national levels to effectively represent their constituencies and to promote the role and responsibilities of their members.

The results related to specific objective 2 are, inter alia:

Enhanced representational capacities of members of the regional and global CSO umbrella organisations, including their members at the national level (capacities of CSO umbrella organisations to represent their constituencies, by effectively gathering their views and expressing them in regional and global debates and by reporting the conclusions/outcomes of these debates back to their constituencies will be improved).

Improved communication flows,

Improved advocacy

Applications under this call for proposals must address both of the above-mentioned specific objectives, in order for an application to be considered.

In addition, all actions must respect principles of non-discrimination, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, gender equality and women’s empowerment.

The purpose of this call for proposals is both to select umbrella organisations with which the EU will establish a Framework Partnership and to award grants to co-finance related actions. It is structured in two phases:

1. A first phase to select strategic partners, whose partnership with the EU will be formalised through a Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA). This FPA will be based on the common political objectives shared by the EU and the applicant strategic plan as detailed in this call for proposals, and will define the respective roles and responsibilities of the Commission and its strategic partner in implementing the partnership.

The evaluation will be based on the criteria specified in section 2.3. “Evaluation And Selection Of Framework Partnership Applications” and included in the evaluation grid, among which the membership, representativeness, competences, experience, expertise and capacity of the umbrella organisation as well as the relevance, coherence, quality, effectiveness and potential impact of the strategic plan translating in operational terms the objectives of the organisation.

8 International organisations, as defined by the Art. 43 of the Implementing Rules of the EU Financial Regulation (http://ec.europa.eu/budget/library/biblio/documents/regulations/syn_pub_rf_modex_en.pdf), are international public sector organisations set up by intergovernmental agreements, and specialised agencies set up by such organisations. These organisations may have worldwide (e.g. the United Nations, the World Trade Organisation) or regional/sub-regional scope (e.g. the African Union, the European Union, MERCOSUR, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN, the Southern African Development Community SADC, the West African Economic and Monetary Union UEMOA).


http://ec.europa.eu/budget/library/biblio/documents/regulations/syn_pub_rf_modex_en.pdf

The successful applicants of the first phase of this call for proposals will establish a Framework Partnership Agreement with the EU.

The beneficiaries of FPAs will be invited to submit grant applications (i.e. Grant Application Forms) that will be evaluated in the second stage of the present call.

Signature of an FPA does not guarantee that the beneficiary will be awarded a grant.

The financial allocations, as well as the size of grants, relate exclusively to the second phase of the selection process: the action grants.

2. A second phase to select, among the awarded partners of the first phase, those who will be awarded an action grant related to their FPA. Specific Grant Agreements will define the operational terms of the strategic partnership, instrumental to reaching political priorities and objectives which are shared between the EU and its partners. Signature of an FPA does not guarantee that the beneficiary will then be awarded a grant.

The Selection criteria for this second phase are explained in section 2.4. “Evaluation and selection of grant applications”.

In the event that only one application is selected for an FPA in a given lot during the first phase, the EU reserves the right to enter into a negotiated procedure for a direct award of a grant to the Applicant. This eventuality would not affect other lots.

It has to be underlined that the scope of Framework Partnership Agreements which will be established with the organisations goes beyond the frame of the present call for proposals. In fact, at a later stage, additional grants beyond this call for proposal may potentially be awarded to the same umbrella organisations having signed an FPA with the EU under the present call. They might be funded by the CSOs-LAs Thematic Programme (particularly under Priority 2), or other thematic or geographic programmes, or by European Commission programmes managed by Directorate Generals other than Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development, in case those programmes support similar objectives as those identified under the strategic partnership and described in the FPAs. Award procedure for these subsequent additional grants will be defined during the course of FPA implementation.

Lots under this call for proposals:

The call for proposals is divided into different lots per types of civil society actors. Framework partnership applications must target only one of the following lots:

LOT 1: proposals of global umbrella organisations of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

LOT 2: proposals of global umbrella organisations of trade unions, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

LOT 3: proposals of global umbrella organisations of cooperatives, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

LOT 4: proposals of global umbrella organisations of employers' organisations, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

LOT 5:

(i) proposals of global umbrella organisations of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women’s organisations, etc.);

(ii) proposals of regional umbrella organisations (including the EU as a region) of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not-for-profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women organisations, etc.); or


(iii) proposals of regional umbrella organisations (including the EU as a region ) of NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives, employers' organisations which are not members of global umbrella organisations applying under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

FINANCIAL ALLOCATION PROVIDED BY THE CONTRACTING AUTHORITYThe successful applicants of the first stage of this call for proposals will establish a Framework Partnership with the EU through an FPA.

The beneficiaries of FPAs will be invited to submit grant applications (i.e. Grant Application Forms) that will be evaluated in the second stage of the present call. Signature of an FPA does not guarantee that the beneficiary will be awarded a grant.

The financial allocations, as well as the size of grants, relate exclusively to the second phase of the selection process: the action grants.

The overall indicative amount made available for action grants under this Call for Proposals is EUR 53 900 000 (out of which EUR 19 800 000 from 2014 budget and EUR 34 100 000 from 2015 budget).

The conclusion of contracts on 2015 funds is subject to the adoption of the relevant financing decision, i.e. the adoption of the Multi-annual Action Programme 2015 – 2017.

The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds. Equally, this amount could be increased should more funds become available.

Indicative allocation of funds by lot

LOT 1: EUR 8 000 000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

LOT 2: EUR 8 000 000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of trade unions;

LOT 3: EUR 8 000 000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of cooperatives;

LOT 4: EUR 8 000 000 for proposals of global umbrella organisations of employers' organisations;

LOT 5: EUR 21 900 000 for:

(i) proposals of global umbrella organisations of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not-for-profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women organisations, etc.);

(ii) proposals of regional umbrella organisations (including the EU as a region) of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women’s organisations, etc.); or

(iii) proposals of regional umbrella organisations (including the EU as a region) of NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives, employers' organisations which are not members of global umbrella organisations applying under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

If the allocation indicated for a specific lot cannot be used due to insufficient quality or number of proposals received, the Contracting Authority reserves the right to reallocate the remaining funds to another lot.

Size of grants

Any grant requested for actions under the second stage of this Call for Proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:


For all lots:

minimum amount: EUR 2 000 000

maximum amount: EUR 8 000 000

Any grant requested under this Call for Proposals must be limited to the following maximum percentage of total eligible costs of the action: 80 % of the total eligible costs of the action. For actions financed under lot 5 and undertaken by non EU regional umbrella organisations9, the grant may cover up to 90% of the total eligible costs of the action.

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund10.

9 A non-EU regional umbrella organisation is a regional umbrella organisation, the members of which are all established in countries other than EU Member States.

10 Where a grant is financed by the European Development Fund, any mention of European Union financing must be understood as referring to European Development Fund financing.


2. RULES FOR THIS CALL FOR PROPOSALS

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of the Framework Partnership Agreements and Specific Grant Agreements awarded under this Call, in conformity with the Practical Guide, which is applicable to the present call (available on the Internet at this address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/index_en.htm).

2.1. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIAThere are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

(1) the actors:

The applicant, i.e. the entity submitting the application form (Framework Partnership and Grant applications) (2.1.1.1),

if any, its co-applicant(s) (where it is not specified otherwise the applicant and its co-applicant(s) are hereinafter jointly referred to as the "applicants") (2.1.1.1),

and, if any, affiliated entity(ies) to the applicant. (2.1.1.2 and 2.2.1.2);

(2) the Strategic Plan and the related actions:

Areas of intervention of the Strategic Plan;

Actions for which an action grant may be awarded (2.1.5);

(3) the costs:

types of cost that may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.5).

