European Social Fund Pilot Joint Action Plan - VP/2018/010

Deadline: Jul 19, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

1.1. Programme/Legal base

This call for proposals is published under Article 118 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006 (CPR) and the 2017 annual work programme1 for the operational technical assistance at the initiative of the Commission in the framework of the European Social Fund.

1.2. Policy and economic background

The European Social Funds' contribution to the 'Europe 2020 strategy'

The European Council of 17 June 2010 called for all common policies, including cohesion policy, to support the Europe 2020 Strategy for smart, sustainable and inclusive growth (the 'Europe 2020 strategy'). Key objectives of this strategy, particularly as regards employment, education, training and the fight against social exclusion, poverty and discrimination, are addressed by the European Social Fund (ESF). The ESF furthermore contributes to policy initiatives on long term unemployment, youth unemployment, integration of migrants and the skills agenda.

Implementation of the ESF

The traditional model of implementation is based on grants and repayable assistance to beneficiaries. However, the CPR also introduced Joint Action Plans (JAPs) as an innovative new delivery mechanism for the European Structural and Investment Funds. Under a JAP, reimbursement by the Commission to the beneficiary is strictly on the basis of outputs and/or results achieved, thus focusing on the impact of an action and less on documenting the use of resources.

The concept of a JAP is very much in line with the Commission's initiative Budget Focused on Results (BFOR) and the ongoing efforts on simplification for beneficiaries and programme authorities.

1.3. Main Purposes

The objective of this pilot action is to strengthen national and regional capacity in Member States to prepare, design and implement JAPs by sharing experience and disseminating information derived from the implementation of one or several pilot JAPs.

A pilot JAP is to be understood as an operation implemented between the Commission and partner bodies under the rules of direct management, based broadly on the rules for implementation of a JAP as set out in Articles 104 – 109 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013.

Lessons learned from the pilot JAP would also facilitate an assessment of the potential and desirability of Joint Action Plans for the post 2020 period.

 

2. OBJECTIVE(S) – PRIORITIES – TYPES OF ACTIONS - EXPECTED RESULTS

2.1. Objectives - Priorities

The Commission promotes the use of innovative financing tools like JAPs in order to shift the focus towards outputs and results. The pilot JAP will contribute to achieving the goals and objectives of the ESF as described above. The supported area will depend on the proposal(s) selected.

2.2. Description of the activities to be funded / Type of actions

This call is intended to provide a financial support to finance pilot Joint Action Plans (JAPs), i.e.

- a set of complementary actions which are carried out by at least two organisations under the responsibility of the beneficiary with the aim to address a challenge identified in the pilot JAP areas (see below)

- based on an intervention logic, providing a logical link between the development needs, objectives, outputs and results with milestones and targets, and (types of) projects envisaged

- with a reimbursement of costs on the basis of actually achieved outputs and/or results. The mix of output and/or results indicators may differ between and within proposals. It is possible for some project costs to be proposed to be reimbursed primarily based on actually achieved outputs, and for others to be reimbursed primarily based on actually achieved results, or a combination of both.

Ongoing actions may be included into the pilot JAP proposals provided that no double- funding takes place. Investment in infrastructure is excluded; depreciation costs for equipment are eligible.

The financial support of the Commission will take the form of an action grants providing a reimbursement on the basis of unit cost(s), and/or lump sum(s)

Pilot JAP areas:
The pilot JAPs to be financed under the call shall aim

- to support the achievement of a Member State’s Country Specific Recommendations2 relevant to the investment priorities listed under Article 3(1)(a) to (c) of Regulation (EU) 1304/2013

- and/or to support the Commission’s policy initiatives relating to Long Term Unemployment3, Youth Unemployment4, Integration of Migrants5 and the Skills Agenda6.

2.3. Expected outputs/results

Outputs are directly produced or supplied through the implementation of the pilot JAP's projects. They should be linked to the activities planned and should contribute to the results. The results shall reflect the pilot JAP’s direct effects on participants or entities involved — for example, a change in employment status upon leaving. The results shall be linked to the pilot JAP’s objectives.

Outputs and results need to be clearly defined. Targets and, where appropriate, milestones shall be quantified through the use of realistic and measurable indicators.

