Implementation of the Technical Assistance...Dates Category Title City Country Beneficiary/Partner 30 - 31 May 2017 Workshop TAIEX Multi-country Workshop on the Use of IPARD Measure

Agricultureand Rural Development

Implementation of the Technical Assistance

measure

Brussels, 14 December 2018

Agenda for today

• Introduction

• Flowchart of the Technical Assistance measure

• Discuss the annex 2 of the invitation letter

• State of play in the respective countries

• Lunchbreak

• Presentation of some successful TA projects

• Discuss Technical Assistance issues

• Discuss IPARD II issues

• Conclusions by you

Introduction

Introduction by Mario MILOUCHEV director AGRI.E

entrustment of budget implementation tasks

upcoming entrustment request

1 Investments in physical assets of agricultural holdings 1 1 1 3 2

3Investments in physical assets concerning processing

and marketing of agricultural and fishery products 1 1 1 2 2

4Agri-environment- climate and organic farming

measure 1

5Implementation of local development strategies –

LEADER approachreceived

6 Investments in Rural Public Infrastructure received

7 Farm diversification and business development 1 1 2

9 Technical assistance

MeasuresNo

number indicates the number of calls

AL ME MK RS TR

How to find the way?

• DG AGRI building floor 5 = DG MARE building floor 3

• Take always the right corridor….

• Left corridor from AGRI > MARE

• Right corridor from MARE > AGRI

• Follow the signs….

<link>

8. Eligible expenditure

Under this measure, the following actions are eligible provided they are covered by the

provisional indicative technical assistance action plan:

a) Expenditures on meetings of the Monitoring Committee, including cost of all experts and other

participants, where their presence is considered to be necessary to ensure the effective work of the

committee.

b) Other expenditure necessary to discharge responsibilities of the Monitoring Committee which falls

under the following categories:

expert assistance to consider and review programme baselines and indicators;

experts to assist or advise the Monitoring Committee concerning implementation and functioning

of the monitoring arrangements;

expenditure associated with meetings and ancillary tasks of working groups;

seminars.

c) Expenditure on information and publicity campaigns, including costs of printing and distribution.

d) Cost of translation and interpretation provided in response to requests by the Commission, not including

those required pursuant to application of the framework, sectoral and financing agreements.

e) Expenditure associated with visits and seminars. Each visit and seminar shall require the submission of a

timely written report to the Monitoring Committee.

f) Expenditure associated with "acquisition of skills" to prepare potential LAGs for the implementation of

the measure "Preparation and implementation of local rural development strategies – Leader approach".

g) Expenditure associated with the preparation, or streamlining of implementation, of measures in the

programme to ensure their effectiveness including those measures where application is foreseen at a

later stage.

h) Expenditure for evaluations of the programme.

i) Expenditure associated with the establishment and operation of a national network supporting the

coordination of activities preparing and implementing local rural development strategies. This can also

cover expenditure associated with the future establishment of a national rural development network in

line with the EU rules for Member States as well as the expenditure linked to participation in the

European Network for Rural Development.

j) A level of salary support which takes into account remuneration levels on the labour market in order to

retain staff and build/keep know-how in the administration. Introduction of this expenditure can only be

done after prior approval of the Commission and may be limited in time.

The eligible expenditure shall be further detailed in the 'list of eligible expenditure'.

eligible expenditure Measure Techncial Assistance_copied from measure fiche.docx

Dates Category Title City Country Beneficiary/Partner

30 - 31 May 2017 WorkshopTAIEX Multi-country Workshop on the Use of IPARD

Measure Technical Assistance Troyan,Pravetz BG AL, ME, MK, RS and TR

15 - 16 Nov 2016 WorkshopTAIEX Multi-country Workshop on Using Measure

Technical Assistance to Prepare for Implementing LEADERZagreb HR AL, KOS, ME, MK, RS and TR

07 Jun 2016 Workshop

TAIEX Multi-Country Workshop on the Use of PRAG for

IPARD Measures on Technical Assistance and Rural

Infrastructure

Zagreb HR AL, ME, MK, RS and TR

18 - 20 Sep 2017 Study Visit

TAIEX Study Visit on Internal Procedures for

Implementing the Measure "Technical Assistance" under

IPARD II Programme

Zagreb HR ME

04 - 08 Apr 2016Expert

Mission

TAIEX Expert Mission on the Implementation of the

Technical Assistance Measure of IPARD IIPodgorica ME ME

02 - 04 May 2018Expert

Mission

TAIEX Expert Mission on the Implementation of Technical

Assistance Measure under the IPARD II Programme 2014-

2020

Skopje MK MK

22 - 25 Feb 2016 Study Visit

Study Visit on Implementation of Instrument for Pre-

Accession Assistance in Rural Development (IPARD)