2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants (i.e. applicant and co-applicant(s))

2.1.1.1 Applicant

(1) In order to be eligible for a Framework Partnership, the applicant must:

be a legal person and

be non-profit-making and


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/index_en.htm

be a representative, actor-based, non-thematic, membership-based global or regional umbrella organisation of CSOs11 12 and

For lot 1: be a global umbrella organisation of non-governmental organisations (NGOs), having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

For lot 2: be a global umbrella organisation of trade unions, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

For lot 3: be a global umbrella organisation of cooperatives, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

For lot 4: be a global umbrella organisation of employers' organisations, having as members regional and/or national umbrella organisations on different continents;

For lot 5:

(i) be a global umbrella organisation of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women’s organisations, etc.);

(ii) be a regional umbrella organisation (including the EU as a region) of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, youth organisations, women’s organisations, etc.); or

(iii) be a regional umbrella organisation (including the EU as a region) of NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives, employers' organisations which are not members of global umbrella organisations applying under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

and

be established in13:

I. EU partner countries, as follows:

(i) developing countries that are included in the list of recipients of ODA established by the OECD/DAC, including countries and territories falling within the scope of Council Decision 2013/755/EU on the association of the overseas countries and territories with the European Union (‘Overseas Association Decision’), and excluding:

11 For the purpose of this call for proposals, actor-based umbrella organisations are understood as associations/federations of regional and/or national networks/platforms of CSOs, which aggregate and work together formally to coordinate activities and/or pool resources. These umbrella organisations gather civil society organisations belonging to the same family of actors, such as, inter alia, non-governmental organisations, cooperatives, trade unions, employers’ organisations, foundations, etc. These umbrella organisations are considered non-thematic if they focus on general development issues such as, inter alia, development effectiveness, capacity building of development actors, promotion of enabling environment for CSOs. Non-thematic umbrella organisations can be understood as opposed to organisations that focus on specific thematic fields such as, inter alia, climate change, education, health, migration.

12 For the purpose of this call, networks composed of branches of the same organisation, albeit located in different countries, are not eligible

13 To be determined on the basis of the organisation’s statutes, which should demonstrate that it has been established by an instrument governed by the national law of the country concerned and that its head office is located in an eligible country. In this respect, any legal entity whose statutes have been established in another country cannot be considered an eligible local organisation, even if the statutes are registered locally or a ‘Memorandum of Understanding’ has been concluded.


beneficiaries listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 231/2014 establishing an Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II)14,

(ii) countries that are signatories to the Partnership Agreement between the members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific Group of States of the one part, and the European Community and its Member States, of the other part, signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000, including South Africa;

(iii) countries eligible for the European Development Fund;

(iv) countries eligible for Union funding under the European Neighbourhood Instrument established by Regulation (EU) No 232/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council (the ‘European Neighbourhood Instrument’) including the Russian Federation

II. a Member State of the European Union and contracting parties to the Agreement on the European Economic Area

and

be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the Strategic Plan and of any grant that might be financed under the Framework Partnership Agreement with the co-applicant(s) and members/affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

(2) The potential applicant may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded a Framework Partnership Agreement or any related grants if it is in any of the situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external actions15.

In section 8 of the Framework Partnership application form (‘Declaration by the applicant’), the applicant must declare that the applicant itself, the co-applicant(s) are not in any of these situations. The applicant may act individually or with co-applicant(s).

If awarded the Framework Partnership Agreement, the applicant will become the Beneficiary identified as the Partner in annex E3h1 (Special Conditions). The Partner is the main interlocutor of the Contracting Authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary (if any) and coordinate the design and implementation of the Strategic Plan and of any grant awarded under the Framework Partnership Agreement.

Nb: For the purpose of this call for proposals, an umbrella organisation without legal personality could be represented by one of its members, duly mandated, as the Applicant. In this case, the member would sign the FPA and subsequent possible specific grant agreements in its own name, and not in the name of the umbrella organisation.

2.1.1.2 Co-applicant(s)

The applicant may act with co-applicant(s), though this is not compulsory. Only organisations with a clearly defined and significant role in the strategic plan of the umbrella organisation may be included as co-applicants in the Framework Partnership Application. The number of co-applicants included in the FPA should be limited.

Co-applicant(s) participate in designing and implementing the Strategic Plan, and the costs they may incur in the implementation of any grant related to the Framework Partnership are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the applicant.

14 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo* (*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence), Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.

15 http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do?locale=en of 42


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do?locale=en

In defining the Action Grant Application, the Applicant selected for an FPA could propose that co-applicants not already involved in the Framework Partnership Agreement participate in the Action. The addition of co-applicants not involved in the FPA will only be accepted if these co-applicants have a strong link to the framework partner and if they are particularly relevant for the Action proposed. The evaluation committee will assess both of these conditions. If the Applicant is a member of the umbrella organisation, and not the umbrella organisation itself, other members of the organisation participating in the action will be identified as co-Applicants.

Co-applicant(s) must satisfy the following eligibility criteria:

be a legal person and

be non-profit-making and

be a Civil Society Organisation or an association of Civil Society Organisations

and









and

be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the Strategic Plan and/or of any grant that might be financed under the Framework Partnership Agreement with the Applicant and members/affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary.

Co-applicant(s) must sign the Mandate in section 5 of the Framework Partnership application form.


17 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo* (*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence), Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia.


If awarded the Framework Partnership Agreement, the co-applicant(s)(if any) will become co-partners in the Framework Partnership Agreement (together with the Partner).

2.1.2 Affiliated entities

The applicant shall attach a complete list of the members of the umbrella organisation it represents to its FPA form. There will be no affiliated entities for the purpose of the FPA.

For the purpose of the action grant, only some of those members will be considered as affiliated entities i.e. those involved in the implementation of the action and identified in the action description. The applicant may act with affiliated entity(ies) in implementing the action. In the Grant Application, the applicant must specify which ones of its members will be directly involved in the Action, and identify them as affiliated entities.

The eligibility of affiliated entities is restricted to CSOs established in countries described above under section 2.1.1, which are members of the applicant’s umbrella organisation. In the framework of this call for proposals, co-applicants cannot have affiliated entities.

NB: If the Applicant is a member of the umbrella organisation, and not the umbrella organisation itself, other members of the organisation participating in the action grant will be identified as co-Applicants instead of affiliated entities.

Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the applicant:

Only entities having a structural link with the applicants, in particular a legal or capital link.

This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:

(i) Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:

Entities affiliated to a beneficiary may hence be:- Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the beneficiary (daughter companies or first-tier

subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the beneficiary (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;

- Entities directly or indirectly controlling the beneficiary (parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the beneficiary;

- Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the beneficiary (sister companies).(ii) Membership, i.e. the beneficiary is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which

the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the beneficiary participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.

The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the Framework Partnership Agreement nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the Framework Partnership Agreement; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.

By way of exception, an entity may be considered as affiliated to a beneficiary even if it has a structural link specifically established for the sole purpose of the implementation of the Framework Partnership Agreement in the case of so-called “sole applicants” or “sole beneficiaries”. A sole applicant or a sole beneficiary is an


entity formed by several entities (a group of entities) which together comply with the criteria for being awarded the Framework Partnership Agreement. For example, an association is formed by its members.