Example:

Outputs and results for projects of the pilot JAP may look like this:

• Project 1: Provision of individualised pathways for participants (coaching) Output: NEETs7 under 25 having finished pathway activities
Result: NEETs under 25 in supported employment or education/training

• Project 2: Provision of basic skills training
Output: NEETs under 25 with ISCED 0, 1 or 2 having finished a basic skills training Result: NEETs under 25 who gained an increased ISCED qualification8

• Project 3: Support for entrepreneurship
Output: NEETs aged 20-24 in start-up counselling
Result (immediate): NEETs aged 20-24 who established a start-up
Result (long term): NEETs aged 20-24 who sustained a start-up for X months

2.4. Monitoring

In addition, the Commission, with the support of an external contractor, may monitor the project regularly. In this case, beneficiaries will have to transmit qualitative and quantitative monitoring data on the milestones, processes, cost, outputs and results of the activities.

 

 

3. TIMETABLE

a) Publication of the call
18th April 2018

b) Deadline for questions and requests for clarification
9th July 2018

c) Deadlines for submitting proposals
19th July/2018
Swim, Courier and Post : 24:00 Brussels' time (CET)
Hand deliveries 16:00 Brussels' time (CET)

d) Evaluation period (indicative)
Submission deadline + 8 weeks

e) Information to applicants (indicative)
Submission deadline + 4 month9

f) Signature of the grant agreement (indicative)
Submission deadline + 5 month10

g) Starting date of the action (indicative)
November/2018

3.1. Starting date and duration of the projects

The actual starting date of the action will either be the first day following the date when the last of the two parties signs the grant agreement or a date agreed upon between the parties.

Applicants should note that if their project is selected, they may receive the grant agreement after the start date of the action that they have indicatively set in the application form. It is therefore advisable to number the months in the work programme instead of indicating the name of the month.

Any expenditure incurred before the signature of the Grant Agreement will be at the applicant’s risk.

A project's duration shall indicatively be between 12 and 18 months.

 

4. AVAILABLE BUDGET AND CO-FINANCING RATE

4.1. Available Budget

The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at 2,3 million EUR.

And in any case no later than 6 months after the submission deadline.
 

The Commission expects to fund 1 to 3 proposals.

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

The Commission reserves the right to increase the amount of the funds and distribute them to proposals admitted in the reserve list, provide that additional budget is made available. This top-up is limited to 20% of the initial budget of the call.

4.2. Co-financing rate

Under this call for proposals, the EU grant may not exceed 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action. The applicants must guarantee their co-financing of the remaining amount covered by the applicants' own resources or from other sources other than the European Union budget11.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

•   Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submission referred to in section 3

•   Applications must be submitted using the electronic submission system available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim, and by sending a signed, printed version of the application form and its annexes by post or courier service (see section 12)

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

Applicants are encouraged to submit their project proposal in English in order to facilitate the treatment of the proposals and speed up the evaluation process. It should be noted, however, that proposals in all official languages of the EU will be accepted. In this case, applications shall be accompanied by an executive summary and a description of the methodology to establish the budget and the unit cost(s)/lump sum(s) in English (checklist point 10).

 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

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, British beneficiaries 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.7.2.1(a) (for mono-beneficiary) and Article II.17.3.1(a) (multi-beneficiary) of the grant agreement"

6.1. Eligibility of the applicants (lead and co-applicants) and affiliated entities12

Each eligible organisation can participate in not more than two project proposals under the present call.

a) Place of establishment

Legal entities properly established and registered in the following countries are eligible as lead applicant and co-applicants:

 EU Member States b) Type of entities

To be eligible, the lead or sole applicant must be a:

 public body (national, regional, local) including public university or educational institution (no international public entity).

Co-applicants must be:

•   public bodies (national, regional, local), including public universities and educational institutions (no international public entity);

•   non-profit organisations;

•   private universities or educational institutions;

•   public or private research centres or institutes;

•   social enterprises or social partner organisation at European13, national or regional level (in application of Article 131 of the Financial Regulation, social partner organisations without legal personality are also eligible provided that the conditions of the Financial Regulation related thereto are met14);]

c) Consortia15
Actions may involve consortia.

