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Operating grants to EU level networks having signed a framework partnership agreement for the period 2018-2021 and being active in the areas of social inclusion and poverty reduction, or microfinance and social enterprise finance - VP/2018/016
Deadline: Sep 24, 2018  
CALL EXPIRED

 Entrepreneurship and SMEs
 Microfinance
 Start Up
 Social Innovation
 Social Affaires and Inclusion
 Financial Management
 Business Development
 Social and Welfare

1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND

1.1. Programme/Legal base

This call for proposals is published under Regulation (EU) No 1296/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 December 2013, on a European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ("EaSI") and amending Decision No 283/2010/EU establishing a European Progress Microfinance Facility for employment and social inclusion1.

The European Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ("EaSI") 2014-20202 is a European-level financing instrument managed directly by the European Commission to contribute to the implementation of the Europe 2020 strategy, by providing financial support for the Union's objectives in terms of promoting a high level of quality and sustainable employment, guaranteeing adequate and decent social protection, combating social exclusion and poverty and improving working conditions.

The programme EaSI shall, in all its axes and actions, aim to:

(a) pay particular attention to vulnerable groups, such as young people;

(b) promote equality between women and men,

(c) combat discrimination based on sex, racial or ethnic origin, religion or belief, disability, age or sexual orientation;

(d) promote a high-level of quality and sustainable employment, guarantee adequate and decent social protection, combat long-term unemployment and fight against poverty and social exclusion.

Hence, in designing, implementing and reporting on the activity, beneficiaries must address the issues noted above and will be required to provide detail, in the final activity report on the steps and achievements made towards addressing those aims.

This call aims at implementing the relevant activity from the 2018 Annual Work Programme for EaSI3, related to supporting EU level Social NGO Networks, and at funding proposals with EU added value.

1.2. Main Purposes

The purpose of this call for proposals is to provide specific operating grants to support the implementation of the 2019 work programmes of EU-level networks of non-governmental organisations (NGO) having concluded a Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) with the European Commission.

The FPAs were signed at the end of 2017 following the call for proposals VP/2017/015 for the establishment of 4-years partnerships to support EU-level NGO networks active in the areas of social inclusion and poverty reduction or microfinance and social enterprise finance.

The agreements set out the framework conditions governing potential operating grants and encompass a quadrennial strategic action plan proposed by the EU-level NGO networks and accepted by the European Commission.

FPAs were concluded with:

 Europeanlevelnetworksactiveinthepromotionofsocialinclusionandpovertyreduction, or

 European level networks active in the promotion of access to finance (microfinance and social enterprise finance).

Regarding the description of the policy context, the definition of priorities and the available budget for operating grants, this call refers to these two groups of networks separately.

1.3. Policy and economic background
a) Promotion of social inclusion and poverty reduction in the European Union

As outlined in the agenda for "Jobs, Growth, Fairness and Democratic Change"4 and confirmed repeatedly by various Annual Growth Surveys (AGS)5, modernising social protection systems and supporting the development of adequate social inclusion and protection schemes throughout the European Union (EU) is, and will continue to be, among the key priorities in the social policies area. Social protection systems should be modernised to respond efficiently to risks throughout the business lifecycle, to confront poverty and social exclusion, while remaining fiscally sustainable in view of the demographic challenges and preserving incentives to work.

Focus also has to be put on the monitoring of social progress, the impact of reforms over time and the reinforcement of the social dimension of the Economic and Monetary Union (EMU), as clearly established in the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR)6.

The Europe 2020 Strategy sets ambitious goals in order to cope with the long-term challenges of globalisation, resource allocation efficiency, and demographic and technological change. While all Member States are showing signs of recovery from the economic and financial crisis of the last decade and unemployment figures are steadily improving, the recovery is still not equally reaching all parts of the economy and the society. In addition, the EU and its Member States must deal with a range of long-term trends affecting strongly the employment and social situation of many European citizens. The United Nations (UN) Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda) with its ambitious Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) has in the interim created a new strategy horizon, to which the EU is seeking to re-align7. Technological and demographic changes, together with digitalisation, have led to the emergence of new forms of work. Accessible, transferable and transparent social protection would have positive effect on people in employment and contribute to the prevention and alleviation of poverty.

