Call for proposals to set up a “European Digital Academy”

Deadline: Nov 21, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

Digitisation is transforming the world we live and work in, creating many opportunities for the economy and society. To take advantage of these opportunities, all Europeans – children, students, adults, workers and seniors – need to acquire and develop digital skills and competences throughout their lives. Concretely, this means people need to have basic digital skills for example to use digital health services, to identify disinformation and protect themselves against cyber threats as well as to stay in touch with family and friends to be well included in society. Digital technology is also changing the workplace, labour markets and employment patterns. Therefore, the current and future labour force needs to be supported in order to up-skill and re-skill, to be able to use digital technology at work, work alongside robots in industry, manage artificial intelligence (AI) tools in healthcare, use digital marketing techniques and in general reap the many benefits of the changing task composition in existing and future jobs. To sustain Europe’s competitiveness, we also need digital experts who can develop and deploy cutting-edge digital technologies such as AI, cybersecurity or high-performance computing.

However, although 90% of jobs in all sectors of the economy require digital skills, 35% of the labour force does not have basic digital skills. This figure amounts to 43% for the overall population.1 In order to address these digital skills gaps, the European Commission launched several initiatives over the past few years.

Since December 2016, the Digital Skills and Jobs Coalition2 aims at offering more ICT training through pledges by stakeholders from industry, academia and civil society, implementing job placement programmes, and motivating young people to study ICT and pursue related careers. It also encourages Member States to develop comprehensive national digital skills strategies and to establish National Coalitions for Digital Skills and Jobs involving governments, businesses, as well as education, training and labour market stakeholders to tackle locally the lack of digital skills.

In December 2017, the Commission launched the Digital Opportunity Traineeship pilot3 initiative to respond to the challenge of mismatch between the qualifications of young people leaving education and the needs of companies in terms of digital skills. The trainees will learn basic and advanced digital skills in fields like cybersecurity, big data or machine learning, or boost their knowledge in areas like web design, digital marketing or software development.

In January 2018, the Commission adopted the Digital Education Action Plan4 that focuses on formal education (schools, VET and higher education) and sets out how education and training systems can make better use of digital technologies, notably to boost digital skills and competences. Among others, the Plan announced to bring coding classes to a majority of schools in Europe, including by increasing participation in EU Code Week.5

The forthcoming Digital Europe Programme (DEP)6 features a dedicated pillar for the development of advanced digital skills in specific fields such as AI, cybersecurity and HPC. The goal is to expand the EU digital talent pool that can deploy the latest technologies.

In 2019 the Commission supported the development of a digital service infrastructure, the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal7, a user-friendly “one stop shop” on the Europa.eu domain, where stakeholders and any user interested in digital skills will find relevant information and resources on digital skills and jobs. The Portal will serve a European, multilingual, open membership community of students, employees, unemployed, enterprises, SMEs, universities and other education providers, policy makers, digital innovation hubs, cyber security centres, and other stakeholders interested in digital skills training offers/traineeship, good practices, skills intelligence/data, training resources, funding opportunities, news, and events.

This initiative, financed by the CEF Telecom Work Programme aims at making accessible digital skills initiatives, good practices and financing opportunities all over Europe and at supporting an active online-animated community. Its objective is also to enable learning across sectors and borders and offering services to students and job seekers that have difficulties to identify relevant training/traineeship opportunities and enterprises that need support in training employees.

The Portal will also be linked to national web sites interoperable with the core Portal and is also a tool supporting the future skills pillar of the Digital Europe Programme, therefore expected to increasingly offer services and resources in the advanced skills domain, as an enabler for excellence and innovation in the European training offer and supporting project development.

Commission decision C(2018) 6834 on the financing of Pilot Projects and Preparatory Actions in the field of “Communication Networks, Content and Technology” also foresees the financing of actions related to the development of digital skills.

The Preparatory Action “Open Knowledge Technologies – Mapping and Validating Knowledge” aims at the development of a European-wide skills assessment and learning system using the DigComp framework.