In the case of a proposal submitted by one (sole) applicant, if that applicant is considered not eligible, the application will be rejected.

 

In the case of consortia, if the lead applicant is considered not eligible, the application will be rejected. If a co-applicant is considered not eligible, this organisation would be removed from the consortium and the proposal would be evaluated on that basis. In addition, the costs that allocated to a non-eligible co-applicant would be removed from the budget.

d) Affiliated entities

Legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation and which satisfy the eligibility criteria, may take part in the action as affiliated entities.

For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form.

6.2. Eligible activities

a) Geographical Location
To be eligible, actions must be fully carried out in EU Member States.

b) Types of activities
The grant will finance the activities indicated in section 2.2. c) Core activities

The following activities are considered to be core activities and shall not be subcontracted:  Management of the project

In case of consortia, coordination activities shall be performed by the lead applicant.

 

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion

Applicants (lead and co-applicants) must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in article 106(1) and 107.1(b) and (c) of the Financial Regulation concerning exclusion and rejection from the procedure respectively, using the relevant form attached to the application form available at https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim/external/displayWelcome.do

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

7.2. Rejection from the call for proposals

The Commission shall not award a grant to an applicant who : a. is in an exclusion situation;

b. has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply this information;

c. was previously involved in the preparation of calls for proposals documents where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to any affiliated entities which must, therefore, be included in the above-mentioned declaration(s).

Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, or affiliated entities where applicable, who are guilty of misrepresentation.

 

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

The applicant (lead and co-applicant) must have the financial and operational capacity to complete the activity for which funding is requested. Only entities with the necessary financial and operational capacity may be considered for a grant.

8.1. Financial capacity

Applicants (lead and co-applicant(s)) must have access to solid and adequate funding to maintain their activities for the period of the action and to finance it as necessary.

The verification of financial capacity will not apply to public bodies.

The applicant's financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

•   Declaration on honour (including financial capacity to carry out the activity) (see section 14, checklist point 3);

•   Annual balance sheets and profit and loss accounts for the last financial year available (see section 14, checklist point 13);

•   Summary balance sheet and profit and loss accounts using the template provided in SWIM (see section 12) and signed by the legal representative (see section 14, checklist point 14).

In addition, the Commission will take into account any other relevant information on financial capacity provided by the applicant and in particular the information provided in section F.2 of the SWIM16 application form.

•  For grants exceeding EUR 750 000, an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available except for education and training establishments and, in case of agreements with a number of beneficiaries, beneficiaries who have accepted joint and several liabilities or who do not bear any financial responsibility (see section 14, checklist point 15).

If a sole or lead applicant is considered not to have a strong financial capacity, the application as a whole will be rejected.

If a co-applicant or several co-applicants are considered not to have a strong financial capacity, the Commission will also take into account any other relevant information on the financial capacity provided by the applicant and in particular the information provided in section "Financial Resources" of the SWIM application form.

After this further analysis, the Commission will take various proportional measures depending on the level of weaknesses identified, which may be to:

o reject the whole application;
o remove the co-applicant from the consortium and re-evaluate the proposal

without this co-applicant;
o propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;
o propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing paid in several instalments;
o propose a grant agreement with pre-financing payment(s) covered by (a) financial guarantee(s);

o propose a grant agreement with joint financial liability of 2 or more applicants.

8.2. Operational capacity

Applicants (lead and co-applicant(s)) must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In particular:

•   The consortium as a whole or the sole applicant must have demonstrable experience of having already carried out projects relating to the pilot JAP area;

•   Each consortium member or sole applicant must have the necessary operational resources (technical, management) to carry out the action;

  The operational capacity of the applicant (lead and co-applicant) to complete the proposed action must be confirmed by the submission in the proposal of the following:

•   A list of the main projects relating to the pilot JAP area carried out in the last three years (see section 14, checklist point 12);

•   The CVs of the proposed project co-ordinator and of the persons who will perform the main tasks, showing all their relevant professional experience (see section 14, checklist point 11);

•   Declaration on honour signed by the legal representative (including operational capacity to carry out the activity) (see section 14, checklist point 3).