Measure 501 'Technical Assistance'

Zagreb HR MK

18 - 20 May 2015Expert

Mission

Expert Mission on the implementation of the Technical

Assistance measure of IPARDBelgrade RS RS

24 - 28 Jun 2013Expert

Mission

Expert mission on rural development (IPARD) focusing on

the technical assistance measureAnkara TR TR

15 - 17 Jan 2013 Study VisitStudy visit on examination and analysis of on the spot

control practices over the Technical Assistance MeasureZagreb HR TR

23 - 26 Apr 2012 Study Visit Study visit on technical assistance measure - monitoring Budapest HU TR

28 Nov - 01 Dec 2011Expert

Mission

Expert mission on Technical assistance procedures for

IPARDAnkara TR TR

Flowchart of the Technical Assistance measure

• See separate document at your desk <link>

• Small excursion to PRAG

Discuss the annex 2 of the invitation letter

• xxxxx

181109 TR invitation for Technical Assistance meeting.pdf

Question/issue Answer/approach

How detailed should the list of eligible

expenditure (LEE) be for measure 9 Technical

Assistance?

This is up to the national authorities.

The LEE should be detailed/clear enough to avoid any

misinterpretation and any abuse of public funds.

The proposed list of eligible expenditure (LEE) needs to be

forwarded to DG AGRI which will notify its acceptance or will

provide comments (See Article 33(2) SA)

MK LEE is available as an example

TR LEE is available as an example

Requirements according to the regulatory framework for the Technical Assistance measure


The recipient under measure 9 Technical

Assistance (TA) is the Managing Authority

(MA), but other IPARD entities can benefit as

well.

How can the IPARD Agency and NAO services

benefit from the TA measure?

The measure 9 Technical Assistance supports costs associated

with the implementation of the programme. As the Managing

Authority is responsible for implementing the IPARD II

programme it is logical that the MA is the recipient for this

measure.

Other IPARD entities and stakeholders can benefit from

activities under the TA measure which the MA considers

necessary for the proper implementation of the IPARD II

programme.

For example:

- Specific trainings for staff of IPARD entities and other

stakeholders

- Hiring of specific expertise for IPARD entities

Also the purchase of data or a data base license, to be used by

the IPARD Agency, for performing checks on the SME status

of an applicant, is considered eligible under measure 9

'Technical Assistance'.



How detailed should the annual action plan be

for the intended operations in accordance with

Article 8(5) SA be?

This is up to the national authorities.

It should contain the foreseen TA activities including an

indicative budget. It needs to be approved annually by the

IPARD II monitoring committee.

(see article 52(10) SA)

MK plan is available as an example

TR plan is available as an example


List of eligible expenditure (LEE)


As a contracting authority the MA must draft

the 'term(s) of reference' for the contract(s)

The MA needs to have or to develop the necessary skills for

drafting terms of reference, or reviewing skills in case external

expertise is hired for this.

Support may be provided by the EU Delegation.

As a contracting authority the MA must monitor

the implementation of the

contract(s)/project(s)

The MA needs to develop the necessary skills for monitoring

the implementation of the contract(s).

Support may be provided by the EU Delegation.


<link>


How and when to perform on-the-spot-

verifications for the projects under the TA

measure?

Based on Article 12(1) SA on-the-spot verifications shall be

carried out on all applications for support (so at the application

stage) and on all payment requests (so at the payment stage).

The added value of on-the-spot verifications at the application

stage could be considered questionable for the majority of the

TA projects, therefore is there an exception in Article 12(1):

"However in exceptional circumstances, duly recorded and

explained, [IPA II beneficiary] can decide that an on-the-spot

verification is not necessary."

The IPA II beneficiary should use that exception if applicable

(duly recorded and explained!!).

Is the possibility of 'an exception' covered in the IPARD

Agency's 'on-the-spot-verifications' procedure?

Develop a standard form for 'recording and explaining'?

Not each individual activity of a (bigger) TA project needs to

be checked.


on-the-spot verifications.docx


What would the principle of proportionality

(Article 41(10) SA /Article 50(4) SA) mean for

TA projects?

The principle of proportionality would mean that some

deviations from the (original) project application should be

possible given the circumstances under which the project is/has

been implemented.

Such deviations should be granted on exceptional basis due to

circumstances outside the control of the recipient, based on a

motivated decision.



PRAG annexes should not be put in the

entrustment package.

PRAG is regularly updated and each update would trigger an

approval procedure for the NAO services, to assess the update

of the manual.