The Preparatory Action at hand, “Creating a European Digital Academy” aims at addressing some of the skills-related challenges of the impact of digitization by showcasing possible solutions. It also offers an opportunity to address citizens’ concerns towards emerging digital technologies, notably by offering training resources to all citizens.

OBJECTIVE(S) – THEME(S) – PRIORITIES

2.1 General objectives and scope

The first objective of the European Digital Academy (“the Academy”) Preparatory Action is to disseminate knowledge on emerging digital technologies to interested Europeans to help them to re-skill and upskill. The target group includes not only individuals, but small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), too. This goal should be achieved mainly by innovative new training modules, but also through knowledge sharing (e.g. best practices) and networking.

Europeans need to be empowered, on the one hand, to understand better the real impacts and opportunities offered by such technologies, and on the other hand, they need to be equipped with the relevant knowledge, basic skills and competences to be able to benefit from such technologies in everyday life and in the workplace. Acquiring this knowledge is particularly important for SMEs in order to benefit from digital transformation when doing business, innovating and scaling up. These emerging technologies include in particular: Artificial Intelligence, blockchain technology, robotics, Internet of Things as well as overarching topics such as data analytics, technologies related to privacy protection and cyber security. The proposals submitted under this call shall cover at least three of the abovementioned technologies.

As a preparatory action, this initiative should contribute to gathering skills intelligence, leaning opportunities, resources and good/innovative practices to be promoted on the Digital Skills and Jobs Portal, paving the way for future actions of the Digital Europe Programme skills pillar in the domain of emerging technologies as well as other European funding programmes.

The Academy should feed the European Portal for Digital Skills and Jobs, by focusing on emerging digital technologies for citizens and SMEs, and being a launchpad for those who want to advance their knowledge and skills further in these areas for work related purposes. The Academy and related outreach activities should be designed so that it attracts in particular the interest of those groups that constitute the untapped potential of the future European labour force: young people, students and women (the latter being drastically under- represented in digital economy jobs).

The European Portal for Digital Skills and Jobs will collect, manage, promote and optimise existing digital skills development resources in at European level and in Member States, gathered and developed by the National Digital Skills and Jobs Coalitions and other members of the Digital Skills and Jobs Community that will also have a community engagement space on the Portal. The Academy should support existing efforts to extend the network of stakeholders active in digital skills development to additional actors, especially strengthening the involvement of vocational education and training providers, providers of training and learning solutions, digital innovation hubs and alike.

The activities of the Academy – in particular the training modules - should also be ready to be seamlessly integrated with the self-assessment tools and other features to be developed under the preparatory action “Open Knowledge Technologies – Mapping and Validating Knowledge”.

The European Commission expects projects to cover at least fifteen EU Member States, with a minimum coverage of the following official EU languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and four more EU languages.

2.2 Specific objectives

2.2.1. Map the European educational and training landscape (trainings, initiatives, MOOCs, training curricula, assessment tools, best practices, important actors, etc.) for the everyday and workplace related use of emerging digital technologies for citizens and SMEs (“supply side”).

2.2.2. Map and identify the skills needs of citizens and SMEs in terms of the everyday and general workplace related use of emerging digital technologies (“demand side”).

2.2.3. Based on the results of points 2.2.1. and 2.2.2., develop new, innovative, specific online training or online skills development modules for at least three of the emerging digital technologies mentioned in point 2.1.

The modules should address the use of these technologies both in everyday life as well as in the workplace.

2.2.4. Complement the stakeholder community of the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal with stakeholders active in skills development for emerging digital technologies (“supply side”, i.e. vocational education and training providers, providers of training and learning solutions, digital innovation hubs and alike) and with those in need for relevant skills (“demand side”, in particular SME networks) .

2.2.5. Set up and manage a website that integrates the results of points 2.2.1 – 2.2.4. The content generated by the project shall be made available on the European Portal for Digital Skills and Jobs.

The Academy shall also create meaningful synergies with other similar platforms and tools contributing to the implementation of the European Commission’s policy on digital skills, in particular the European Portal for Digital Skills and Jobs, EU CodeWeek, the Digital Opportunity Traineeships pilot and in particular the Open Knowledge Technologies – Mapping and Validating Knowledge.