If the sole or lead applicant is considered not to have the required operational capacity, the application as a whole will be rejected. If a co-applicant is considered not to have the required operational capacity, this co-applicant will be removed from the consortium and the application will be evaluated without this co-applicant17. In addition, the costs that are allocated to the non-selected co-applicant will be removed from the budget. If the application is accepted, the work programme will have to be adapted as appropriate.

 

9. AWARD CRITERIA

The proposals which fulfil the eligibility and selection criteria will be assessed according to the following award criteria:

 

This includes a re-evaluation of the eligibility of the modified consortium. 

•   Relevance to objectives and priorities of the call (Max. 20 point) Particular attention will be paid to:

  • o an analysis of the development needs and objectives justifying it; o the general and specific objectives of the pilot JAP.

•   Quality of the framework and methodology (Max. 40 point) Particular attention will be paid to:

  • o the intervention logic (i.e. the link between the analysis of the development needs, objectives, outputs and results with milestones and targets, types of projects envisaged);
  • o the indicators used to monitor outputs and results (based on realistic, feasible, relevant and measurable assumptions and targets).
  • o the reference to and respect of relevant quality standards

•   Dissemination of results, communication and visibility (Max. 10 point)

  Particular attention will be paid to:

  • o how knowledge gained will be shared with partners across the EU.

•   Cost efficiency (Max. 30 point) Particular attention will be paid to:

  • o the methodology to define the unit cost(s)/lump sum(s);

  • o the quality of the underlying data forming the basis of the calculation.

Applications will be ranked according to the total score awarded. Taking into account the available budget, the proposals with the highest total scores will be recommended for award, on condition that:

• the total score reaches at least 65% of the maximum possible mark;
• the score for the criterion Quality of the framework and methodology is at least 30 points;
• the score for the criterion Cost efficiency is at least 20 points. 

 

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant being awarded by the Commission, a grant agreement, drawn up in euro and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary, or to the coordinator in the case of multi-beneficiary grant agreements.

The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed by the beneficiary, or the coordinator in the case of multi-beneficiary grant agreements, and returned to the Commission immediately. The Commission will sign it last.

The grant agreement may include corrections and deletion of ineligible costs or activities made by the Commission – therefore the applicant should carefully read the whole agreement and the budget and work programme sections in particular, before signing and returning the copies to the Commission.

The applicant model Grant Agreement is published on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en. There is no alternative to this model agreement in the context of this call.

 

Please note that the award of a grant does not establish an entitlement for subsequent years.

 

11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

The following methods of reimbursement shall be applied to reimburse activities:

•   Unit costs declared on the basis of outputs and/or results

•   Lump sums declared on the basis of outputs and/or results The unit costs and lump sums shall cover all costs of the action which are: (a) direct costs (direct staff costs and other direct costs)

(b) indirect costs.

The eligible costs taken into account will be categories of costs that are necessary to implement actions listed under section 2.2. Costs considered as ineligible according to Article 69 of Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 and Article 13 of Regulation (EU) No 1304/2013 may not be taken into account.

11.1. Method to establish the budget

Payments to the beneficiaries are solely based on actually achieved outputs and/or results. The respective unit costs or lump sums are calculated based on information provided by the applicant and assessed by the Commission during the evaluation process.

The proposal from the beneficiary will set out all the activities envisaged as well as expected outputs and/or results with targets and milestones (if applicable). Each expected output, result or milestone (for lump sums) shall have a corresponding estimated amount, based on either unit costs or lump sums.

The sum of those estimated amounts will represent the budget of the action or the total eligible costs.

The applicant needs to provide those estimated amounts which must be based on a detailed calculation and explanation of the methodology retained to determine the budget required to implement the action. A particular attention should be paid to the following:
- That only eligible categories of costs are feeding into the calculation of the unit costs or lump sums as stipulated below.

- That the method for calculating the unit costs and lump sum proposed by the applicant complies with the principles of no profit, co- financing and no double financing
- That the amounts obtained by applying this method represent a reliable proxy of the actual costs.