What is not an affiliated entity?

The following are not considered entities affiliated to a beneficiary:

- Entities that have entered into a (procurement) contract or subcontract with a beneficiary, act as concessionaires or delegates for public services for a beneficiary,

- Entities that cooperate on a regular basis with the beneficiary on the basis of a memorandum of understanding or share some assets,

- Entities that have signed a consortium agreement under the Framework Partnership Agreement.

How to verify the existence of the required link with the beneficiary?

The affiliation resulting from control may in particular be proved on the basis of the consolidated accounts of the group of entities the beneficiary and its proposed affiliates belong to.

The affiliation resulting from membership may in particular be proved on the basis of the statutes or equivalent act establishing the entity (network, federation, association) which the beneficiary constitutes or in which the beneficiary participates.

If the applicants are awarded an action grant, their affiliated entity(ies) will not become Beneficiary(ies) of the Partnership and signatory(ies) of the Specific Grant Agreement. However, they will participate in the design and in the implementation of the Specific Grant Agreement and the costs they may incur in the implementation of the action (including those incurred for Implementation Contracts and Financial Support to third parties) may be accepted as eligible costs, provided they comply with all the relevant rules already applicable to the Beneficiary(ies) under the Specific Grant Agreement.

Affiliated entity(ies) must satisfy the following eligibility criteria

• be a legal person and,

• be non-profit-making and,






19 Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iceland, Kosovo* (*This designation is without prejudice to positions on status, and is in line with UNSCR 1244/1999 and the ICJ Opinion on the Kosovo declaration of independence), Montenegro, Serbia, Turkey, the






And,

be a member of the applicant’s umbrella organisation

2.1.3 Associates and Contractors

The following entities are not applicant(s) nor affiliated entity(ies) and do not have to sign the "mandate" or "affiliated entities' statement":

Associates

Other organisations may be involved in the action. Such associates play a real role in the action but may not receive funding from the grant, with the exception of per diem or travel costs. Associates do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in section 2.1.1. Associates must be mentioned in Part B section 6 — ‘Associates of the Applicant participating in the Action’ — of the Action Grant Application Form.

Contractors

The grant beneficiaries and their affiliated entities are permitted to award contracts. Associates or affiliated entity(ies) cannot be also contractors in the project. Contractors are subject to the procurement rules set out in Annex IV to the Specific Grant Agreement.

2.1.4 Duration and areas of coverage of the Framework Partnership Agreement

Duration

The duration of Framework Partnerships will be from the date of signature until 31/12/2020.

Coverage

Under lots 1, 2, 3, 4, the membership of the umbrella organisation applying for a Framework Partnership must cover at least 50 countries, on at least 4 continents.

Under lot 5, the membership of the umbrella organisation applying for a Framework Partnership must cover at least:

(i) 50 countries for proposals of global umbrella organisations of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, etc.);

Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. of 42


(ii) 5 countries for proposals of regional umbrella organisations of CSOs others than the types of actors targeted under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4 (ex: foundations, not for profit media, research institutions, etc.);

(iii) 5 countries for proposals of regional umbrella organisations of NGOs, trade unions, cooperatives, employers' organisations which are not members of global umbrella organisations applying under lots 1, 2, 3 and 4.

2.1.5. Eligible actions: criteria applying to the Action Grant

Not all co-applicants and/or members involved in the Framework Partnership Agreement need to be involved in the Grant proposal. Only co-applicants and members directly participating in the Action should be included in the Grant application. This has no impact on the composition of the Framework Partnership Agreement.

In defining the Grant Application, the Applicant selected for an FPA could propose that co-applicants not already involved in the Framework Partnership Agreement participate in the Action. The addition of co-applicants not involved in the FPA will only be accepted if these co-applicants have a strong link to the framework partner and if they are is particularly relevant for the Action proposed. The evaluation committee will assess both of these conditions.

2.1.5.1 Eligible actions: actions for which a grant application may be made

Definition:

An action is composed of a set of activities.

Duration

The planned duration of an action must be between 48 and 54 months.

Location

The Action must take place in eligible countries covered by the FPA, however, a minor part of the Action may take place in other countries where relevant for the implementation of the Action.

Eligible countries are defined as follows:



- beneficiaries listed in Annex I to Regulation (EU) No 231/2014 establishing an Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance (IPA II) ,






Types of activities

The activities covered by the action grant should be directly linked to the strategic plan foreseen in the FPA, and should be coherent with the objectives of this plan.

Activities should include elements of capacity development of members, and should in principle also include some measure of transfer of resources and responsibilities from the global to the regional and/or national levels or from the regional to the national levels for the implementation of relevant parts of the strategic plan.

Examples of activities which could be financed by the action grant may include, among others:

- organising capacity assessments of CSO umbrella organisations

- facilitation of experience and knowledge sharing among CSO umbrella organisations at multiple levels (between umbrella organisations from the EU and partner countries; among organisations from partner countries: South - South cooperation, within CSO umbrella organisations, among regional and/or national members, etc.) including possibly through the development of information and communication tools and materials - including social media related tools, exchanges of experience and dissemination of good practices, mentoring and/or coaching, peer-learning seminars, twinning between CSOs umbrella organisations, development and delivery of trainings

- research, policy advocacy and information work, capacity building and awareness raising (e.g. on the new Post 2015 framework and its potential impact for CSO umbrella organisations, and on regional integration processes), etc.

The following types of action are ineligible:

actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences and congresses;

actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;

actions which include proselytising activities

one-off conferences: conferences can only be funded if they form part of a wider range of activities to be implemented in the life-time of the action. For these purposes, preparatory activities for a conference and the publication of the proceedings of the conference do not, in themselves, constitute such “wider activities”;

actions which consist exclusively or primarily in capital expenditure, such as infrastructure, land, equipment

actions which discriminate against individuals or groups of people on grounds of their gender, sexual orientation, religious beliefs or lack of them, or their ethnic origin;

actions supporting directly political parties.

Financial support to third parties 20

Applicants may propose financial support to third parties in order to help achieve the objectives of the action.

20 These third parties are neither affiliated entity(ies) nor associates nor contractors. of 42


The maximum amount of financial support per third party is EUR 60 000.

Under this Call, financial support to third parties may not be the main purpose of the action.

In compliance with the present guidelines and notably of any conditions or restrictions in this section, applicants should define mandatorily in section 2.2.2.1 of the grant application form:

(i) the objectives and results to be obtained with the financial support

(ii) the different types of activities eligible for financial support, on the basis of a fixed list

(iii) the types of persons or categories of persons which may receive financial support

(iv) the criteria for selecting these entities and giving the financial support

(v) the criteria for determining the exact amount of financial support for each third entity,

(vi) the maximum amount which may be given, and

(vii) the system of control set up to verify the eligibility of costs.

In all events, the mandatory conditions set above for giving financial support (points (i) to (vii)) have to be strictly defined in the Specific Grant Agreement as to avoid any exercise of discretion.

Visibility

The Applicants must take all necessary steps to publicise the fact that the European Union has financed or co-financed the Action. As far as possible, actions that are wholly or partially funded by the European Union must incorporate information and communication activities designed to raise the awareness of specific or general audiences of the reasons for the action and the EU support for the action in the country or region concerned, as well as the results and the impact of this support.