The primary responsibility for delivering on the Europe 2020 targets is in the hands of the Member States; however, in the field of social protection, social inclusion and social investment, the EU supports and complements the activities of the Member States in the form of policy guidance, knowledge sharing, exchange of best practices, capacity building, expertise, data and analysis and financial support.

The European Semester is the main policy process to coordinate European and national policies and efforts to reach the Europe 2020 targets. It allows for integrated monitoring of progress on priority structural reforms leading towards the Europe 2020 targets, and offers both EU-wide and country-specific guidance, in the form of Country Specific Recommendations (CSR). Following the proclamation of the EPSR in 2017, the EU has

redressed the social balance in the European Semester, in order to give greater emphasis on employment and social issues in the policy recommendations to Member States, as well as on inequalities. The social scoreboard of key economic and social indicators, used in the European Semester to monitor progress of Member States towards the Europe 2020 targets, has been expanded to better take into account social considerations. It will thus help to show progress towards a social triple A for Europe. Concretely, it will monitor issues such as the share of early school leavers, the youth unemployment rate or the impact of social transfers on poverty reduction. As of 2018 the programme EaSI will accompany the implementation of the EPSR.

The reinforced link between the European Semester and the European Structural and Investment Funds (ESIF) in the funding period 2014-2020 also helps Member States address major employment and social problems.

Member States are invited to involve more closely the national parliaments, social partners and representatives of organised civil society in the implementation of the European Semester, by means of the preparation of the National Reform Programmes (NRP), the application of the CSR and the follow-up on the principles of the EPSR, as well as in the implementation of ESIF. Their involvement and close association is essential to ensure ownership and facilitate the implementation of common initiatives. In particular, the networks of social NGO have the potential to support active inclusion and modernisation of social protection, both at national and local level, while also shedding light on social developments and policy challenges taking place on the ground across the EU.

b) Promotion of access to finance in the European Union: microfinance and social enterprise finance

Boosting jobs, growth and investment is one of the main priorities of the current Commission. In line with this goal, entrepreneurship and self-employment can be powerful tools in getting the

EU growing again and increasing the number of jobs without creating new debt. Access to finance, however, remains one of the most important problems faced by micro-entrepreneurs, in particular by those from vulnerable groups, and social enterprises across the EU.

 

The Commission is intensifying its efforts to promote access to microfinance and, as such, is responsible for multiple related activities including the provision of funding under the EaSI Financial Instruments and the EaSI Technical Assistance to microcredit providers. The Code of Good Conduct developed by the Commission aims at setting out good practice guidelines to raise the quality standards of the European microfinance sector.

The mission of many social enterprises is to contribute to the objectives of the Europe 2020 strategy, the EU agenda for growth and jobs for the current decade. Therefore, in its "Start-up and Scale-up" initiative8, the Commission has in particular recognised the potential of social enterprises for innovation and their positive impact on the economy and society at large.

Social enterprises develop innovative approaches, models or practices for resolving societal challenges in an entrepreneurial way. They promote inclusive, socially fair and environmentally sustainable economic development and social change. Their economic operations cover a broad spectrum of activities (including, in particular, social and economic integration of the disadvantaged and excluded, social assistance and care services of general interest, education and training, community development, reducing emissions and waste, or producing renewable energy).

To improve access to finance for social enterprises, the Commission is funding, under the third axis of the EaSI Programme, financial instruments in the form of a guarantee scheme, a capacity-building instrument aimed at social enterprise finance providers and funded instruments. In addition, pilot social equity instruments were launched in 2016 under the European Fund for Strategic Investment (EFSI), including a facility for financial intermediaries linked to incubators, accelerators, and/or that provide incubation services and a Business Angels co-investment scheme.

Networks active on the supply side are key in supporting microfinance and social finance providers to make best use of the instruments available at EU level, while networks active on the demand side are essential to enhance cooperation between support organisations and address the insufficient capacity of these organisations in helping social enterprises to become investment-ready.

 

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

2.1. Objectives – Priorities

The call aims at providing specific annual operating grants to networks of organisations active in the area of the promotion of social inclusion and poverty reduction and having previously signed a 4-year Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) with the Commission.