The total budget may be calculated based on the following calculation methods according to the different cost types:

(a) Calculation method for determining the value of direct costs

(a.1) Direct staff costs:
The following methodologies may be used for determining direct staff costs:

1. statistical data or similar objective means;

2. certified or auditable historical data of the applicant;

3. the usual cost accounting practices of the applicant;

4. existing unit costs or lump sums in Commission Delegated Regulation 2015/2195 (as amended) for similar operations;

5. scales of unit costs, flat rates and lump sums applicable in Union policies for a similar type of operation and beneficiary.

Direct staff costs correspond to the sum of the basic salary, other statutory costs, social security contributions and taxes on wages as well as pension contributions.

Other statutory costs:

1.   These costs cover additional pays in form of statutory benefits linked to specific functions, responsibilities and/or conditions, as well as specific salary components that are not paid on a monthly basis (e.g. Christmas or holiday allowances, additional month's pay at the end of the year, etc.). Due to the diversity of national legislative conditions for remunerating personnel, it is not possible to give an exhaustive list of eligible cost components. In principle, these costs can be included where they are in line with the beneficiary's usual policy on remuneration and in compliance with national legislation.

2.   However, non-statutory, non-mandatory and discretionary premiums or bonuses are not eligible.

Social security contributions and taxes on wages:

•  These costs cover the employer's social contributions such as insurance contributions, payments for healthcare, labour disability, unemployment and taxes on wages.

Pension contributions:

1. Example: the value of such unit costs may be obtained by dividing the total cost baseline value by the number of participants expected to successfully complete a training (output indicator) or engage in employment following a training and individual coaching (result indicator).

The Commission will assess the expected outputs and/or results and the resulting unit costs or lump sum.

 These costs cover the employer's pension contributions, including those for early retirement, but excluding provisions paid to pension funds, reserves, etc.

Where the staff costs are calculated by reference to the usual cost accounting practices of the applicant, the Commission may accept the estimated value of such costs provided the following conditions are fulfilled:

(i) the cost accounting practices used constitute the applicant's usual cost accounting practices and are applied in a consistent manner, based on objective criteria independent from the source of funding;

(ii) the estimated costs can be directly reconciled with the amounts recorded in the applicant's general accounts;

(iii) the categories of costs used for the purpose of determining the estimated costs are exclusive of any ineligible cost or costs covered elsewhere;

(iv) Any hourly, daily or half-daily rate is calculated using the number of annual productive units (respectively productive hours, days or half-days). For that purpose the applicant may apply the standard number of annual hours or days or half-days generally applied for its staff in accordance with its usual cost accounting practices. This number must be at least 90% of the standard annual workable hours or days or half-days.

The annual workable hours or days or half-days mean the period during which the staff must be working, at the applicant’s disposal and carrying out his/her activity or duties under the employment contract, applicable collective labour agreement or national working time legislation.

(b) Calculation method for the value of costs other than direct staff costs:

(b.1) The value of other costs (indirect costs18 and other direct costs as described respectively under (b) (a.2) above, such as rent, accommodation, meals, publicity, travel, and participants' allowances) may be calculated as a flat rate of 40 % of the direct staff costs estimated according to point (a).

(b.2) Other direct costs (apart from direct staff costs)
Direct costs may be established and justified in line with the estimation of costs necessary to implement the activities, broken down per category of costs. The estimation shall be in line with Article 67(5) of Regulation (EU) No. 1303/2013 provided the conditions set out in that article are satisfied.

(c) Calculation method for indirect costs

Indirect costs may only take the form of flat rates. They shall be either included in the 40% flat rate set out under point (b.1) above or established as authorised by Article 68(1) of Regulation (EU) No. 1303/201319 provided the conditions set out in that article are satisfied.

The budget may also be based on another method proposed by the applicant provided such a method ensures compliance with the principles of co-financing, no profit and no double financing, and is based on any of the means indicated in Article 124(2)(c)(i) or (ii) of Regulation (EU, Euratom) No 966/2012;

Budget will be calculated through any combination of points (a) to (c) ensuring no overlap of categories of costs.

11.2 Defining unit costs or lump sums based on outputs/results

The total budget referred to in point 11.1 will serve as a basis for defining unit costs or lump sums which payment is triggered by actually achieved outputs or results. The expected outputs and/or results need to be duly justified by the applicant.