Applicants must comply with the objectives and priorities and guarantee the visibility of the EU financing (see the Communication and Visibility Manual for EU external actions specified and published by the European Commission at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm).

Number of applications and action grants per applicants

The applicant may not submit more than 1 application under this Call for Proposals. Should more than one application be received from an applicant, whether in the same or in different lots, all applications from this applicant will be rejected on this sole basis.

The applicant may not be a co-applicant or an affiliated entity in another application at the same time.

A co-applicant/affiliated entity may not submit more than one application under this Call for Proposals.

A co-applicant/affiliated entity may not be the applicant or an affiliated entity in another application at the same time.

2.1.5.2 Eligibility of costs: costs that can be included

Only ‘eligible costs’ can be covered by an action grant. The categories of costs that are eligible and non-eligible are indicated below. The budget is both a cost estimate and an overall ceiling for ‘eligible costs’.

The reimbursement of eligible costs may be based on any or a combination of the following forms:

actual costs incurred by the Beneficiary(ies) and affiliated entity(ies)


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/visibility/index_en.htm

one or more simplified cost options.

Simplified cost options may take the form of:

unit costs: covering all or certain specific categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance by reference to an amount per unit.

lump sums: covering in global terms all or certain specific categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance.

flat-rate financing: covering specific categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance by applying a percentage fixed ex ante.

The amounts or rates have to be based on estimates using objective data such as statistical data or any other objective means or with reference to certified or auditable historical data of the applicants or the affiliated entity(ies). The methods used to determine the amounts or rates of unit costs, lump sums or flat-rates must comply with the criteria established in Annex K, and especially ensure that the costs correspond fairly to the actual costs incurred by the Grant Beneficiary(ies) and affiliated entity(ies), are in line with their accounting practices, no profit is made and the costs are not already covered by other sources of funding (no double funding). Refer to Annex K for directions and a checklist of controls to assess the minimum necessary conditions that provide reasonable assurance for the acceptance of the proposed amounts.

The applicant proposing this form of reimbursement, must clearly indicate in worksheet no.2 of Annex B, each heading/item of eligible costs concerned by this type of financing, i.e. add the reference in capital letters to "UNIT COST" (per month/flight etc), "LUMPSUM" or "FLAT RATE" in the Unit column. (see example in Annex K)

Additionally in Annex B, in the second column of worksheet no.3, "Justification of the estimated costs" per each of the corresponding budget item or heading the applicant must:

describe the information and methods used to establish the amounts of unit costs, lump sums and/or flat-rates, to which costs they refer, etc.

clearly explain the formulas for calculation of the final eligible amount21

identify the beneficiary who will use the simplified cost option (in case of affiliated entity, specify first the beneficiary), in order to verify the maximum amount per each beneficiary (which includes if applicable simplified cost options of its affiliated entity(ies))

At contracting phase, the Contracting Authority decides whether to accept the proposed amounts or rates on the basis of the provisional budget submitted by the applicant, by analysing factual data of grants carried out by the applicant or of similar actions and by performing checks established by Annex K.

The total amount of financing on the basis of simplified cost options that can be authorised by the Contracting Authority for any of the applicants individually (including simplified cost options proposed by their own affiliated entities) cannot exceed EUR 60 000 (the indirect costs are not taken into account).

Recommendations to award a grant are always subject to the condition that the checks preceding the signing of the grant do not reveal problems requiring changes to the budget (such as arithmetical errors, inaccuracies, unrealistic costs and ineligible costs). The checks may give rise to requests for clarification and may lead the Contracting Authority to impose modifications or reductions to address such mistakes or inaccuracies. It is not possible to increase the grant or the percentage of EU co-financing as a result of these corrections.

It is therefore in the applicant’s interest to provide a realistic and cost-effective budget.

21 Examples:- for staff costs: number of hours or days of work * hourly or daily rate pre-set according to the category of personnel concerned;- for travel expenses: distance in km * pre-set cost of transport per km; number of days * daily allowance pre-set according to the country;- for specific costs arising from the organization of an event: number of participants at the event * pre-set total cost per participant etc.


Eligible direct costs

To be eligible under the Call for Proposals, costs must comply with the provisions of Article 14 of the General Conditions to the Specific Grant Agreement (see Annex G of the Guidelines).

Contingency reserve

The budget may include a contingency reserve not exceeding 5 % of the estimated direct eligible costs. It can only be used with the prior written authorisation of the Contracting Authority.

Eligible indirect costs

The indirect costs incurred in carrying out the action may be eligible for flat-rate funding, but the total must not exceed 7 % of the estimated total eligible direct costs. Indirect costs are eligible provided that they do not include costs assigned to another budget heading in the Specific Grant Agreement. The applicant may be asked to justify the percentage requested before the contract is signed. However, once the flat rate has been fixed in the special conditions of the Specific Grant Agreement, no supporting documents need to be provided.

If any of the applicants or affiliated entity(ies) is in receipt of an operating grant financed by the EU, it may not claim indirect costs on its incurred costs within the proposed budget for the action.

Contributions in kind

Contributions in kind mean the provision of goods or services to a Beneficiary(ies) or affiliated entity(ies) free of charge by a third party. As contributions in kind do not involve any expenditure for a Beneficiary(ies) or affiliated entity(ies), they are not eligible costs.

Contributions in kind may not be treated as co-financing. However, if the description of the action as proposed includes contributions in kind, the contributions have to be made.

Ineligible costs

The following costs are not eligible:

debts and debt service charges (interest);

provisions for losses or potential future liabilities;

costs declared by the Beneficiary(ies) and financed by another action or work programme receiving a Union (including through EDF) grant;

purchases of land or buildings, except where necessary for the direct implementation of the action, in which case ownership must be transferred to the final beneficiaries and/or local Beneficiary(ies), at the latest at the end of the action;

currency exchange losses;

credit to third parties;

salary costs of the personnel of national administrations

2.2. HOW TO APPLY AND THE PROCEDURES TO FOLLOWPrior registration in PADOR for this Call for Proposals is obligatory.

Phase 1, Framework Partnership Application: Registration in PADOR and uploading all relevant supporting documents is obligatory for the applicant and co-applicants.


Phase 2, grant application: Registration in PADOR is obligatory for all affiliated entity(ies) (ie: the members participating in the Action) and for any new co-applicants. (Please see section 2.1. 2 as well as section 2.4)

PADOR is an on-line database in which organisations register and update their data regularly, through the EuropeAid website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/onlineservices/pador/index_en.htm

Before starting to register your organisation in PADOR, please read the ‘Quick guide’ on the website. It explains the registration process.

It is strongly recommended to register in PADOR when you start drafting your proposal and not to wait until just before the deadline of submission.

You have to indicate on the proposal the EuropeAid ID (EID). To get this identification, your organisation must register, save and ‘sign’(committing your responsibility) in PADOR obligatory data (on each screen the fields written in orange) and the related documents (see section 2.4).

However, if it is impossible for the organisation to register in PADOR, it must submit a justification proving that this impossibility is general and beyond the control of the applicants and/or its affiliated entity(ies). In such cases, the applicants and/or affiliated entity(ies) concerned must complete the ‘PADOR off-line form 22 attached to these Guidelines and send it by the submission deadline, together with the application, to the address indicated in section 2.2. The registration in PADOR will then be carried out by the European Commission service in charge of the Call for proposals. If, at a later stage, the organisation wishes to update its data itself, it will have to send an access request to the PADOR helpdesk.