The networks support the Commission in its outreach activities at EU, national and local level with the aim of ensuring awareness, contribution to and implementation of EU level policies and initiatives in the areas of the promotion of social inclusion and poverty reduction, for Area 1, or with the aim of ensuring the implementation of the financial instruments for microfinance

and social entrepreneurship support under the EaSI axis on microfinance and social entrepreneurship, for Area 2.

 

In the call for setting up the 4-year FPA with networks, five main priorities for action were identified, common to Areas 1 and 2. This section describes the specific objectives/priorities, on which applicant organisations should focus this year, in their selected area, in line with the priorities of the FPA and the quadrennial strategic plans.

  1. a)  Area 1: European level networks active in promoting social inclusion and poverty reduction

    •   Support the development, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of initiatives undertaken towards the policy objectives of, among others, the Political Guidelines of the Commission, the European Pillar of Social Rights (EPSR), the Europe 2020 Strategy, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and the Social Investment Package (SIP). Significant emphasis shall be put on supporting the development, dissemination, and implementation of innovative policies.

    •   Support the main EU-driven processes such as the European Semester and the Open Method of Coordination (OMC) regarding social protection and social inclusion9.

    •   Support stakeholders', and in particular national member organisations', involvement in the dissemination and implementation of the main political EU-driven processes, and encourage cooperation with other civil society organisations and social partners' organisations both at EU, national, regional and local levels.

    •   Provide data and strong evidence-base on policy developments and trends, as well as collection of relevant information about citizens' concerns and good practices in the social policy field in the Member States, including information on the impact of different policies on citizens and their social situation, so as to contribute to better policy making.

    •   Strengthen the capacity of EU-level networks of NGO and their national members, including their knowledge of relevant EU matters, in order to (i) support implementation of EU priorities, and (ii) make better use of the various EU funds available to support this objective (i.e., ESIF, FEAD, EFSI). This also includes improving the sustainability of their work, their organisational functioning and their cooperation mechanisms.

  2. b)  Area 2: European level networks active in the promotion of access to finance on the demand and supply side of microfinance or social enterprise finance markets

 Support the Commission in its outreach activities at EU, national and local level with the aim of ensuring the implementation of European policies in the relevant area (e.g. EaSI, ESF, Social Business Initiative, Start-up and Scale-up Initiative, etc.).

A clear link between multiple activities of the Commission in the field of access to finance shall be envisaged. In particular, the focus should be on the Commission's activities in building microfinance and social investment markets in Europe (including through EaSI financial instruments and via the call on "Supporting the demand and supply side of the market for social enterprise finance") and any follow-up action thereof.

Promoting the forthcoming "Better Entrepreneurship" self-assessment tool for inclusive and social entrepreneurship policies and programmes is an important communication priority in 2019.

  •   Reinforcing the capacity of the network's members, including through offering a platform for the exchange of good practices in the relevant field, and raising awareness about relevant EU policies.

  •   Voicing the needs, concerns and expectations of organisations facilitating access to finance to (potential) entrepreneurs from disadvantaged and underrepresented groups / social enterprises. Focus should be put also on assessing the impact that the EaSI financial instruments have on the microfinance and/or social finance markets, and on identifying needs and expectations for the next programming period.

  •   Providing data/research on developments in the field and on priority topics. Data/research should provide input for policy design in the areas of microfinance or social enterprise finance. The focus can be put on broad overviews as well as on specific niche topics related to the field. In the field of microfinance, the following areas are of particular relevance for 2019:

    •   the microfinance market, funding gaps and failures;

    •   migrant entrepreneurship, in particular in the context of the current refugee crisis;

    •   the role of microfinance start-ups with high job creation potential;

    •   theroleofmicrofinanceforstart-upsand their impact on employability and skills;

    •  the role of public employment services and other labour market institutions in promoting self-employment / entrepreneurship;

    •   the impact of new technologies on the microfinance space;

    •   social performance / social impact in the area of microfinance;

    •   non-financial business development services;

    •   the role of microfinance in restructuring situations.