 

The fulfilment of the above conditions triggering the payment of the unit costs will be checked at the latest before the payment of the balance. In addition, the fulfilment of those conditions may be subject to ex-post controls.

The beneficiary will not be required to report on the costs actually incurred for the implementation, only on the actually achieved outputs and/or results.

Details on financial provisions are laid out in the Financial Guidelines for Applicants and the model Grant Agreement, both published on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en.

 

12. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

The Internet Web application called "SWIM" (Subventions Web Input Module) shall be used by applicants to introduce, edit, validate, submit and print grant applications, and by beneficiaries for the requests for payments and modifications of the budget estimate. SWIM can be accessed through the following web address20: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim.

The final financial statement and the final implementation report shall also be submitted via SWIM.

12.1 Introduction of grant applications

The grant application form has to be filled in electronically as follows: first, access the system at the address mentioned above and select the number of the call for proposals you wish to apply for in the box "New grant application", enter your e-mail address and then fill in your application. Once your application is completed, click on the "submission" button in order to finalise the submission procedure. Please note that after submitting your application form electronically no changes to the application are possible.

After electronic submission, the application form must also be printed out, signed by the legal representative of the organization submitting the proposal and sent by post to the responsible Unit, as specified in the text of the call for proposals.

Failure to respect this procedure will render the application ineligible.

Currently the submission on-line only is not possible. However, DG EMPL is working to phase out paper submission in the future.

12.2 Requests for payments (pre-financing and balance) and budgetary modifications

In addition to the documents specified in the grant agreement, financial documents required in support of requests for further pre-financing payments (if applicable) and for payment of the balance must also be submitted electronically using SWIM, as well as by post duly signed by the legal representative.

To be allowed to log on to SWIM and to access its grant file, the beneficiary will be asked to enter the same credentials (ECAS user21) used to submit the grant application.

Before starting, please read carefully the SWIM user manual:

http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/calls/pdf/swim_manual_en.pdf

Once the application form is filled in, applicants must submit it both electronically and in hard copy, before the deadline set in section 3 above.

The SWIM electronic application form is available until midnight on the day of the submission deadline. Since the applicants must first submit the form electronically, and then print, sign and send it by post service or hand delivery by the submission deadline, it is the applicant's responsibility to ensure that the appropriate postal or courier services are locally available on the day of the deadline.

The hard copy of the proposal must be duly signed and sent in 3 (one marked “original” and 2 marked “copy”), including all documents listed in section 14, by the deadline set in section 3(c), either by registered post, express courier service or hand delivery.

Address for registered post or express courier service:

European Commission
NOT TO BE OPENED BY CENTRAL MAIL SERVICE Call for proposals VP/2018/010 – DG EMPL
CAD J-27 – 00/120
B-1049 Bruxelles - BELGIUM

Evidence of posting or express courier deposit slip should be kept as it could be requested by the European Commission in cases of doubt regarding the date of submission.

a) registered post evidence : postmark
b) express courier service evidence : deposit slip of express courier service

Hand-delivered proposals must be received by the European Commission by 4 p.m. of the date indicated in section 3 at the following address:

European Commission
Service central de réception du courrier
NOT TO BE OPENED BY CENTRAL MAIL SERVICE Call for proposals VP/2018/010 – DG EMPL.F1 Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Evere

At that time the European Commission's Mail Service will provide a signed receipt which should be conserved as proof of delivery.

If an applicant submits more than one proposal, each proposal must be submitted separately.

Additional documents sent by post, by fax or by electronic mail after the deadlines mentioned above will not be considered for evaluation unless requested by the European Commission.

The applicant's attention is also drawn to the fact that incomplete or unsigned forms, hand- written forms and those sent by fax or e-mail will not be taken into consideration.

 

13. COMMUNICATION

Contacts between the Commission and potential applicants can only take place in certain circumstances and under the following conditions only:

Before the final date for submission of proposals

Any requests for additional information must be made by e-mail only to the coordinates stated below.