All questions related to registration in PADOR should be addressed to the PADOR helpdesk at:

[email protected].

2.2.1 Framework Partnership Application

The Framework Partnership Application is composed by the Strategic Plan of the umbrella organisation, the application form, the general budget, the information concerning the applicant, co-applicant(s) , the list of the umbrella organisation’s members, the checklist, the Declaration by the Applicant and the assessment grid.

2.2.1.1 Strategic Plan content

Applications must be submitted in accordance with the Framework Partnership Application instructions included in the Application Form annexed to these Guidelines (Annex A, Part A).

Framework Partnership Applications must be submitted in one of the following EU languages: English, French or Spanish23.

Applicants must attach the complete strategic plan of the umbrella organisation to their application form.

22 Which corresponds to Sections 3 and 4 of Part B of the application form. 23 Nb: At the time of publication of these guidelines, annexes other than the Application form only exist in English.

However, French and Spanish versions are being developed and will be available before the drafting of FPA contracts. It will therefore be possible to sign FPAs in English, French or Spanish.



http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/onlineservices/pador/index_en.htm

In the application form, the Applicant must clearly identify which parts of this strategic plan they consider to be relevant for a partnership with the European Union, which should be based on common political objectives shared with the EU, particularly with regards to the Communication “The roots of democracy and sustainable development: Europe’s engagement with Civil Society in external relations”. Applicants must base their application on these relevant elements.

In the Framework Partnership Application, applicants must only provide an estimate of the budget foreseen to implement the entire Strategic Plan of the umbrella organisation. The applicant will also be required to provide an estimate of the percentage of that budget which would be related to the common political objectives forming the basis of their request for a Framework Partnership Agreement with the EU.

Only the applicants invited to submit an action grant application in the second phase will be required to present a detailed budget for the specific grant agreement.

Any error or major discrepancy related to the points listed in the Framework Partnership Application instructions may lead to the rejection of the application.

Clarifications will only be requested when information provided is not sufficient to conduct an objective assessment.

Please note that only the Framework Partnership Application will be evaluated at this stage. It is therefore of utmost importance that this document contains ALL relevant information.

2.2.1.2 Where and how to send Framework Partnership Applications

The Framework Partnership Application, including the relating Checklist and Declaration by the applicant (to be found in sections 7 and 8 of the application form) must be submitted via PROSPECT https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prospect following the instructions given in the users’ manual (Annex P).

A confirmation will be sent for each application submitted.

Framework Partnership Applications submitted by other means (e-mail, registered mail, courier service, fax, hand delivery, etc.) will be rejected.

Applicants must verify that their Framework Partnership Application is complete using the Checklist in section 7 of the application form. Incomplete Framework Partnership Applications may be rejected.

All IT technical questions related to PROSPECT should be addressed to the PROSPECT helpdesk at:

[email protected].

2.2.1.3 Deadline for submission of Framework Partnership Applications

The deadline for the submission of Framework Partnership Applications is 12/06/2015 at 16:00 hrs (Brussels date and time). Any Framework Partnership Application submitted after the deadline will be rejected.

Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last day to submit their applications, since heavyInternet traffic or a fault with the Internet connection (including electricity failure, etc.) could lead todifficulties in submission. The Contracting Authority cannot be held responsible for any delay due to suchafore-mentioned difficulties.



https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prospect

2.2.1.4 Further information about Framework Partnership Applications

Questions may be sent by e-mail no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of Framework Partnership Applications to the address below, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals:

[email protected]

The Contracting Authority has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after this date.

Replies will be given no later than 11 days before the deadline for submission of Framework Partnership Applications.

To ensure equal treatment of applicants, the Contracting Authority cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants, an action or specific activities.

No individual replies will be given to questions. All questions and answers, as well as other important notices to applicants during the course of the evaluation procedure, will be published on the Internet at the EuropeAid website :

1. http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/index_en.htm

2. "Search by reference" 3. "150053"

It is therefore highly recommended to regularly consult the abovementioned website in order to be informed of questions and answers published.

All questions related to PADOR registration should be addressed to the PADOR help desk:

[email protected]

2.2.2 Action Grant Application

2.2.2.1 Action Grant content

The action grant application is composed by the Description of the Action, the information concerning the applicant, co-applicant(s), affiliated entity(ies) and associates, the checklist, the Declaration by the Applicant and the assessment grid.

An applicant invited to submit an action grant application following the selection of their Framework Partnership Application must do so using Part B of the application form annexed to these Guidelines (Annex A). Applicants should then keep strictly to the format of the application form and fill in the paragraphs and pages in order. Action Grant Applications submitted using any template besides the one provided in the attached Application Form may be rejected.

Applicants must submit their action grant applications in the same language as their Framework Partnership Application.

In the action grant Application, applicants must provide a detailed budget for the specific grant. The specific grant budget must contain the contribution requested from the Contracting Authority and the percentage of that contribution in relation to the total amount of the grant, which must fall between the minimum and maximum amount and respect the percentages of co-financing, as laid down in these Guidelines in section 1.3. Own contributions by the applicants can be replaced by other donors' contributions at any time.


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/index_en.htm


Please complete the grant application form carefully and as clearly as possible so that it can be assessed properly.

Any error related to the points listed in the Checklist (Part B, Section 7 of the Action Grant Application form) or any major inconsistency in the grant application form (e.g. if the amounts in the budget worksheets are inconsistent) may lead to the rejection of the application.

Clarifications will only be requested when information provided is unclear and thus prevents the Contracting Authority from conducting an objective assessment.

Please note that only the grant application form and the published annexes which have to be filled in (budget, logical framework) will be transmitted to the evaluators (and assessors, if used). It is therefore of utmost importance that these documents contain ALL the relevant information concerning the action. No supplementary annexes should be sent.

2.2.2.2 Where and how to send Grant Application forms

Action Grant Application Forms together with the relating Checklist and Declaration by the applicant (to be found in sections 7 and 8 of the application form) must be submitted via PROSPECT https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prospect following the instructions given in the users’ manual (Annex P).

Action Grant Application Forms submitted by other means (e-mail, registered mail, courier service, fax, hand delivery, etc.) will be rejected.

Applicants must verify that their application is complete using the checklist (Section 7 of Part B of the grant application form). Incomplete applications may be rejected.

A confirmation will be sent for each application submitted.

All IT technical questions related to PROSPECT should be addressed to the PROSPECT helpdesk at:

[email protected].

2.2.2.3 Deadline for submission of Grant Application forms

The deadline for the submission of grant applications will be indicated in the letter sent to the applicants who have been selected for an FPA.

Applicants are strongly advised not to wait until the last day to submit their grant application Forms, since heavy Internet traffic or a fault with the Internet connection (including electricity failure, etc.) could lead todifficulties in submission. The Contracting Authority cannot be held responsible for any delay due to suchafore-mentioned difficulties.

Any Grant Application Form sent after the deadline will be rejected.

2.2.2.4 Further information about Grant Application forms

Questions may be sent by e-mail no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of grant applications to the address listed below, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals:

[email protected]




https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prospect

The Contracting Authority has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after this date.

Replies will be given no later than 11 days before the deadline for the submission of applications.

To ensure equal treatment of applicants, the Contracting Authority cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants, affiliated entity(ies), or an action.

No individual replies will be given to questions. All questions and answers as well as other important notices to applicants during the course of the evaluation procedure, will be published on the Internet at the EuropeAid website :

1. http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/index_en.htm

2. "Search by reference" 3. "150053"

It is therefore highly recommended to regularly consult the website in order to be informed of questions and answers published.