      In the area of social enterprise finance, the following topics are of particular interest for 2019:

       the changing market needs and funding gap for social enterprises;
       the role of social enterprise support organisations and investment-readiness

      programmes in building the social finance market;,

 

  •   the role of actors leveraging private funding for social enterprises (e.g.venture philanthropy and foundations);

  •   the role of social enterprises in dealing with emerging societal challenges such as the refugee crisis;

  •   the link between social innovation and social enterprises;

  •   social entrepreneurship as an option for young people;

  •   managing, measuring and scaling the impact of social enterprises;

  •   the role of social enterprises in increasing employability and skills.

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

This section describes the main activities which can be supported under the operating grant

2019 in relation to the priorities defined in the FPA. The activities listed in this section serve as example and should not prevent the applicant from presenting others in line with the priorities and the quadrennial strategic plan linked to the FPA.

The proposed work programme can develop further the quadrennial strategic plan and describe its implementation in more details, but should not contradict it. Minor adaptations due to changes in the overall context or unforeseeable new organisational developments are possible and should be marked.

The types of activities which may be funded under this call for proposals include:

  •  Analytical activities, such as (i) the collection of data and statistics; (ii) the development of common methodologies and, where appropriate, policy analyses and recommendations; (iii) the monitoring and assessment of relevant legislation, policies and practices, including the development of statistics and indicators or benchmarks; (iv) studies, researches, analyses and surveys; (v) mapping projects, evaluations; (vi) the elaboration and publication of guides, reports and educational material; (vii) workshops, seminars, experts' meetings and conferences.
  •   Training activities, such as staff exchanges, workshops, seminars, capacity-building actions, train-the-trainer events, and the development of online training tools or other training modules.

  •   Actions aiming at the creation and improving of networks, mutual learning, cooperation, awareness-raising and dissemination activities, such as (i) the identification of, and exchanges on, good practices, innovative approaches and experiences; (ii) the organisation of peer reviews and mutual learning; (iii) the organisation of conferences, seminars, media campaigns, including in the online media, information campaigns, including institutional communication on the political priorities of the EU as far as they relate to the objectives of the programme EaSI; (iv) the compilation and publication of materials to disseminate information about the programme EaSI and its results; (v) regular information on EU social and employment policy issues (e.g. newsletters and mailings), the development, operation and maintenance of systems and tools using information and communication technologies, development of web pages or a helpdesk for members.

2.3. Expected outputs/results

The European Commission supports an output-oriented approach, looking at the quality, relevance and sustainability of the results reached. The work plan should therefore clearly demonstrate the organisation's potential and capacity to generate concrete impacts with regard to the objectives and priorities defined in 2.1. The Commission will pay particular attention to the expected outcomes of the work plans at the level of the target groups of the organisations.

Applicants are invited to:

  •   clearly identify the main outputs and their contribution to EU policy processes relevant to the area of the call (i.e., the European Semester, the future financial instruments, etc.), as well as to demonstrate the added value of their activities and their concrete contribution to policy development in the thematic areas identified by this call;

  •   provide a clear description of the methodology demonstrating a result-oriented approach aimed at feeding policies in the respective areas; namely, the reflection on the EU social policy and, in particular, on the policy initiatives mentioned in section 1.2 above;

  •   describe their monitoring system and the way in which they use monitoring and external evaluations in order to assess, on the one hand, their overall performance and, on the other hand, the relevance and impact of their outputs.

2.4. Monitoring

The Commission, with the support of an external contractor, will monitor regularly the EaSI Programme. Therefore, beneficiaries will have to transmit qualitative and quantitative monitoring data on the results of the activities. These will include the extent to which the principles of equality between women and men has been applied, as well as how anti- discrimination considerations, including accessibility issues, have been addressed through the activities. Related templates will be provided in due time.

In setting up the action, beneficiaries must foresee the necessary funding for monitoring and reporting to the Commission.

