CEF Telecom Call - Public Open Data

Deadline: Nov 14, 2019  
CALL EXPIRED

The general context for this call for proposals is defined in section 3.6 of the 2019 Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) Telecom Work Programme1 as published on the call page on the Innovation and Networks Executive Agency (INEA) website.2 The background and rationale for this call for proposals are defined in section 3.6.1 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme.

2. PRIORITIES & OBJECTIVES

2.1 Priority outcomes

The priority outcomes of this call for proposals are defined in section 3.6.2.2 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme.

All actions selected under this call will include mandatory compliance testing as determined by the Commission service responsible for the European Data Portal.

Applicants who already received CEF funding under previous CEF Telecom Public Open Data calls and who plan to apply again under this call must clearly explain in the relevant section of application form part D of their proposal (notably section 1 and/or 2.1) how their proposed Action will build on and/or differ from the Action(s) funded under the previous call(s).

Agence exécutive pour l'innovation et les réseaux /Uitvoerend Agentschap innovatie en netwerken, 1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË - Tel. +32 22991111

Proposed Actions must address the generation of cross-border and/or cross-domain services re-using information made discoverable/available through the European Data Portal in combination with other sources of information. This means that data should be drawn from at least two different sources, where applicable, and/or be relevant for more than one Member State in terms of geographical data coverage and/or usefulness.

Proposals addressing domains or areas of geographic coverage that need further improvement in terms of content, interoperability and quality of data are encouraged, as well as proposals that would lead to the improvement of existing data platforms. In this respect, proposals must clearly substantiate how such step change improvements will be attained.

Proposals must address all of the issues listed below:

- Support the deployment of new innovative services by integrating/developing ecosystems supported by open platforms, and by making use of static and/or real time data accessed or made accessible, where appropriate, via suitable existing or newly developed Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) (including the CEF Context Broker Building Block).

- Harmonisation in terms of data content: including level of detail, where applicable (e.g. equivalent granularity in case of geospatial data), data structure, and semantics.

- Address both technical and legal issues, therefore including the adoption of harmonised conditions for re-use (be it through direct access or through a provided service). For example, to address legal issues, a convergence of licencing conditions for open data in Europe can be considered, inter alia, by way of progressive alignment of licencing conditions in existing national licences (reduction of ambiguity due to different ways of formulating identical conditions). Machine readability must also be addressed.

- Address priority domains as defined in European Commission notice 2014/C 240/01 "Guidelines on recommended standard licences, datasets and charging for the reuse of documents"3 and in annex I to Directive (EU) 2019/1024 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 20 June 2019 on open data and the re-use of public sector information4 (i.e. the domains of geospatial, earth observation and environment, meteorological, statistics, companies and company ownership, mobility). Other categories can be considered, when duly justified (e.g. relevance to strategic goals, market developments, etc.).

- Facilitate the re-use of data, both at the level of source data and at the level of data dissemination, making use, as much as possible, of existing or newly developed APIs.

- Assess the effects of their implemented solutions by providing concrete Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), and collect examples of re-use, in order to evaluate the foreseen benefits for citizens and/or businesses.

- Datasets generated by the Actions will have to be discoverable and available through one or more Member State open data portals and through the European Data Portal.

In addition, proposals may also support the deployment of mature open data infrastructures within one or more Member States, facilitating the harmonisation/interoperability across different domains and/or different government levels.

In the case of actions addressing real time data, the use of the CEF Context Broker Building Block should be the privileged solution where appropriate; in which case the proposal should include one or both of these elements:

1. Deployment of a Context Broker solution, i.e. as an implementation of the NGSI-LD API technical specification;
2. Upgrade of Smart City, Internet of Things (IOT) or other domain solutions to support, and duly comply with the NGSI-LD API technical specification

Results expected from the financial assistance

The benefits and expected outcomes of this call for proposals are defined in section 3.6.2.3 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme, namely to improve the availability of harmonised content at the EU level making it easier to re-use this data across borders and across sectors.

The private sector will benefit through the development of value-added services. The public sector will also benefit through the combination of public data and supercomputing, while public authorities at all levels of government, including cities, will benefit through the streamlining of the production of interoperable content and its re- use. The public will benefit through increased transparency and availability of innovative services, and through an expected increase in the efficiency of public services.

The Commission expects this Digital Service Infrastructure (DSI) to have a significant long-term impact on the development of the Digital Single Market for innovative ICT- based services. High value sectors, such as geo-location, tourism, transport, education, marketing, and decision support systems, will benefit from more abundant, cross-border availability of public open data. This DSI should also create solutions that benefit the economy and society.

3. TIMETABLE

Date of publication of call for proposals

Thursday 4 July 2019

Deadline for the submission of proposals

Thursday 14 November 2019 (17:00.00 Brussels time)

Evaluation of proposals

December 2019 – February 2020 (indicative)

Consultation of the CEF Committee

April 2020 (indicative)

Adoption of the Selection Decision

May 2020 (indicative)

Preparation and signature of grant agreements

Between May and August 2020 (indicative)

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects under this call for proposals is estimated at €5 million.

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

The Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant.

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

In order to be admissible, proposals must be:

•   Submitted no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3 on Timetable;

•   Submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application forms5 and electronic submission system available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/tentec/grant/esubmission.6 In this respect, proposals or part(s) of proposals submitted by e-mail or hard copy will not be admissible;

•   Complete, i.e. all parts of the application form (A, B, C or D) are complete and uploaded in TENtec;

•   Duly signed by the applicant(s).