2.3. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF FRAMEWORK PARTNERSHIP APPLICATIONS

Applications will be examined and evaluated by the Contracting Authority with the possible assistance of external assessors. All applications submitted by applicants will be assessed according to the following steps and criteria.

If the examination of the application reveals that the proposed action does not meet the eligibility criteria stated in section 2.1the application will be rejected on this sole basis.

STEP 1: ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK

The following will be assessed:

Compliance with the submission deadline. If the deadline has not been met, the application will automatically be rejected.

The Framework Partnership Application satisfies all the criteria specified in the Checklist Section 7 of the FPA application form. If any of the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the application may be rejected on that sole basis and the application will not be evaluated further.

STEP 2: VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF THE APPLICANTS

The eligibility verification will be based on the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority

The Declaration by the applicant (Section 8 of Part B the grant application form) will be cross-checked with the supporting documents provided by the applicant. Any missing supporting document or any incoherence between the Declaration by the applicant and the supporting documents may lead to the rejection of the application on that sole basis.

The eligibility of applicants, and the areas of intervention will be verified according to the criteria set out in Sections 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.4.


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/funding/index_en.htm

Applicants must supply the following documents in order to allow the Contracting Authority to verify the eligibility of the applicant, and (if any) of the co-applicant(s).

Supporting documents must be provided through PADOR, see Section 2.2.

1. The statutes or articles of association of the applicant, (if any) of each co-applicant(s)24. Where the Contracting Authority has recognised the applicant’s, or the co-applicant(s)’s eligibility for another call for proposals, it should be submitted, instead of the statutes or articles of association, a copy of the document proving their eligibility in a former Call (e.g. a copy of the special conditions of a Contract received during the reference period), unless a change in legal status has occurred in the meantime25.

2. An external audit report produced by an approved auditor, certifying the applicant's accounts for the last two financial years available. The external audit report is not required from (if any) the co-applicant(s)).

3. A copy of the applicant’s latest accounts (the profit and loss account and the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts have been closed). A copy of the latest account is not required from (if any) the co-applicant(s).

4. Legal entity sheet (see annex D of these Guidelines) duly completed and signed by each of the applicants (i,e by the applicant and (if any) by each co-applicant(s), accompanied by the justifying documents requested there. If the applicants have already signed a contract with the Contracting Authority, instead of the legal entity sheet and supporting documents, the legal entity number may be provided, unless a change in legal status occurred in the meantime.

5. A financial identification form of the applicant (not from co-applicant(s)) conforming to the model attached at Annex E of these Guidelines, certified by the bank to which the payments will be made. This bank should be located in the country where the applicant is established. If the applicant has already submitted a financial identification form in the past for a contract where the European Commission was in charge of the payments and intends to use the same bank account, a copy of the previous financial identification form may be provided instead.

Where the requested supporting documents are not uploaded in PADOR they must be supplied in the form of originals, photocopies or scanned versions (i.e. showing legible stamps, signatures and dates) of the said originals.

Where such documents are not in one of the official languages of the European Union, a translation into one of the languages of the call for proposals of the relevant parts of these documents proving the applicant(s)'s eligibility, must be attached for the purpose of analysing the application.

Where these documents are in an official language of the European Union other than one of the languages of the call for proposals, it is strongly recommended, in order to facilitate the evaluation, to provide a translation of the relevant parts of the documents, proving the applicants' eligibility, into one of the languages of the call for proposals.

After verifying the supporting documents, the Evaluation Committee will proceed with the administrative check of the Framework Partnership Applications that have succeeded the eligibility verification.

The Framework Partnership Applications that pass the first administrative check and the eligibility verification will be evaluated.

24 Where the applicant and/or a co-applicant(s) is a public body created by a law, a copy of the said law must be provided.

25 To be inserted only where the eligibility conditions have not changed from one call for proposals to the other. of 42


STEP 3: FRAMEWORK PARTNERSHIP APPLICATION EVALUATION

The Framework Partnership Application will receive an overall score out of 100 using the breakdown in the evaluation grid below. The evaluation will also check on compliance with the instructions on the Framework Partnership Application, which can be found in Part A of the Application Form.

The quality of the Framework Partnership Applications, including the estimated budget, the capacity of the applicants and affiliated entity(ies), will be evaluated using the evaluation criteria in the evaluation grid below. There are two types of evaluation criteria: selection and award criteria.

The selection criteria help to evaluate the umbrella organisation’s capacity and the applicant's financial capacity and to ensure that they:

have stable and sufficient sources of finance to maintain their activity throughout the proposed Strategic Plan;

have the management capacity, professional competencies and qualifications required to successfully implement the proposed Strategic Plan. This also applies to co-applicants, if any.

The award criteria help to evaluate the quality of the applications in relation to the objectives and priorities, and to award Framework Partnership to applicants that maximise the overall effectiveness of the Call for Proposals. They help to select applications which the Contracting Authority can be confident will comply with its objectives and priorities. They cover the relevance of the Strategic Plan, its relevance with the objectives of the Call for Proposals, quality, efficiency, effectiveness and expected impact and sustainability.

Scoring:

The evaluation grid is divided into sections and subsections. Each subsection will be given a score between 1 and 5 as follows: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good.

Scores

1. Financial and operational capacitySub-score

20

1.1 Does the umbrella organisation26 and, if applicable, its co-applicants together have sufficient experience of project management?

5

1.2 Does the umbrella organisation and, if applicable, its co-applicants together have sufficient technical expertise? (especially knowledge of the issues to be addressed)

5

1.3 Does the umbrella organisation and, if applicable, its co-applicants together have sufficient management capacity? (Including staff, equipment and ability to handle the budget for the Strategic Plan)?

5

1.4 Does the lead applicant have stable and sufficient sources of finance? 5

26 The umbrella organisation is understood as the Applicant and the members of the umbrella organisation. Please see section 3.2 of the FPA Application form.


2. Relevance of the proposed Framework Partnership Sub-score 20

2.1 How relevant is the mandate and scope of the umbrella organisation to the objectives and priorities of the Call for Proposals?

5

2.2 How relevant is the umbrella organisation’s contribution to regional and/or global policy-making? 5

2.3 How relevant is the umbrella organisation’s representativeness (including number of members, presence in a significant number of countries at global and regional levels) in relation to their mandate and to the services provided to their members?

5

2.4 How does the strategic plan integrate specific added-value elements, such as the promotion and respect of non-discrimination, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, gender equality and women’s empowerment, as well as other cross-cutting issues such as rights of minorities, of children and older people, rights of persons with disabilities and life-threatening diseases and rights of other vulnerable groups, core labour rights and social inclusion, environment and climate change and fight against HIV/AIDS, the promotion or consolidation of public-private partnerships, innovation and best practices.

5

3. Quality of the Strategic Plan Sub-score 20

3.1 How coherent is the Strategic Plan? 5x2*

3.2 How coherent is the Strategic Plan with the analysis of external factors? 5x2*

4. Efficiency of the Strategic Plan Sub-score 20

4.1 Is the Strategic Plan consistent with the organisation’s administrative and financial capacity?

5x2*

4.2 How consistent is the foreseen organisational development initiatives with the objectives of the Strategic Plan?

5x2*

5. Effectiveness of the Strategic Plan Sub-score 10

5.1 How are the foreseen organisational development initiatives likely to impact the results of the Strategic Plan at policy/political level?