As the monitoring of the EaSI Programme involves the collection and further processing of personal data, Regulation (EC) 45/2001, of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 December 2000 on the protection of individuals with regard to the processing of personal data by the Community Institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data, is applicable.10

 

3. TIMETABLE

a) Publication of the call
July 2018

b) Deadline for questions and requests for clarification
10/09/2018

c) Deadline for submitting proposals
24/09/2018
Swim, Courier and Post : 24:00 Brussels' time (CET)
Hand deliveries 16:00 Brussels' time (CET)

d) Evaluation period (indicative)
10/2018-12/2018

e) Information to applicants (indicative)
01/201911

f) Signature of the grant agreements (indicative)
02/201912

g) Starting date of the action (indicative)
01/01/2019

3.1. Starting date and duration of the projects

The starting date of the action will be the starting date of the applicant's budgetary financial year.

Any expenditure incurred before the signature of the Specific Operating Grant Agreement (SGA) will be at the applicant’s risk. No expenditure can be incurred before the date of submission of the application, nor before the start of the beneficiary's budgetary year.

The duration of the action to be covered by the 2019 specific operating grant should coincide with the budgetary (financial) year of the applicant (12 months).

 

4. AVAILABLE BUDGET AND CO-FINANCING RATE
4.1. Available Budget and Grant Amounts
The total budget earmarked for the EU co-financing of projects under this call is estimated at:

  •   9.500.000 for area 1

  •   1.500.000 for area 2

The EU grant requested should indicatively be between EUR 100.000 and EUR 1.000.000 for area 1, and between EUR 100.000 and EUR 600.000 for area 2.

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, if available. This top-up is limited to 20% of the initial budget of the call.

11 Andinanycasenolaterthan6monthsafterthesubmissiondeadline.
12 Andinanycasenolaterthan3monthsafterthedateofinformationtoapplicants.

 

4.2. Co-financingrate

Under this call for proposals, the EU grant may not exceed 80% of the total eligible costs of the work programme. The applicants must guarantee their co-financing of the remaining amount covered by the applicants' own resources or from sources other than the European Union budget13.

 

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

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

  •   Applications (meaning, the application form, including budget and description of the action including work plan) 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 complete application form by post or courier service (one original dossier and two copies; see section 11).

Failure to comply with the above requirements may 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 submitted in any of the official languages of the EU will be accepted. In this case, applications should be accompanied by an executive summary in English (see section 14, point 3).

 

6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

6.1. Eligibility of the applicants14

Proposals can only be submitted by organisations having signed a Framework Partnership Agreement with the European Commission for the period 2018-2021, following the 2017 Call for Proposals VP/2017/01515.

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.17.2.2 of the Framework Partnership Agreement.

6.2. Eligible activities

a) Geographical Location
To be eligible, actions must be fully carried out in eligible participating EaSI countries16.

b) Types of activities
The grant will finance inter alia the activities indicated in section 2.2.
c) Core activities
The following activities are considered core activities and may not be subcontracted:

6.3.

 management of the work programme. Ineligible activities

The following types of activities are not eligible for EU funding:

  •   financial support to third parties as defined in point 3 of the Financial Guidelines;

  •   membership fees to other networks supported by EU grants;

  •   sponsorships/scholarships to individuals for their participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses, training courses, etc. (i.e. fees to attend an event);

  •   activities supporting individual political parties;

  •   legal actions before national or international courts regardless of their grounds or

    objectives.

     

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

7.1. Exclusion

Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour signed in their name 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. 7.2. Rejection from the call for proposals
The Commission shall not award a grant to an applicant who:

  1. is in an exclusion situation;

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

  3. was previously involved in the preparation of calls for proposalsdocumentswherethis entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, who are guilty of misrepresentation.

 

8. AWARD CRITERIA

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

1) Coherence and consistency, i.e. the extent to which the proposed programme (i) takes into consideration the relevant EaSI objectives, (ii) responds appropriately to actual needs for the period concerned, and (iii) ensures coherence between the multiannual and the annual work programmes (maximum 20 points).

2) Added value and relevance at European level of the programme proposed, as well as its dissemination and availability to all countries involved in the EaSI Programme (maximum 20 points).

Particular attention will be paid to:

 the emphasis put on supporting the development and the dissemination of innovative policies.

3) Quality and impact of the programme and each of its modules (maximum 20 points).

Particular attention will be given to:

  •   relevance and feasibility of the individual elements of the annual work programme;

  •   efficiency and cohesion of the package of activities proposed, clarity and level of detail;

  •   the evaluation and monitoring strategy, including measures to assess the success of the activities and the impact on the target groups.