2.2.6. Actively promote the Academy.

2.3. Main tasks
2.3.1. Methodology (starting in month 1 until month 4)

The project shall be developed following a clear methodology covering all aspects and each task of the project. Applicants are free to propose the specific methodology, taking into account the context and objectives of the project.

The balance between the efforts devoted to each specific objective of the project should be reasonable and well-justified.

The selected beneficiary or consortium (hereafter “beneficiary”) will address the tasks in a flexible way, allowing possible changes in focus and iterations on findings with the EU Commission as well as the relevant related projects. The beneficiary should show the capacity to adapt and react to possible changes and this should be reflected in the proposed methodology.

The beneficiary shall participate in meetings (or conference calls) with the Commission for preparing and coordinating the activities and tasks described below.

2.3.2. Mapping and assessment (starting in month 1 until month 5) The beneficiary shall conduct a comprehensive mapping of the

•   existing public and private initiatives on training opportunities in the European Union for citizens on emerging digital technologies; this mapping shall also include available (self-) assessment tools, best practices

•   actors and networks of actors active in providing the abovementioned trainings and knowledge dissemination (e.g. national and regional training centres, private training providers, educational facilities, etc.).

•   skills needs of citizens and SMEs in terms of emerging digital technologies, both for everyday use and in the workplace

The Beneficiary shall identify the gaps between existing training opportunities, knowledge sources and the actual needs of citizens and SMEs as outlined above.

The Applicant will need to present the results of the mapping activities (skills needs, existing trainings initiatives, MOOCs, assessment tools, good practices, and public learning resources) in the format8 that is suitable to integrate those in the relevant sections of the Core Portal on Digital Skills and Jobs. This integration might be planned from Q42020 onwards.

The same applies with regard to the project Open Knowledge Technologies from 2020 onwards.

2.3.3. Development of new, innovative online training modules (starting in month 6 until month 17)

Based on the results of the mapping, the Beneficiary shall develop new, innovative online training and skills development modules for at least three of the emerging digital technologies mentioned in point 2.1. The purpose of these modules is twofold. On the one hand, they shall train citizens and SMEs on the applications of emerging digital technologies in everyday life and the workplace, and on the other hand they shall equip them with first basic knowledge and skills in case they 1) wish to pursue a career in these technologies in the future (for citizens) or 2) aim at applying these technologies when doing business (for SMEs).

The beneficiary shall prepare the concept and methodology for the training modules by month 9.

2.3.4. Initiate a network of relevant stakeholders (starting in month 5 until month 16)

The beneficiary shall develop a concept on how to engage new stakeholders mentioned in point 2.2.4. and integrate them into the stakeholder network and community of the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal with at least 50 Members from at least 20 EU Member States.

The beneficiary – on the basis of the concept paper approved by the Commission - shall engage actively with new stakeholders mentioned in point 2.2.4.

2.3.5. Setting up and management of the website of the European Digital Academy

(starting in month 6 until month 18)

The beneficiary shall develop a concept for the creation, management, functioning and regular update of a website for the European Digital Academy,

The website shall be linked (depending on the case) in a meaningful manner to the already existing European digital skills development platforms and websites such as EU Code Week.

 

In particular, the content generated by the project shall be made available on the forthcoming European Portal for Digital Skills and Jobs which is the emerging one-stop shop for activities related to digital skills development.

The website shall be developed in a way that all European citizens and SMEs interested in digital skills for emerging technologies, irrespective of their level of digital competence, can have access to the information relevant to their specific needs.

The website shall include at least the following functionalities:

• -  Open access, free of charge

• -  Link to other similar European and national platforms on digital skills

• -  Training modules on emerging digital technologies (see point 2.3.3.)