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

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

6.1 Eligible applicants

In accordance with the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme and pursuant to Article 9 of the CEF Regulation7, only those proposals submitted by the following types of applicants are eligible:

 One or more Member States;
 With the agreement of the Member State(s) or EEA countr(y)ies concerned,

international organisations, Joint Undertakings,8 or public or private undertakings or bodies established in Member States.

EEA countries

In accordance with section 5.3.1 of the 2019 – 2020 Work Programme, European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries which are members of the European Economic Area (EEA) may participate9 in the call for proposals, even when not explicitly mentioned in the Work Programme text, with the same rights, obligations and requirements as EU Member States. At the time of call publication, these conditions apply to Norway and Iceland only.

Consortium requirements

In order to be eligible, a proposal must be submitted by a consortium composed of at least two entities (where at least one is a public sector body), based in one or more Member States and/or EEA countries participating in the CEF Telecom programme.

For British applicants: Please be aware that eligibility criteria must be complied with for the entire duration of the grant. If the United Kingdom withdraws from the EU during the grant period without concluding an agreement with the EU ensuring in particular that British applicants continue to be eligible, you will cease to receive EU funding (while continuing, where possible, to participate) or be required to leave the project on the basis of Article II.16.3.1 (a) (change of the legal situation of the beneficiary) of the grant agreement.10

Third countries and third country entities

Where necessary to achieve the objectives of a given project of common interest and where duly motivated, third countries and entities established in third countries may participate in actions contributing to the projects of common interest. They may not receive funding under the CEF Regulation, except where it is indispensable to achieve the objectives of a given project of common interest.

Acceding states and candidate countries benefiting from a pre-accession strategy may also participate in the sector of the CEF covering telecommunications infrastructure in accordance with agreements signed with the EU. As at the time of call publication no such agreements have been signed, the same conditions as for third countries apply to acceding states and candidate countries.

Third countries and entities established in third countries may only participate as part of a consortium with applicants from EU/EEA countries. The application must contain the agreement of the Member State concerned by the proposed Action and a declaration from the European partner involved in the proposal on why the participation of the third country applicant is indispensable. Applicants that are entities established in a third country must also provide proof of the support of the third country authorities concerned by the action.

Applicants without legal personality

Proposals may be submitted by entities which do not have legal personality under the applicable national law, provided that their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and offer a guarantee for the protection of the EU's financial interests equivalent to that offered by legal persons.

Natural persons

Proposals submitted by natural persons are not eligible.

Affiliated entities

Applicants may designate affiliated entities within the meaning of Article 187 of the Financial Regulation, for the purpose of supporting the implementation of the action submitted for funding. Such affiliated entities must comply with the eligibility criteria for applicants.

Member State agreement

Any applicant that cannot provide the agreement of the EU Member State or EEA country concerned will not be eligible.

6.2 Eligible actions

In line with Article 7 of the CEF Regulation, only actions contributing to "projects of common interest" as identified in the Telecom Guidelines11 shall be eligible for support through EU financial aid in the form of grants.

Please note that failure to comply with any of the eligibility criteria indicated above will lead to the rejection of the application.

Implementation period

The Action may not start before the date of submission of the application12.

Indicative duration

The indicative duration of an Action proposed under this call is 3 years.

7 EXCLUSION CRITERIA

Exclusion

applicant shall be excluded from participating in call for proposals procedures where:

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

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;
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:

1. (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/Agency during the award procedure;

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

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

1. (i)  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;

2. (ii)  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

(d) conduct referred to in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision

3. (iii)  conduct related to a criminal organisation, as referred to in Article 2 of

   Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

4. (iv)  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;

5. (v)  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;

6. (vi)  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;

5. (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;

6. (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;

7. (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;

8. (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);

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

   1. (i)  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;

   2. (ii)  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;

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

   4. (iv)  information transmitted by Member States implementing Union funds;

   5. (v)  decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition law or of a national competent authority relating to the

      infringement of Union or national competition law; or

   6. (vi)  decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a

      European office or of an EU agency or body.

7.2 Remedial measures

If an applicant/affiliated entity declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above (see section 7.1), 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.

7.3 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.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities. Applicants and their affiliated entities, if applicable, must certify that they are not in one of the situations listed above.

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

7.4 Supporting documents

Applicants and affiliated entities 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 application form Part B1 (for applicants) or B2 (for affiliated entities) accompanying the call for proposals and available at under the "Application Forms" section of the call webpage: https://ec.europa.eu/inea/en/connecting-europe-facility/cef- telecom/apply-funding/2019-public-open-data.

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection criteria are referred to in Annex 2 of the Work Programme. The financial and operational capacity of applicants and designated affiliated entities will be assessed as specified below.

The requirement to demonstrate financial and operational capacity also applies to designated affiliated entities only where, according to the proposal, the affiliated entity(ies) will be the only one(s) implementing the proposed Action.

Exceptions: The requirement for applicants to demonstrate their financial and operational capacity does not apply to Member States, public sector undertakings or bodies established in the EU/EEA countries (Norway and Iceland), third countries, international organisations, European Economic Interest Groupings (EEIG)13 in which at least one member is a public sector body, and Joint Undertakings.

Applicants are requested to register in the Participant Register and provide a Participant Identification Code (PIC, 9-digit number), serving as the unique identifier of their organisation. More information is available in the guidance on "Rules on Legal Entity Validation, LEAR appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment14" and in the instructions indicated in the Application Form Part B template.

8.1 Financial capacity

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the duration of the grant and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the supporting documents requested by the Commission services:

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