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EUROPEAN COMMISSION
DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate C - Quality of Life, Water & Air
ENV.C.2 – Marine Environment & Water Industry
Call for proposals
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND CYCLE OF THE MARINE
STRATEGY FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE: ACHIEVING COHERENT,
COORDINATED AND CONSISTENT UPDATES OF THE
DETERMINATIONS OF GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS, INITIAL
ASSESSMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS
Reference: DG ENV/MSFD Second Cycle/2016
Deadline for submission of proposals:
th
26 September 2016 – 17h00, Brussels local time
1Contents
1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND ................................................... 4
1.1. Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 on the European Maritime
and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) ............................................................ 4
1.2. The Commission's Annual Work Programme for 2015 and
2016 4
1.3. Current status of the MSFD implementation process ..................... 4
1.4. About the call for proposals ............................................................ 5
2. OBJECTIVE(S) – THEME(S) – PRIORITIES ....................................... 6
2.1. General objectives ........................................................................... 6
2.2. Specific objectives ........................................................................... 6
2.3. Specific priorities............................................................................. 7
2.4. Supporting tasks .............................................................................. 8
3. TIMETABLE ........................................................................................... 9
4. BUDGET AVAILABLE ....................................................................... 10
5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS .................................................. 10
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA..................................................................... 10
6.1. Eligible applicants ....................................................................... 10
6.2. Eligible proposals......................................................................... 12
6.3. Eligible activities .......................................................................... 12
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA ..................................................................... 12
7.1. Exclusion from participation...................................................... 12
7.2. Exclusion from award ................................................................. 14
7.3. Supporting documents ................................................................ 14
8. SELECTION CRITERIA ...................................................................... 14
8.1. Financial capacity ........................................................................ 14
8.2. Operational capacity ................................................................... 15
9. AWARD CRITERIA AND DECISION................................................ 15
9.1. Award criteria .............................................................................. 15
9.2. Award decision............................................................................. 18
10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS ................................................................... 18
11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS ................................................................. 19
11.1. General Principles ....................................................................... 19
11.2. Funding forms: mixed financing ................................................ 20
11.3. Payment arrangements and reporting ...................................... 23
11.3.1. Payment arrangements ...................................................... 23
211.3.2. Reporting requirements ..................................................... 24
11.4. Pre-financing guarantee.............................................................. 25
12. PUBLICITY ........................................................................................... 25
12.1. By the beneficiaries ..................................................................... 25
12.2. By the Commission ...................................................................... 25
13. PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA ............................................... 26
14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS ............... 26
15. HOW TO COMPLETE THE FINANCIAL GRANT
APPLICATION FORM (ANNEX C).................................................... 28
16. ANNEXES ............................................................................................. 34
3CALL FOR PROPOSALS – DG ENV/MSFD Second Cycle/2016
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE SECOND CYCLE OF THE MARINE
STRATEGY FRAMEWORK DIRECTIVE: ACHIEVING COHERENT,
COORDINATED AND CONSISTENT UPDATES OF THE
DETERMINATIONS OF GOOD ENVIRONMENTAL STATUS, INITIAL
ASSESSMENTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL TARGETS
1. INTRODUCTION – BACKGROUND
1.1. Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 on the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund
(EMFF)
Regulation (EU) No 508/2014 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the
European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No
2328/2003, (EC) No 861/2006, (EC) No 1198/2006 and (EC) No 791/2007 and
Regulation (EU) No 1255/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council defines
the legal basis for this call for proposals. In particular, Article 83 states that the European
Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) may support operations such as projects in
accordance with the objectives set out in Article 82, one of which is "to promote the
protection of the marine environment, in particular its biodiversity and marine protected
areas such as Natura 2000 sites, and the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources
and to further define the boundaries of the sustainability of human activities that have an
impact on the marine environment", in particular in the framework of the Marine
Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD).
1.2. The Commission's Annual Work Programme for 2015 and 2016
On 18th of December 2014 the Commission adopted the work programme for 2015
C(2014)9794 and on 11th of December 2015 the work programme for 2016 C(2015)8729
and the financing for the implementation of the EMFF. These work programmes for 2015
and 2016 sets out details of the financing mechanisms and of the priority areas for actions
fostering the development and implementation of the Union's Integrated Maritime Policy
under the EMFF.
1.3. Current status of the MSFD implementation process
The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD, 2008/56/EC1) aims to achieve Good
Environmental Status (GES) of the EU's marine waters by 2020 and to protect the
resource base upon which marine-related economic and social activities depend. In order
to achieve GES by 2020, each Member State is required to develop a strategy for its
marine waters (a "Marine Strategy") which must be kept up-to-date and reviewed every
6 years.