5

5.2 How are the foreseen organisational development initiatives likely to impact the results of the Strategic Plan with its members?

5

6. Potential impact and sustainability Sub-score 10


6.1 Is the Strategic Plan likely to have impact? Is a results assessment framework foreseen in the Strategic Plan?

5

6.2 Is the Strategic Plan likely to be sustainable? 5

TOTAL SCORE 100

*these scores are multiplied by 2 because of their importance

Once all Framework Partnership Applications have been assessed, a list will be drawn up with the evaluated proposals ranked according to their total score.

If the total score for section 1 is less than 12 points, the application will be rejected. If the score for at least one of the subsections under section 1 is 1, the application will also be rejected.

If the total score for section 2 is less than 16 points, the application will be rejected.

The number of Framework Partnership Applications will be reduced, taking account of the ranking, to a maximum of 4 FPAs for lot 1, 4 FPAs for lot 2, 4 FPAs for lot 3, 4 FPAs for lot 4, and 11 FPAs for lot 5.

STEP 4: notification of the contracting authority’s decision

The applicants will be informed in writing of the Contracting Authority’s decision concerning their application and, if rejected, the reasons for the negative decision.

The beneficiaries of a Framework Partnership Agreement will subsequently be invited to submit action grant applications.

An applicant believing that it has been harmed by an error or irregularity during the award process may lodge a complaint. See further Section 2.4.15 of the Practical Guide.

STEP 5: Award of FPA

Following the decision to award a Framework Partnership, the Beneficiary(ies) will be offered a contract based on the Contracting Authority’s standard Framework Partnership Agreement (see Annex G of these Guidelines). By signing the application form for an FPA (Annex A of these Guidelines), the applicants agree, if awarded a Framework Partnership Agreement, to accept the contractual conditions of the standard Framework Partnership Agreement.

STEP 6: Signature of Framework Partnership Agreement and info session

Successful Applicants may be invited to Brussels for the signature of the Framework Partnership Agreement.

An information session, open only to successful applicants, may also be held following the signature of FPAs, to provide FPA signatories with further information regarding the second stage of this call for proposals.


2.4. EVALUATION AND SELECTION OF GRANT APPLICATIONSSTEP 1: administrative check

The following will be assessed:

Compliance with the submission deadline. If the deadline has not been met, the application will automatically be rejected.

The grant application form satisfies all the criteria specified in the Checklist (Section 7 of Part B of the grant application form). If any of the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the application may be rejected on that sole basis and the application will not be evaluated further.

STEP 2: verification of eligibility of the affiliated entity(ies), any new co-applicant and the eligibility of the Action

The eligibility verification will be based on the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority (see Section 2.4).

The eligibility of affiliated entity(ies), and any new co-applicant participating in the action, will be verified according to the criteria set out in Section 2.1

Applicants must supply the following documents for all their affiliated entitiy(ies) participating in the action grant who were part of the Framework Partnership Agreement as members, in order to allow the Contracting Authority to verify their eligibility:

Supporting documents must be provided through PADOR, see Section 2.2.

1. The statutes or articles of association of each affiliated entity(ies)27. Where the Contracting Authority has recognised the affiliated entity(ies)’s eligibility for another call for proposals, instead of the statutes or articles of association, a copy of the document proving their eligibility in a former Call (e.g. a copy of the special conditions of a Contract received during the reference period), unless a change in legal status has occurred in the meantime28.

2. Legal entity sheet (see annex D of these Guidelines) duly completed and signed by each co-applicant(s) that were not part of the Framework Partnership Agreement, accompanied by the justifying documents requested there. If the co-applicants have already signed a contract with the Contracting Authority, instead of the legal entity sheet and supporting documents, the legal entity number may be provided, unless a change in legal status occurred in the meantime.

Where the requested supporting documents are not uploaded in PADOR they must be supplied in the form of originals, photocopies or scanned versions (i.e. showing legible stamps, signatures and dates) of the said originals. Where such documents are not in one of the official languages of the European Union, a translation into one of the languages of the call for proposals of the relevant parts of these documents proving the co-applicants' eligibility, must be attached for the purpose of analysing the application.

Where these documents are in an official language of the European Union other than one of the languages of the call for proposals, it is strongly recommended, in order to facilitate the evaluation, to provide a translation of the relevant parts of the documents, proving the applicants' eligibility, into one of the language(s) of the call for proposals.

27 Where the applicant and/or a co-applicant(s) and or an affiliated entity(ies) is a public body created by a law, a copy of the said law must be provided.

28 To be inserted only where the eligibility conditions have not changed from one call for proposals to the other. of 42


NB : In the eventuality that the Contracting Authority is not satisfied with the strength, solidity, and guarantee offered by the structural link between one of the applicants and its affiliated entity, it can require the submission of the missing documents allowing for its conversion into co-applicant. If all the missing documents for co-applicants are submitted, and provided all necessary eligibility criteria are fulfilled, the above mentioned entity becomes a co-applicant for all purposes. The applicant has to submit the application form revised accordingly.

STEP 3: evaluation of the grant application

The quality of the applications, including the proposed budget, will be evaluated using the evaluation criteria in the evaluation grid below. There are two types of evaluation criteria: selection and award criteria.

The selection criteria help to evaluate the applicant(s)'s and affiliated entity(ies)'s operational capacity and the applicant's financial capacity and to ensure that they:

have stable and sufficient sources of finance to maintain their activity throughout the proposed action and, where appropriate, to participate in its funding;

have the management capacity, professional competencies and qualifications required to successfully complete the proposed action. This also applies to any affiliated entity(ies) of the applicants.

The award criteria help to evaluate the quality of the applications in relation to the objectives and priorities, and to award action grants to projects which maximise the overall effectiveness of the Call for Proposals. They help to select applications which the Contracting Authority can be confident will comply with its objectives and priorities. They cover the relevance of the action, its consistency with the objectives of the Call for Proposals, quality, expected impact, sustainability and cost-effectiveness.

Scoring:

The evaluation grid is divided into sections and subsections. Each subsection will be given a score between 1 and 5 as follows: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good.

Evaluation Grid

Section Maximum Score

1. Relevance of the action 35

1.1 How relevant is the proposal to the objectives and priorities of the Call for Proposals? 5x2*

1.2 How relevant is the proposal to the objectives and priorities of the Partner’s Strategic Plan?

5x2*

1.3 How clearly defined and strategically chosen are those involved (final beneficiaries, target groups)? Have their needs been clearly defined and does the proposal address them appropriately?

5

1.4 How strategically chosen are the co-applicants and the affiliated entities involved in the action and how clearly defined are their roles?

5

1.5 Does the proposal contain specific added-value elements, such as the promotion and respect of non-discrimination, human rights, the rule of law, good governance, gender

5


equality and women’s empowerment, as well as other cross-cutting issues such as rights of minorities, of children and older people, rights of persons with disabilities and life-threatening diseases and rights of other vulnerable groups, core labour rights and social inclusion, environment and climate change and fight against HIV/AIDS, the promotion or consolidation of public-private partnerships, innovation and best practices.

2. Effectiveness and feasibility of the action 35

2.1 Are the activities proposed appropriate, practical, and consistent with the objectives and expected results?

5x2*

2.2 Is the action plan in section 2.2.2.3 of the grant application clear and feasible? 5x2*

2.3 Does the proposal contain objectively verifiable indicators for the outcome of the action? Is any evaluation planned?