• -  Repository of relevant information on emerging digital technologies development in Europe and in the Member States, including relevant training resources, best practices and assessment and self-assessment tools

• -  Functionalities that are able to create synergies among the abovementioned information and resources and help citizens to visualise potential carrier and learning paths in emerging digital skills

• -  Search function

The website shall ensure appropriate compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). When relevant and lawful, the beneficiary(ies) will comply with the obligation to inform the individuals by sending privacy notices and by obtaining consent. The notice regarding the information on the publication of personal data, or the consent request, will need to refer not only to the publication on the website, but also on any further publication of the same information on the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal or other national websites connected to the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal which might republish the information in their national languages. The same should apply to personal data with regard to the Open Knowledge Technologies project.

The website shall comply with European and/or national level cybersecurity rules as applicable.

The website will need to provide Application Programming Interface (API) endpoints based on modalities defined by the Commission for certain data types (to be described in the specific technical specifications on technical standards), allowing developers to interact with the site remotely and helping them read content from the Portal. The API will expose the data of the website and will enable communication and interactions with any other Commission Portal. 9.

The Interface of the website shall be available at least in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and four more EU languages. The content on the website should be available in all the above languages at least for the new, innovative training modules on emerging digital technologies. The applicant shall propose user-friendly solutions for the use of languages for other content elements. English should be the default language of the website in terms of content presentation.

 

The website shall be available at least in the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Polish and four more EU languages.

The beneficiary – on the basis of the concept paper approved by the Commission - shall set up the website and ensure its management and regular update for the duration of the project.

2.3.6. Outreach

The beneficiary shall develop and implement an outreach strategy to reach the broader public – especially SMEs, students, young adults and women – to inform them and motivate them to take part in the activities offered by the Academy. The strategy should describe its proposed approach, timing and milestones for executing the elements of the strategy.

The beneficiary will also:

•   Provide communication content / materials in the abovementioned 10 official EU languages, including messages for social media, visuals, graphic design, brochures and project infographics etc.

•   Perform an online multi-lingual communication campaign trough traditional media such as emails as well as social media – Twitter, Facebook, blog posts, videos – to reach the target groups. A desirable frequency of input on social media could be around one blog post per week, at least one Tweet post per day and three FB posts per week. The beneficiary shall find /provide the posts also on the basis of the news of the relevant communities (e.g. retweet significant news) to build and maintain a community of relevant stakeholders.

•   Organise a series of face-to-face and online meetings with relevant stakeholders

Following the approval of the strategy by the Commission, the applicant shall implement it.

Expected results

1. Providing access to existing, useful practical knowledge (e.g. initiatives, best practices), skills assessment and skills development opportunities to citizens interested in emerging digital technologies, also through the European Digital Skills and Jobs Portal and in integration with the Open Knowledge Technologies project.

2. New, innovative online training and online skills development modules for at least three of the emerging digital technologies mentioned in point 2.1. These modules shall train citizens and SMEs on the applications of emerging digital technologies in everyday life and the workplace, and shall equip them with first basic knowledge and skills in case they 1) wish to pursue a career in these technologies in the future (for citizens) or 2) aim at applying these technologies when doing business (for SMEs).

3. supporting existing efforts to extend the network of stakeholders active in digital skills development to additional actors, especially strengthening the involvement of vocational education and training providers, providers of training and learning solutions, digital innovation hubs and alike and with those in need for relevant skills, in particular SMEs.

4. The “European Digital Academy” website

 

Concretely, this project should create a tangible impact in terms of the citizens and SMEs reached, users completing various types of training modules and new stakeholders engaged

Continuous interaction with the European Commission is crucial to achieve successfully the general and specific objectives and to ensure a high degree of synergies with other projects funded by the Commission.

 

TIMETABLE

(a) Publication of the call

11 October 2019

(b) Deadline for submitting applications

21 November 2019

(c) Evaluation period

Second half of November 2019

(d) Information to applicants

December 2019

(e) Signature of grant agreement

December 2019

Implementation period
The envisaged implementation period of activities should be 18 calendar months.

 

BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this call for proposals is estimated at €1.700.000 (one million seven hundred thousand Euros). This sum shall cover 70% of the eligible costs of the project plus indirect costs (calculated on the basis of a flat rate of 7% on the direct costs).

The Commission expects to fund one proposal.

The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.