In 2012, Member States reported under the MSFD for the first time on their initial
assessment (including on the current environmental status, on the predominant pressures
and impacts and on the uses of their marine waters), on what they consider as being
"good environmental status" (GES) and on the environmental targets they set themselves
in order to reach GES by 2020 (Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the MSFD).
1
OJ L 164, 25/06/2008, p. 19–40
4Based on these Member State reports, the Commission had to "assess whether, in the
case of each Member State, the elements notified constitute an appropriate framework to
meet the requirements of this Directive…" (MSFD Article 12). In February 2014, the
Commission published a report2 on this assessment, which identified a number of
shortcomings in the implementation of the Directive and made suggestions on how to
prepare for the updates of the initial assessment, determination of GES and
environmental targets which are due in 2018, to be carried out in accordance with MSFD
Article 17. The report highlighted the need for greater coherence with related EU
legislation, in particular the Habitats and Birds Directives (92/43/EEC3 and
2009/147/EC4) and the Water Framework Directive (2000/60/EC5), and for more
coherent and coordinated approaches within and between marine regions and sub-
regions.
Given the shortcomings of the 2012 reporting, the Commission's 2014 report also
concluded that the Commission Decision 2010/477/EU on criteria and methodological
standards on good environmental status of marine waters6 ("GES Decision") needed to be
revised, strengthened and improved to ensure that the next phase of MSFD
implementation yields greater benefits. A scientific and technical review of the GES
Decision was initiated which led to the Commission presenting in January 2016 a first
draft proposal for a revised GES Decision. The proposal is expected to facilitate the 2018
updates of the initial assessment and determination of GES by clarifying the criteria and
methodological standards to be used by Member States in order to ensure consistency
and to allow for comparison between marine regions or subregions of the extent to which
good environmental status is being achieved. It could also help Member States in
assessing progress in the implementation of the programme of measures (MSFD Article
18) that were taken in order to achieve or maintain GES (according to MSFD Article 13).
In addition, following the implementation of the MSFD monitoring programmes in 2014,
Member States should use their monitoring data to establish a "distance to the target" of
good environment status. In particular for some descriptors, e.g. biodiversity, non-
indigenous species, marine litter, seafloor integrity and underwater noise, further efforts
at regional level are needed to ensure an adequate and coherent implementation and to
contribute to an assessment at regional or subregional level. The action under this call
can address the methodological aspects but should also include monitoring data
gathering, and sharing efforts, given that there are still considerable gaps in monitoring
networks.
1.4. About the call for proposals
Organisations who wish to apply must fulfil the requirements specified in this call. They
are required to fill in the application form and provide the requested documentation.
The area for funding, the exclusion, eligibility, selection and award criteria for funding,
the financial provisions and the procedure to apply are described in this call for
proposals.
2
COM/2014/097 final. Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. The first
phase of implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC) The European
Commission's assessment and guidance.
3
OJ L 206, 22.7.1992, p. 7–50
4
OJ L 20, 26.1.2010, p. 7–25
5
OJ L 327, 22.12.2000, p. 1–73
6
OJ L 232, 2.9.2010, p. 14
5All call documents are available for download from the DG Environment website:
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/funding/grants_en.htm.
2. OBJECTIVE(S) – THEME(S) – PRIORITIES
2.1. General objectives
The purpose of this call for proposals is to support the next phase of MSFD
implementation, in particular to achieve regionally coherent, coordinated and consistent
updates of the determinations of GES, initial assessments and sets of environmental
targets by July 2018, in accordance with Article 17(2a and 2b), Article 5(2) and Article
3(5) of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC). The proposals should
have practical outcomes which clearly contribute to the implementation of the MSFD and
in particular to the 2018 reporting requirements and those related to the interim progress
in the implementation of programme of measures to be established by 2019 (Article 18).
The successful implementation of the proposals should directly contribute to regional or
subregional cooperation needs of Member States' competent authorities in their
implementation of the Directive. The proposals can contribute directly to the efforts of
the regional organisations, such as the Regional Sea Conventions (RSCs), as long as
these are directly linked to the 2018 MSFD implementation requirements. The proposals
have to have a link with the preparation of the 2018 MSFD reports, particularly where
there are synergies and efficiency gains from such regional approaches.
The proposals should support those (sub)regions where, to date, Member States have
already jointly identified certain shortcomings and are committed to address them
together in a coherent manner; in particular, (sub)regions where no formal, coordination
on (sub)regional MSFD implementation process is operational will be treated as a
priority.