    4) Efficiency and feasibility of the work organisation / methodology including a clear description of the allocation of human resources in relation to the individual tasks or activities and the timetable (maximum 20 points).

    Particular attention will be paid to:

  •   the adequateness of the timetable to achieve the planned objectives;

  •   the distribution of the work among the network and its members, which should be efficient and balanced.

5) Financial quality of the programme, including the existence of a clear, detailed, and reasonable budget which is coherent with the actions proposed (maximum 20 points).

Particular attention will be paid to:

 the cost effectiveness of the programme.

Applications will be ranked according to the total score awarded up to a maximum of 100 points. 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 70% of the maximum possible mark;
 the score for each criterionis at least 50% of the maximum possible markfor that criterion.
 

9. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant being awarded by the Commission, a Grant Agreement, drawn up in euros and detailing the conditions and level of funding, will be sent to the beneficiary.

The 2 copies of the original agreement shall be signed by the beneficiary and returned to the Commission immediately. The Commission will sign them last.

The Commission may have made relevant corrections and deletion of ineligible costs or activities in the Grant Agreement sent to the applicant – therefore the applicant should carefully read the whole agreement before signing and returning the copies to the Commission.

The applicable model Specific 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 these models in the context of this call.] In specific cases, international agreements conditions may apply.

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

9.1. SourcesofFunding

In addition to the obligations with regard to visibility of Union funding foreseen in the General conditions to the grant agreement beneficiaries must acknowledge in writing that the project has been supported by the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation ("EaSI") 2014-2020. In practice, all products (publications, brochures, press releases, videos, CDs, posters and banners, and especially those associated with conferences, seminars and information campaigns) must state the following:

This (publication, conference, video, xxx) has received financial support from the European Union Programme for Employment and Social Innovation "EaSI" (2014-2020). For further information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/social/easi

The European emblem must appear on every publication or other material produced. Please see:

http://ec.europa.eu/dgs/communication/services/visual_identity/pdf/use-emblem_en.pdf

Every publication must include the following:

The information contained in this publication does not necessarily reflect the official position of the European Commission.]

 

10. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

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.

Implementation contracts/subcontracting:

Where the implementation of the work programme requires the award of procurement contracts (implementation contracts), the beneficiary must award the contract to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interests.

 

11. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS

The procedure to submit proposals electronically is explained in point 14 of the "Financial Guidelines for Applicants". 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, by the deadline set in section 3(c)

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 with two copies (one marked “original” and two 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 SERVICES) Call for proposals VP/2018/016 – 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:

  1. a)  registered post evidence: postmark

  2. 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 SERVICES)

Call for proposals VP/2018/016 – DG EMPL.C3 Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Evere

At that time the European Commission's Central Mail Service will provide a signed and dated proof of receipt which should be conserved as evidence 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 (see section 13).

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 accepted.

 

12. 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.

The Commission has no obligation to reply to requests for additional information 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 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 this website regularly in order to be informed of updates and of the questions and answers published. It is the applicant's responsibility to check for updates and modifications regularly during the submission period.

 

All enquiries must be made by e-mail only to: empl-vp-2018-016@ec.europa.eu
For any technical problems please contact: empl-swim-support@ec.europa.eu

 

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 applicant's responsibility 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 an e- mail with the application VP reference and the new contact details to (empl-vp-2018- 016@ec.europa.eu).

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.

 

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

13.1. Instructions for the presentation of the application

The application comprises an application form including the budget, a description of the action and work plan plus a series of other required documents (see section 14).

The description of the action and work plan must be written using the template available on the EUROPA website, accessible via a direct link in SWIM. All the information related to the description of the action and the work plan must be presented in one single document. The budget must be presented using the application form in SWIM.

In case of subcontracting, any tasks comprising part of the action (see the Financial Guidelines), the description of the action must provide details on the tasks to be subcontracted and the reasons for doing so and these tasks must be clearly identified in the budget. Core tasks as defined in section 6.2(c) of the call cannot be subcontracted.

13.2. Required documents

The table in section 14 includes the documents that should be provided, including the documents necessary for the admissibility (see section 5). 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.

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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