 

ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

The following formal requirements must be complied with in order for the proposal to proceed to the evaluation stage:

•   Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section “TIMETABLE” (date of post stamp).

•   Applications sent by other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses will be rejected.

•   Applications must be submitted in writing and on USB key (see section “PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS”), using the application form available on the website: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/news- redirect/660169

•   Applications shall contain all the mandatory documents. Incomplete applications may be rejected.

•   Applications must be drafted in English.

Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.

 

ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Eligibility criteria are used to determine whether an applicant is allowed to participate in the call for proposals and to submit a proposal for an action. They apply to applicants and to the activities for which a grant is applied for.

Eligible applicants

Proposals may be submitted by any of the following applicants:

 Legal entities established in EU member States

Country of establishment

Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible: (i) EU Member States;

Consortium requirements

In case of a proposal written by a consortium, in order to be eligible, the proposal must be submitted by a consortium composed of at least 2 legal entities;

By way of exception, an application may be submitted by one applicant, whether established specifically or not for the action, provided that:

(i) it is formed of several legal entities complying with the eligibility, non-exclusion and selection criteria set out in this call for proposals, and implementing together the proposed action;

(ii) the application identifies the said entities.

For the purpose of declaring eligible costs as specified under section 11.3, the entities composing the applicant shall be treated as affiliated entities in accordance with Article 187 of the Financial Regulation.

Supporting documents

In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:

Examples of supporting documents

- private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

•   public entity: copy of the resolution, decision or other official document establishing the public-law entity ;

•   natural persons: photocopy of identity card and/or passport; certificate of liability to VAT, if applicable (e.g. some self-employed persons)

•  entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf.

In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above supporting documents shall apply to each applicant and the consortium members have to sign a mandate between the main applicant and each of the consortium members that will participate in the project.

Eligible activities

Types of activities carried out by the beneficiary which are eligible under this call for proposals include:

• -  planning, design, implementation, co-ordination and management of the project;

• -  activities related to knowledge management, dissemination and training in emerging digital technologies, in particular Artificial Intelligence, blockchain technology, robotics, Internet of Things, as well as overarching topics such as data analytics, privacy and cyber security;

• -  studies, analyses, action plans and mapping activities directly related to the project;

• -  planning, design, integration, implementation, development of training modules;

• -  planning, design, development and management of a website for stakeholder communities and a knowledge hub;

• -  Documentation of content and data for handover at the end of the project;

• -  awareness-raising, training and dissemination activities;

• -  organisation of workshops, meetings, conferences, seminars, including financing participation of invited experts and stakeholders;

• -  actions aiming at the creation and improving of networks, exchanges of good practices;

 

EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Exclusion from participation

The authorising officer shall exclude an applicant from participating in call for proposals procedures where:

(a)  the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, it is in an arrangement with creditors, its business activities are suspended, or it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under EU or national laws or regulations;

(b)  it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the applicable law;

(c)  it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

• (i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of eligibility or selection criteria or in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision;

2. (ii)  entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;

3. (iii)  violating intellectual property rights;

4. (iv)  attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Commission during the award procedure;

5. (v)  attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d)  it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the following:

3. (iii)  fraud, within the meaning of Article 3 of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 of the European Parliament and of the Council and Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

4. (iv)  corruption, as defined in Article 4(2) of Directive (EU) 2017/1371 or Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, or conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, or corruption as defined in the applicable law;

5. (v)  conduct related to a criminal organisation, as referred to in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

6. (vi)  money laundering or terrorist financing within the meaning of Article 1(3), (4) and (5) of Directive (EU) 2015/849 of the European Parliament and of the Council;

7. (vii)  terrorist offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

8. (viii)  child labour or other offences concerning trafficking in human beings as referred to in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(e)  the applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the performance of a contract, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union's budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

(f)  it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95;

(g)  It has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that the applicant has created an entity in a different jurisdiction with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or any other legal obligations of mandatory application in the jurisdiction of its registered office, central administration or principal place of business;

(h)  it has been established by a final judgement or final administrative decision that an entity has been created with the intent referred to in point (g);

(i) for the situations referred to in points (c) to (h) above, the applicant is subject to:

