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DELEGATION OF THE EUROPEAN UNION

TO BELARUS

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EuropeAid/136354/DD/ACT/BYEuropean Neighbourhood Instrument. Annual Action Programme 2014 in

favour of Belarus. ENI support to Civil Society and Independent Media working for Belarus

DISCLAIMERThis presentation is intended as useful information for

applicants.The information included in this presentation cannot

and do not replace or overrule the information contained in the respective Guidelines for grant

applicants that are published for the Call for proposals. They also do not substitute the

provisions in a Practical Guide.In case of discrepancy, the Guidelines for grant

applicants are the only legally binding document

FINANCIAL ALLOCATION (Section 1.3 of Guidelines)

Overall indicative amount available: EUR 5,500,000

• Lot 1: Increasing the possibilities of civil society to provide a contribution to participatory decision making processes – at least EUR 1,900,000.

• Lot 2: Increasing independent media's advocacy and financial self-sustainability to operate in Belarus – at least EUR 1,300,000.

• The rest of the funds will be allocated according to the ranking established during the evaluation, regardless of the Lot.

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SIZE OF GRANTS(Section 1.3 of Guidelines)

Amount:• minimum: EUR 500,000• maximum: EUR 1,000,000

Percentage:• minimum: 50% of the total eligible costs of the action• maximum: 95% of the total eligible costs of the action

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ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA: ACTORS(Section 2.1 of Guidelines)

• Applicant (CfP) – Coordinator (contract) – main Beneficiary

• Co-Applicant(s) – Co-Beneficiary(ies)

• Affiliated Entity(ies) (if any)

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ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (Section 2.1.1 of Guidelines)

• be a legal person or an entity without legal personality (see also footnote 6 of

the Guidelines) and

• be non-profit-making and• be specific types of organisation such as: civil society organisations, including non-

governmental non-profit organisations and independent political foundations; community based organisations, and private sector non-profit agencies, institutions and organisations,

and networks thereof at local, national, regional and international level and

• be established in Belarus or in a Member State of the European Union or in a country of the European Economic Area or in a beneficiary country of Instrument for Pre-accession Assistance II (IPA II) or in "ENI East" country and

• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies), not acting as an intermediary

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ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

• the potential applicant may not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants if it is in any of the situations listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide (e.g. bankrupt)

• the applicant must act with co-applicant(s)

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA (Co-applicants)

Note: maximum recommended number of co-applicants to be involved in the action is three.

Co-applicant(s) must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the applicant himself.

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APPLICANT(Part B section 3 of the grant application form)

HAS A MANDATE :

- to submit an application,

- to sign the contract,

- to represent during the execution of the contract (the only interlocutor),As Coordinator, will assume financial responsibility (Art. 1.6 of Annex GII - General Conditions)

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CO-APPLICANT(S)(Section 2.1.1 of Guidelines)

A Mandate must be signed! (Part B section 4 of the grant application form)

• Joint responsibility for designing and implementing the action;

• Beneficiary(ies) of the contract, but represented by the Coordinator;

• Duty to assist the Coordinator;• Costs are eligible in the same way as incurred

by the Applicant (Coordinator).

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AFFILIATED ENTITY(IES)(Section 2.1.2 of Guidelines)

A Statement must be signed! (Part B section 5 of the grant application form)

ONLY entities having a structural (legal or capital) link with the applicants:

• Control (parent, daughter, granddaughter, sister companies, first-tier or second-tier subsidiaries, etc.),

• Membership (legally defined as network, federation, association).Affiliated entity(ies):

must satisfy the same eligibility criteria as the applicant and the co-applicants,

is(are) third party(ies) of the contract,participate in designing and implementing the action,their costs may be accepted as eligible.

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OTHER ENTITIES(Section 2.1.3 of Guidelines)

• Associates: play a real role in the action, do not receive funding from the grant, with the exception of per diem or travel costs;

• Contractors: are awarded contracts by Beneficiaries and their Affiliated Entities, subject to the procurement rules set out in Annex IV. Associates or affiliated entities cannot be also contractors in the project.