The information contained in the present call document together with the Financial Guidelines for Applicants provides all the information you require to submit an application. Please read it carefully before doing so, paying particular attention to the priorities of the present call.

 

All enquiries must be made by e-mail only to: empl-vp-2018-010@ec.europa.eu
For any technical problems please contact: empl-swim-support@ec.europa.eu

 

The Commission has no obligation to provide clarifications to questions received after the deadline for questions and clarifications set in Section 3(b).

Replies will be given no later than 5 days before the deadline for submission of proposals. To ensure equal treatment of applicants, the Commission will not give a prior opinion on the eligibility of applicants, or affiliated entity(ies), an action or specific activities.

No individual replies to questions will be sent but all questions together with the answers and other important notices will be published (FAQ in EN) at regular intervals on the Europa website under the relevant call: http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en.

At the request of the applicant, the Commission may provide additional information solely for the purpose of clarifying the nature of the call.

The Commission may, on its own initiative, inform of any error, inaccuracy, omission or clerical error in the text of the call for proposals on the mentioned Europa website.

It is therefore advisable to consult the above mentioned website regularly in order to be informed of the questions and answers published.

After the deadline for submission of proposals

No modification to the proposal is allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed.

If clarification is requested or if obvious clerical errors in the proposal need to be corrected, the Commission may contact the applicant by email provided the terms of the proposal are not modified as a result.

It is the responsibility of applicants to provide a valid e-mail address and contact details and to check this e-mail address regularly. In case of any change of contact details, please send

All enquiries must be made by e-mail only to: empl-vp-2018-010@ec.europa.eu
For any technical problems please contact: empl-swim-support@ec.europa.eu

an e-mail with the application VP reference and the new contact details to empl-vp-2018- 010@ec.europa.eu .

All communication regarding the application will be done with the lead applicant only, unless there are specific reasons to do otherwise.

Applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process. Unsuccessful applicants will be informed of the reasons for rejection. No information regarding the award procedure will be disclosed until the notification letters have been sent to the beneficiaries.

 

14. INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE PRESENTATION OF THE APPLICATION AND REQUIRED DOCUMENTS

14.1. Instructions for the presentation of the application

The application comprises an application for including the budget, a description of the action and workplan plus a series of other required documents (see Section 14.2).

The description of the action and workplan must be written using the template available in SWIM. All the information related to the description of the action and the workplan must be presented in one single document.Total costs of the action (i.e. sum of all cost categories);

•   Total costs of the pilot JAP (i.e. sum of costs of all actions);

•   Expected outputs and/or results including a thorough justification of how these were determined:
  o Assumptions taken need to be clearly stated and justified;

•   Calculated unit cost(s) and/or lump sum(s).

Within SWIM, applicants should then encode these amounts in the respective fields under the section ‘budget’. Indirect costs (‘overheads’) should be reported under ‘other administrative costs’. Finally, applicants will need to specify their total financial contribution (‘own resources’) as well as, if applicable, any revenues foreseen. SWIM will then calculate the Union grant amount, which shall be limited to maximum 90% of total costs. A specific guide will be published together with the present call for proposals with the precise instruction for encoding the budget in SWIM.

14.2. Required documents

The table in annex includes the documents that should be provided on submission of the proposal. It also indicates where originals are required. We recommend that applicants use the table as a checklist in order to verify compliance with all requirements.

While some information must be supplied using the templates available in the SWIM, other documents may need to be completed and/or attached electronically, usually either administrative documents or free format text descriptions. The SWIM application indicates in each section where SWIM templates should be used as well as which and where free format documents can be uploaded electronically.

[At the submission of the application, copies of the signed originals will be accepted for most of the documents to be submitted by the co-applicants. However, the lead applicant shall keep the original signed versions for its records, because originals may have to be submitted for certain documents at a later stage. If the lead applicant fails to submit these original documents within the deadline given by the Commission, the proposal will be rejected for lack of administrative compliance.

Regarding the compilation of the application file, it is recommended to:

1. 1)  follow the order of documents as listed in the checklist (and attach a ticked checklist as below to the proposal);

2. 2)  print the documents double-sided;

3. 3)  use 2-hole folders (do not bind or glue; stapling is acceptable).

 

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