3. (ii)  facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by European Public Prosecutor's Office after its establishment, the Court of Auditors, the European Anti-Fraud Office or the internal auditor, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;

4. (iii)  non-final judgments or non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;

5. (iv)  facts referred to in decisions of persons or entities being entrusted with EU budget implementation tasks;

6. (v)  information transmitted by Member States implementing Union funds;

7. (vi)  decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of Union competition law or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law; or

8. (vii)  decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

Remedial measures

If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above (see section 7.4), it must indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. This may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to correct the conduct and prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines or of any taxes or social security contributions. The relevant documentary evidence which illustrates the remedial measures taken must be provided in annex to the declaration. This does not apply for situations referred in point (d) of section 7.1.

Rejection from the call for proposals

The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:

1. (a)  is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.1; or

2. (b)  has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information; or

3. (c)  was previously involved in the preparation of documents used in the award procedure where this entails a breach of the principle of equal treatment, including distortion of competition, that cannot be remedied otherwise.

Administrative sanctions (exclusion) may be imposed on applicants, if any of the declarations or information provided as a condition for participating in this procedure prove to be false.

Supporting documents

Applicants must provide a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 136(1) and 141 FR, by filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals and available at https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/call-proposals-set-european-digital- academy

This obligation may be fulfilled in one of the following ways: (a). for mono-beneficiary grants:

1. (i)  the applicant signs a declaration in its name and on behalf of its affiliated entities; OR

2. (ii)  the applicant and its affiliated entities each sign a separate declaration in their own

   name.

(b). for multi-beneficiary grants:

1. (i)  the coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on behalf of all applicants and their affiliated entities; OR

2. (ii)  each applicant in the consortium signs a declaration in its name and on behalf of its affiliated entities; OR

3. (iii)  each applicant in the consortium and the affiliated entities each sign a separate declaration in their own name.

 

SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants must have the financial and operational capacity required to implement and complete the proposed action, as well as solid experience in the field.

Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

a) Grants for an action > EUR 750 000 or operating grants > EUR 100 000:

1. (i)  the information and supporting documents mentioned in point b) above, and

2. (ii)  an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last year available, where such an audit report is available or whenever a statutory report is required by law.

   If the audit report is not available AND a statutory report is not required by law, a self-declaration signed by the applicant's authorised representative certifying the validity of its accounts for the last financial year available must be provided.

   In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above thresholds apply to each applicant.

In the case of legal entities forming one applicant (the "sole applicant"), as specified in section 6.1, the above requirements apply to each one of those entities.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Commission considers that financial capacity is weak, s/he may:

•   request further information;

•   decide not to give pre-financing;

•   decide to give pre-financing paid in instalments;

•   decide to give pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);

•  where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co- beneficiaries.

If the RAO considered that the financial capacity is insufficient s/he will reject the application.

Operational capacity
In the case of legal entities forming one applicant (the "sole" applicant) the below mentioned

requirements apply to each one of those entities.

Applicants must have the professional competencies and appropriate qualifications necessary to complete all the objectives and tasks defined in this call for proposals.

Applicants must have the expertise and personnel available to complete all the objectives and tasks defined in this call for proposals.

To assess these capacities the applicants shall submit

•   The curriculum vitae and the description of the profile of the project manager and the experts responsible for managing and implementing the specific tasks

•   The organisations activity reports from the last two years

•   An exhaustive list of previous projects and activities performed and connected to the policy field (emerging digital technologies) and to the specific tasks to be carried out (training module development, network and platform building, outreach, etc) . For each item on the list, the applicant shall describe how the project or activity is relevant to the objectives and tasks of this call for proposals.

The Europass curriculum vitae template (available at http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/europass/home/hornav/Introduction.csp) shall be filled in by each person involved in the execution of the tasks foreseen in the call for proposal.

Continuity of the service: the applicants shall confirm the continuity of the team possessing the profile and qualifications mentioned above for the whole duration of the execution of the tasks. They shall inform the contracting authority without delay of any modification occurring in the team delivering the service.

 

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