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Duration(Section 2.1.4 of Guidelines)

Initial planned duration must be:

•Minimum 18 months

•Maximum 48 months

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

•Organisations register themselves, upload their supporting documents and update regularly their data;•This data concerns the organisation itself, it is not linked to a particular proposal;•Used for partner search by other organisations;•The data is used for checking the eligibility of the organisations, for evaluating the operational and financial capacity.

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PADOR• Prior registration in PADOR:

– Concept Note stage: • obligatory registration for Applicant• optional (though strongly recommended) registration

for Co-Applicant(s) and Affiliated Entity(ies)

– Full Application stage:• obligatory registration for all pre-selected Applicants,

Co-Applicant(s) and Affiliated Entity(ies)

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QUESTIONS/ANSWERS (Section 2.2.4 of Guidelines)

• When and where to send questions:28 January 2015 at the latestE-mail: BELARUS-C&F@eeas.europa.eu Fax: + 375 17 289 12 81 Please indicate clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals:

EuropeAid/136354/DD/ACT/BY!

• When to receive replies from EU:6 February 2015 at the latest on the EuropeAid website https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/europeaid/online-services/index.cfm?do=publi.welcome

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CONCEPT NOTE SUBMISSION(Section 2.2.2 of Guidelines)

1. Concept Note and

2. Checklist for the Concept Note and

3. Signed Declaration by the Applicant for the Concept Note (Part A)

Keep strictly to the format!

To be sent in 1 original and 2 copies! No CD!No CD!

Incomplete Concept Notes may be rejected!

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CONCEPT NOTE SUBMISSION(Section 2.2.3 of Guidelines)

Submission deadline is 18 February 2015For hand deliveries, 16:30 Minsk time

Where?For the attention of the Head of Finance, Contracts and Audit SectionDelegation of the European Union to Belarus34A/2 Engels Street, 8th floorMinsk 220030, Belarus

How?In a sealed envelope by registered mail, private courier service or by hand delivery× Do not send by fax× Do not send by e-mail× Do not send to the other addresses

Please indicate reference number and the title of the call for proposals

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FULL APPLICATION SUBMISSION(Section 2.2.5 of Guidelines)

IMPORTANT!

• The elements assessed on the basis of the concept note cannot be modified by the applicant in the full application form.Elements include: target groups, final beneficiaries, target regions, locations, specific objectives, key stakeholder groups.

• The EU contribution may not vary from the initial estimate by more than 20%, while the Applicant is free to adapt the percentage of co-financing required within the minimum and maximum amount and percentages of co-financing, as laid down in section 1.3 of the Guidelines.

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FULL APPLICATION SUBMISSION(Section 2.2.6 of Guidelines)

1. Full Application Form (Part B Annex A)The Checklist and the Declaration by the Applicant

must be stapled separately 2. Budget (Annex B)3. Logical Framework (Annex C)

Keep strictly to the format! To be sent in 1 original and 2 copies! No CD!No CD!

Incomplete Full Applications may be rejected!No supplementary annexes!

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FULL APPLICATION SUBMISSION(Section 2.2.6 of Guidelines)

Where?For the attention of the Head of Finance, Contracts and Audit SectionDelegation of the European Union to Belarus34A/2 Engels Street, 8th floorMinsk 220030, Belarus

How?In a sealed envelope by registered mail, private courier service or by hand delivery× Do not send by fax× Do not send by e-mail× Do not send to the other addresses

Please indicate reference number and the title of the call for proposals

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BUDGET FOR THE ACTION (Annex B)Important!

• Strictly follow the template, take note of the explanations in footnotes;

• Prepare in EUR, not in BYR;• Fill in the budget for 'All Years' and also for 'Year 1';• Budget must cover all activities planned - in line with the

proposed Action;• Budget must be realistic and cost-effective;• Only eligible costs shall be included in the Budget;• Provide a narrative clarification of each budget item -

necessity of the costs and how they relate to the action (e.g. through references to the activities in the Description of the Action);

• Provide a justification of the calculation of the estimated costs. Note that the estimation should be based on real costs.