2.2. Specific objectives
Overall, the starting point should be to identify and address strategic priorities at regional
or subregional7 level for targeted actions related to the financial planning and delivery of
the second cycle of MSFD implementation for particular regions or subregions,
particularly for the reports due in 2018.
The proposals should address one or more of the following:
a. review, and where necessary, update the determinations of GES (MSFD Art. 9),
following the recommendations of the Commission's assessment8 and using the
outcomes of the scientific and technical review of the GES Decision including a
revised GES Decision if adopted, leading to determinations of GES which are
consistent at the level of marine region or subregion as required under MSFD
Art. 3(5). This could include the establishment of regional or subregional threshold
values for GES criteria, adapted as necessary to the different characteristics within
each region or subregion;
b. update the 2012 assessment (MSFD Art. 8), in accordance with Annex III of MSFD
and with the criteria and methodological standards in the GES Decision (using any
7
This refers to the MSFD regions and subregions as specified in MSFD Article 4.
8
COM/2014/097 final. Report from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament. The first
phase of implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (2008/56/EC): The European
Commission's assessment and guidance.
6revisions to these and the latest available EU guidance on assessments and reporting).
This could focus on delivery of one or more parts of the assessment (i.e. Art. 8 (1a),
(1b) and/or (1c)). For Art. 8(1a) and (1b), the assessments should deliver clear
outcomes on the current status (state, pressures and impacts), on trends in status
(improving, stable, deteriorating) and, where possible, provide an estimate of the
distance from GES for the relevant descriptors and criteria. Where relevant, this
could include development of methodological aspects of assessments including
gathering and processing of available data. In addition, develop ways of
communicating assessment results in accessible manner to general public and
policymakers;
c. update the environmental targets and associated indicators (MSFD Art. 10),
addressing these where appropriate at regional or subregional level, or developing
common approaches to the establishment of national targets;
d. develop tools and mechanisms to describe and assess progress in the implementation
of the programme of measures, in order to deliver the report requested under MSFD
Art. 18;
e. improve the management of and access to data used in the assessments and from
monitoring programmes, in accordance with MSFD Art. 19(3) and the INSPIRE
Directive (Directive 2007/2/EC establishing an Infrastructure for Spatial Information
in the European Community) and, where possible, make it available via the European
Marine Observation and Data Network (EMODnet)9.
f. establish nested sets of geographical assessment areas for a region or subregion, to
provide a basis for the Art. 8 assessments, taking account of the latest EU guidance
on their establishment and use, including considerations of ecological relevance for
the assessments and policy and management needs for MSFD implementation;
g. further improve monitoring programmes (MSFD Art. 11), particularly regarding as
appropriate the coordination of monitoring in a region or subregion, the development
of joint monitoring programmes, and/or improvements in their design, which lead to
more efficient and effective monitoring particularly for assessment of the distribution
and extent of pressures and their impacts. This could focus on particular descriptors
and could include linking to monitoring programmes for other EU policies (e.g.
Water Framework Directive, Birds and Habitats Directive, CFP). It could also
include making more effective use of monitoring undertaken by the private sector
(e.g. operational monitoring required in industry licences).
2.3. Specific priorities
On the basis of the general and specific objectives, the following specific priorities for
the call for proposals are identified for each region or subregion:
Region or subregion Priority objectives
(refers to lettered sections of section 2.2)
Baltic Sea a, c, d, g
9
MSFD-relevant data which is reported into WISE-Marine should, where possible, also be freely
accessible through the EMODnet portals and sea-basin checkpoints, together with information on their
ownership and quality. These data may be made directly available to EMODnet via national or regional
data centres or via WISE-Marine.