The valid version of PRAG at the moment of publication of

the call for tender is the version of PRAG to be used

throughout the full public procurement procedure.

In the entrustment package a simple reference made in the

procedures that 'the PRAG version valid at the moment of

publication of the call for tender' should be sufficient.

Procurement And Grants for EU external actions_PRAG practical guide


What if PRAG does not fit in the national

context?

The national authorities can ask the Commission for

derogations and/or exceptions of PRAG.

This could be done in the entrustment package for the

Technical Assistance measure but also afterwards.

Derogations are deviations from established processes and procedures

which are explicitly allowed for by the applicable rules but nevertheless

require adequate justification. Derogations are approved by the

Commission before action is taken (ex-ante).

Exceptions are deviations from established processes and procedures

which are not specifically allowed for by the applicable rules. Exceptions

are not a breach of rules or procedures. They are approved by the

Commission before action is taken (ex-ante).



Can the national authorities use the DEVCO

FWC

Yes, the respective EU delegation should assist in this process.

In TR, the national authorities decided not to use the

Framework contract approach.

In MK actually the MA's procedure for procurement was

accepted and accredited including the Framework contract

approach (see Section 4.1 of the MA's manual of

implementation of TA.



The Early Warning System (EWS) is an EC

internal alert tool, containing restricted

information concerning third parties likely to

represent a threat to the EU financial interests

in the form of warnings. How to consult this

system?

Access to Early Warning System is a good example of an

'exception' under PRAG (see above). Usually this is done via

the EU Delegation because the Managing Authority does not

have the access rights to this database and normally it is the EU

Delegation that runs the query for the bidders in the EWS and

provides the output to the MA.



The challenge of the cash flow

….eligible costs are reimbursed, but need to be

paid earlier to the contractor.

In the Sectoral Agreement two possible (partly) solutions are

provided:

• Prepayments at contract signature phase is covered via Article

11(3)(a) SA: "…Contractual pre-financing by a contracting

authority may qualify as eligible expenditure up to 10% of the

amount of the contract."

• Advance payments are also possible, based on Sectoral

Agreement, Annex 2, section 3, D:

"Payments of advances qualify as eligible expenditure up to

10% of the public aid related to the project and shall be subject

to the establishment of a bank guarantee or an equivalent

guarantee corresponding to 110 % of the amount of the

advance. Advances cannot be paid in combination with pre-

financing as provided for in Article 11(3)(a)."

Other 'bridge' financing should come from the national budget

and needs to be agreed before starting the implementation of

the TA measure!

Other


The challenge of the cash flow

The financial flow for the measure 9 Technical Assistance is a big challenge.

The Managing Authority in fact needs to ‘pre-finance’ the expenditure, but most

often the Managing Authority lacks the financial means for this.

In the Sectoral Agreement there is the possibility of advance payments in Annex

2 (3)(D): “Payments of advances qualify as eligible expenditure up to 10% of

the public aid related to the project and shall be subject to the establishment of a

bank guarantee or an equivalent guarantee corresponding to 110 % of the amount

of the advance.

Could this provision be interpreted in a way that an advance payments of 10% of

the public aid under the 'annual plan for TA activities' would be considered as

eligible expenditure?

Using the ‘advance payment’ in this way is without a risk, because it is covered

by a (bank) guarantee and on top, the recipient is a public institution – the MA.

It would enable the Managing Authority to improve the implementation of the

Technical Assistance measure considerable!

In the TR example, 10% of the TA action plan 2018, would mean EUR 165.550.

In the MK example, 10% of the TA action plan 2018, would mean EUR 37.526.

It is legally acceptable that

advances in the case of TA

relate to the “annual plan for

TA activities”.

..... allowing advances for the

“annual plan for TA

activities” … cannot

circumvent the requirement

that a guarantee covering

110% of the advanced

payment is to be obtained.

This ensures that the

objective of protecting the

financial interests of the

Union is not jeopardised.

Other

State of play in the respective countries

• AL, ME, MK and RS

• TR will present after the lunch break

Lunchbreak

Presentation of some successful TA projects (and main difficulties encountered in the implementation)

• Burhan Aksu from the TR Managing Authority

Discussion of any issue raised by the participants concerning the measure Technical Assistance

• The floor is yours!

Discussion of any issue raised by the participants concerning IPARD II

• The floor is yours!

Conclusions and follow-up

• AL, ME and RS

• MK and TR

Documents

Implementation of the Technical Assistance...Dates Category Title City Country Beneficiary/Partner 30 - 31 May 2017 Workshop TAIEX Multi-country Workshop on the Use of IPARD Measure