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ELIGIBILITY OF COSTS(Section 2.1.5 of Guidelines and Art. 14 of Annex GII - General Conditions)

Please read carefully before you start preparing a budget

Annex Kand

The implementation of grant contracts —

A Users' Guide available at

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/companion/document.do?nodeNumber=19 /

in particular:•Point 19.3.1. Article 14 - Eligible costs•Point 19.3.3. Article 16 - Accounts and technical and financial checks

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ELIGIBILITY OF COSTS• Eligible costs are actual costs incurred during

the implementation of the Action;

• ONLY eligible costs are covered by a grant;

• The budget is both a cost estimate and a ceiling for eligible costs;

• The costs must be reasonable, justified and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.

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ELIGIBLE DIRECT COSTS• Costs of staff assigned to the Action, corresponding to

actual gross salaries;• Travel and subsistence costs for staff and other

persons taking part in the Action;• Purchase of equipment and supplies specifically for

the purposes of the Action;• Costs of consumables;• Costs of contracts awarded by the Beneficiary(ies);• Costs deriving from the Grant Contract (e.g.

dissemination of information, evaluation specific to the Action, audits, translation, reproduction);

• Duties, taxes and charges paid and non-recoverable (Annex J).

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SIMPLIFIED COST OPTIONSTotal amount of simplified costs for any of the applicants

cannot exceed EUR 60,000• unit costs: covering all or certain specific categories of

eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance by reference to an amount per unit (e.g. working month, small local transport);

• lump sums: covering in global terms all or certain specific

categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance (e.g. events, videos);

• flat-rate financing: covering specific categories of eligible costs which are clearly identified in advance by applying a percentage fixed ex ante (e.g. local office costs).

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BUDGET: 1 Human resources• Staff costs are eligible provided that the staff are essential to the

implementation of the Action and are explicitly mentioned in the project proposal;

• As a general rule, costs of HQ staff should be covered by indirect costs. Only if:

– They relate to the achievement of the Action's operational results and have accordingly been identified as an operational activity in the description of the Action,

– They cover the actual presence of HQ staff in the field (e.g. specific monitoring missions, needs assessment, etc.).

• Salaries and costs must not exceed those normally borne by the Beneficiary(ies) unless it is justified by showing that it is essential to carry out the action (only for new staff or new functions);

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BUDGET: 1 Human resources•If staff are not working full time on the Action, the percentage should be indicated alongside the description of the item and reflected in the number of units (not the unit value);

•Experts/Consultants recruited with a service contract is to be considered as "contractors". Procurement rules set out in Annex IV apply. They should be included in budget heading 5 (Other costs); Exception possible, only when:

– all conditions describing a de facto situation of subordination, as in a traditional labour contract (regardless of the legal form) are respected, and

– the national applicable legislation allows for a de facto employee to be hired under a service contract.

•Per diems are considered as eligible costs provided they do not exceed those normally borne by the Beneficiary(ies) according to its rules and regulations, nor the rates published by the European Commission at the time of a mission.

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BUDGET: 2 Travel• Travel costs for staff and other persons taking part in the

Action;

• Indicate the place of departure and the destination. If information is not available, enter a global amount;

• Clarify modalities for local transport (i.e. car, bus, train).

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BUDGET: 3 Equipment and supplies• Only if deemed necessary specifically for the purposes of the Action;• Unless otherwise clearly specified in the Description of the Action all

equipment, vehicles and supplies must be transferred to the final beneficiaries of the Action, at the latest when submitting the final report. If there are no final beneficiaries to whom this may be transferred, then to:

– local authorities– local Beneficiary(ies)– local affiliated entiy(ies)– another action funded by the European Union– or, exceptionally, retain ownership of these items

• Copies of the proofs of transfers of equipment and vehicles, for which the purchase cost was more than EUR 5,000 per item, must be attached to the final report. Such proofs must be kept for control in all other cases.