5x2*

2.4 Is the co-applicant(s)'s and affiliated entity(ies)'s level of involvement and participation in the action satisfactory?

5

3. Sustainability of the action 15

3.1 Is the action likely to have a tangible impact on its target groups? 5

3.2 Is the proposal likely to have multiplier effects? (Including scope for replication, extension and information sharing.)

5

3.3 Are the expected results of the proposed action sustainable?:

- financially (how will the activities be financed after the funding ends?)

- institutionally (will structures allowing the activities to continue be in place at the end of the action? Will there be local ‘ownership’ of the results of the action?)

- at policy level (where applicable) (what will be the structural impact of the action — e.g. will it lead to improved legislation, codes of conduct, methods, etc?)

- environmentally (if applicable) (will the action have a negative/positive environmental impact?)

5

4. Budget and cost-effectiveness of the action 15

4.1 Are the activities appropriately reflected in the budget? 5

4.2 Is the ratio between the estimated costs and the expected results satisfactory? 5x2*

Maximum total score 100

*these scores are multiplied by 2 because of their importance


Provisional selection

After the evaluation, a table will be drawn up listing the applications ranked according to their score and within the limits of the funds available. In addition, a reserve list will be drawn up following the same criteria to be used if more funds should become available during the validity period of the reserve list.

STEP 4: notification of the contracting authority’s decision

The applicants will be informed in writing of the Contracting Authority’s decision concerning their application and, if rejected, the reasons for the negative decision.

An applicant believing that it has been harmed by an error or irregularity during the award process may lodge a complaint. See further Section 2.4.15 of the Practical Guide.

STEP 5: Award of a Specific Grant Agreement

Following the decision to award a grant, the Beneficiary(ies) will be offered a contract based on the Contracting Authority’s Specific Grant Agreement (see Annex G of these Guidelines). By signing the application form (Annex A of these Guidelines), the applicants agree, if awarded a grant, to accept the contractual conditions of the Specific Grant Agreement.

Implementation contracts

Where implementation of the action requires the Beneficiary(ies) and its affiliated entity(ies) (if any) to award procurement contracts, those contracts must be awarded in accordance with Annex IV to the Specific Grant Agreement.


The applicants will be informed in writing of the Contracting Authority’s decision concerning their application and, if rejected, the reasons for the negative decision. This letter will appear online automatically in the PROSPECT profile of the applicant.An applicant believing that it has been harmed by an error or irregularity during the award process may lodge a complaint. See further Section 2.4.15 of the Practical Guide.

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the Opening and Administrative Check stages of the procedure wishing to obtain further information should send their request by letter, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:

European CommissionDirectorate-General for Development and Cooperation — EuropeAidUnit DGB.6 Finance, Contracts, Audit - Human and Society DevelopmentAttn. Head of UnitOffice: J-59 01/33B-1049 BrusselsBelgium

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the Technical evaluation stages of the procedure or at the Eligibility check stage wishing to obtain further information should send their request, by letter indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:

European CommissionDirectorate-General for Development and Cooperation — EuropeAidUnit DGB.2 Civil Society, Local AuthoritiesDevelopmentAttn. Head of UnitOffice: J-59 02/33B-1049 BrusselsBelgium

Indicative timetable

DATE TIME*

Deadline for requesting any clarifications from the Contracting Authority

22/05/2015 -

Last date on which clarifications are issued by the Contracting Authority

01/06/2015 -

Deadline for submission of Framework Partnership Applications

12/06/2015 16:00

Information to applicants on opening, administrative checks and Framework

July-August 2015* -


Partnership Application evaluation

Signature of FPAs and information session July-August 2015

Invitations to submit Grant Application Form July-August 2015* -

Deadline for requesting any clarifications from the Contracting Authority

21 days before the submission deadline

-

Last date on which clarifications are issued by the Contracting Authority

11 days before the submission deadline

-

Deadline for submission of Grant Application Form

September-October 2015* -

Information to applicants on the evaluation of the Grant Application Form29

October-November 2015* -

Notification of award (after the eligibility check)

October-November 2015* -

Contract signature30 October-December 2015* -

*Provisional date. All times are in the time zone of the country of the Contracting Authority.

This indicative timetable may be updated by the Contracting Authority during the procedure. In such cases, the updated timetable will be published on the EuropeAid web site https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome.

2.5. EARLY WARNING SYSTEM AND CENTRAL EXCLUSION DATABASE The applicants and, if they are legal entities, the 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:

- 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

- Commission Regulation of 17.12.2008 on the Central Exclusion Database (CED) (OJ L344, 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

29 Note that according to the financial regulation, in direct management, applicants must be notified the outcome of the evaluation of their applications within 6 months following the submission deadline of the Grant application. This time-limit may be exceeded in exceptional cases, in particular for complex actions (including Multi-beneficiary calls), large number of proposals or in case of delays attributable to the applicants.

30 Note that according to the financial regulation, in direct management the Specific Grant Agreement must be signed within 3 months following the notification of the award decision. This time-limit may be exceeded in exceptional cases, in particular for complex actions (including Multi-beneficiary calls), large number of proposals or in case of delays attributable to the applicants


https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome

above-mentioned Decision and Regulation, in relation to the award or the execution of a grant agreement or decision.


3. LIST OF ANNEXES

DOCUMENTS TO BE COMPLETED

Annex A: Application Form (Word format)

Annex B: Budget (Excel format)

Annex C: Logical Framework (Excel format) for the grant application only

Annex D: Legal Entity Sheet

Annex E: Financial identification form

Annex F: PADOR off Line Form31

DOCUMENTS FOR INFORMATION

Annex G: Framework Partnership Agreement

- Annex II: General Conditions applicable to European Union Framework Partnership Agreements for External Actions (hereinafter referred to as the "General Conditions”)

- Annex III: Model specific grant agreement - Annex IV: Contract-award procedures- Annex V: Standard request for payment and financial identification form- Annex VI: Model narrative and financial report- Annex VII: Terms of reference for an expenditure verification of a European Union financed Specific

Grant Agreement for external actions and model report of factual findings- Annex VIII: Standard template for Transfer of Asset Ownership

Annex H: Daily allowance rates (Per diem), available at the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/search/site/per%20diem_en

Annex K: Guidelines and Checklist for assessing Budget and Simplified cost options.

ANNEX J: Information on the tax regime applicable to grant contracts signed under the call.

ANNEX P: PROSPECT – Users' manual and e-learning :

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/wikis/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=23895130

ANNEX Q: PROSPECT – Additional manual specific to this call

Useful links:

Project Cycle Management Guidelines

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/aid-delivery-methods-project-cycle-management-guidelines-vol-1_en

The implementation of grant contracts - A Users' Guide

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/companion/document.do?chapterId=497

Financial Toolkithttp://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/funding/procedures-beneficiary-countries-and-partners/financial-management-

toolkit_en

31 http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/pador-line-form-0_en Only applicable in calls under direct management where PADOR is used.


http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/funding/procedures-beneficiary-countries-and-partners/financial-management-toolkit_en

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/funding/procedures-beneficiary-countries-and-partners/financial-management-toolkit_en

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/companion/document.do?chapterId=497

https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/fpfis/wikis/pages/viewpage.action?pageId=23895130

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/pador-line-form-0_en

* * *


gndr.orggndr.org/.../newsite/pdfs/27_04_2015_16h_en_final_g… · web viewthis is particularly...

Documents