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BUDGET: 4 Local office• No need to set-up a specific office for a project, unless duly justified;• Costs for using Beneficiary(s) office(s) are normally considered to be

included in the Indirect costs (Heading 8, please note the change);• However, in cases where administrative and running costs can be

accurately identified and accounted for in the budget as direct eligible costs and backed up with documents that prove that those costs are related to the proposed action only, the Applicant may choose to budget such costs as eligible direct costs instead of including them under the Indirect costs.

Note that provisions/estimates/pro-rata approaches do not represent real costs and can therefore not be accepted as

direct costs actually incurred

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BUDGET: 5 Other costs, servicesProcurement of services must follow the rules set in Annex IV to the

contract (contract award procedures).Here should be budgeted only the costs which are fully subcontracted

• Publications;• Studies, research;• Expenditure verification/Audit;• Evaluation costs;• Translation, interpretation;• Financial services (e.g. bank transfer costs);• Costs of conferences/seminars; this should not include travelling and

subsistence allowances for participants (these must be budgeted under relevant budget headings);

• Visibility actions (Communication and visibility activities should be properly planned and budgeted at each stage of the project implementation).

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BUDGET: 6 Other

• Please give details on these "other" costs

• If the costs budgeted under budget heading (BH) 6 are related to the other BHs in the budget, then these costs should be presented under the relevant BHs

BUDGET: 8 Indirect Costs• May not be identified as specific costs directly linked to

the Action and therefore →• may not be booked directly to the Action, however →• they are incurred by the Beneficiary(ies) in connection

with the eligible direct costs.

• Indirect costs are eligible provided that they do not include costs assigned to another heading of the Budget;

• Maximum 7% of total direct eligible costs;• The applicant may be asked to justify the requested

percentage before contracting.

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BUDGET: 10 Contingency Reserve

• A reserve for contingencies and/or possible fluctuations in exchange rates;

• Maximum 5% of direct eligible costs;

• For necessary adjustments due to unforeseeable changes on the ground;

• Requires duly justified request;

• Prior written authorisation has to be obtained.

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CONTRIBUTIONS IN KIND• Provision of goods or services to the Beneficiary(ies) or

Affiliated entities free of charge by a third party;• May not be treated as co-financing;• Do not represent actual expenditure;• Not eligible costs;• If the Description of the Action as proposed includes

contributions in kind, the contributions have to be made.

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NON-ELIGIBLE COSTS• 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, unless

otherwise specified in the Special Conditions and only to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the Action were not undertaken.

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TAXES• Duties, taxes and charges paid and non

recoverable (Annex J) are eligible;

• Where the beneficiary can show it cannot reclaim, taxes should be included in each relevant heading of the budget. Taxes that can be reclaimed are not considered as eligible costs.

Most common budgeting mistakes

• Salaries exceed those normally born by the beneficiaries;• Overestimated/unreasonable costs in the context of market

prices and the real needs of the Action are budgeted;• Clarification of the budget items and justification for the

number of units and unit values provided in the 2nd sheet of the budget are insufficient;

• Indirect costs are budgeted as direct and later no supporting documents can be provided to proof exact amounts directly related to the Action (e.g. office related costs);

• Instructions concerning presentation of taxes are not followed;• Instructions for simplified costs options (Annex K) are not

followed.

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ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION• Performed only for the provisionally selected

Applications;• Any rejected Application will be replaced by the

next best placed Application in the reserve list that falls within the available financial envelope;

• Supporting documents have to be provided through PADOR (or submitted in form of originals or copies) (English language);

• Legal entity file (LEF) and Financial identification form (FIF) always in original.

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CONTRACTING AUTHORITY’S DECISION

The Applicants will be informed in writing

of the Contracting Authority’s decision concerning their Application

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THANK YOU!