7Region or subregion Priority objectives
(refers to lettered sections of section 2.2)
North East Atlantic Ocean (all subregions) a, c, d, g
Greater North Sea, Celtic Seas, Bay of b (to fill gaps in OSPAR Intermediate
Biscay and Iberian Coast Assessment 2017), d, e
Macaronesia b, d, e, f, g
Mediterranean Sea (all subregions) a, b, c, d, e, f, g
Black Sea a, c, d, e, g
2.4. Supporting tasks
When implementing the project, a number of tasks should typically be considered and/or
included, in order to achieve the objectives of this call. The expected supporting tasks
are, in particular (non-exhaustive list):
a) set up working arrangements which will ensure that the respective national and
regional cooperation processes will be able to contribute to and benefit from the
envisaged work; successful implementation of projects funded under this call
shall include establishing effective links to the relevant RSCs (to ensure
coordination across the regions or subregions) and to Member State-relevant
national administrations (to ensure the outcomes are MSFD oriented);
b) ensure, where possible, that any actions proposed make best use of existing
approaches and solutions already found and agreed in other (sub)regions;
c) develop and demonstrate best practices of regional or subregional cooperation;
d) systematically use standards stemming from EU legislation, as set out in the
proposed GES Decision, such as the Common Fisheries Policies (CFP)10, the
Water Framework Directive, the Habitats and Birds Directives, as minimum
requirements. If such standards do not exist, the projects should use the ones
developed at regional or subregional level, for instance in the framework of the
Regional Sea Conventions (RSCs), or other regional mechanisms;
e) establish effective and efficient data and information management mechanisms,
including a regular update of data and information products on line;
f) establish regular contacts with the Commission including a kick-off and a final
meeting in Brussels and regular reporting of activities in order to allow for
appropriate discussion and feedback on the project execution;
g) organise workshops, meetings etc., inviting other relevant projects in the same
region or with the same objectives as appropriate, including joint (if possible)
kick-off meetings to foster (sub)regional cooperation, ensure synergies and
efficiency gains, exchange of ideas and knowledge;
10
Regulation (EU) No 1380/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 on
the Common Fisheries Policy, amending Council Regulations (EC) No 1954/2003 and (EC) No 1224/2009
and repealing Council Regulations (EC) No 2371/2002 and (EC) No 639/2004 and Council Decision
2004/585/EC.
8h) present the progress of work at and gather input from the relevant meetings at
(sub)regional level (e.g. relevant groups established under the auspices of RSCs)
and EU level (e.g. Working Groups and Technical Groups established in the
context of the MSFD Common Implementation Strategy);
i) work in close collaboration and coordinate dissemination with other relevant
projects in the same region or with the same objectives (i.e. through joint
workshop to present final results of the projects).
Any proposal for the action should fully take into account the relevant past or ongoing
work of the RSCs, the work carried out in ICES11, the results to date of other ongoing
projects, such as for example the research projects financed under FP7 (i.e. "Policy-
oriented marine Environmental Research in the Southern European Seas" - PERSEUS12
and the MISIS project13 "MSFD Guiding Improvements in the Black Sea Integrated
Monitoring System") or the four projects to develop integrated, regional monitoring
programmes, coordinated programmes of measures and addressing data and knowledge
gaps in coastal and marine waters (Mistic Seas, BalticBOOST14, EcApRHA15 and
ActionMed16). Furthermore, the support projects (Technical and administrative support
for the joint implementation of the Marine Strategy Framework Directive) in the
Mediterranean Sea and Black Sea regions are of particular importance and can be used
and referred to when presenting a proposal.
3. TIMETABLE
The final deadline for the submission of proposals is the 26th September 2016 (date of
post stamp).
Stages Date and time or
indicative period
a) Publication of the call 29th April 2016
b) Deadline for submitting applications 26th September 2016 – 17h
c) Evaluation period October – November 2016
d) Information to applicants November 2016
e) Signature of grant agreement November – December 2016
f) Starting date of the action January - February 2017 (after signature
of the grant agreement)
Implementation period
The envisaged implementation period of activities may indicatively be more than 8
calendar months but not more than 24 calendar months. The optimal starting date
would be the 1st of January 2017.
11
http://www.ices.dk/explore-us/Action%20Areas/Pages/Marine-Strategy-Framework-Directive-
(MSFD).aspx
12
http://www.perseus-net.eu/site/content.php
13
http://www.misisproject.eu/
14
http://www.helcom.fi/helcom-at-work/projects/balticboost
15
http://www.ospar.org/work-areas/bdc/ecaprha
16
http://actionmed.eu/
9The period of eligibility of costs will start as specified in the grant. If a beneficiary can
demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, expenditure may
be authorised before the grant is awarded. Under no circumstances can the eligibility
period start before the date of submission of the grant application (see section 11.1b).
4. BUDGET AVAILABLE
The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at € 5.819.322.
The maximum EU funding rate under this Call for Proposals is 80% of eligible costs
per proposal based on the project budget. The balance must be financed from the
applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Union
budget.
The Commission expects to fund approximately between 4 and 10 proposals. The
indicative grant per project will be typically between € 200 000 and € 1 000 000
depending on the geographical coverage of the proposal, the number of MS involved and
the relation with the priorities as defined in section 2.3 (specific priorities per region or
sub-regions).
The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.
5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS
The following formal requirements must be complied with in order for the proposal to
proceed to the evaluation stage:
Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications
referred to in section 3 (date of post stamp).
Applications must be submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application
form available at http://ec.europa.eu/environment/funding/grants_en.htm.
Applications must be drafted in one of the EU official languages. However, in
order to facilitate assessment by the evaluators, applicants are encouraged to
provide a summary of their proposal in English, for any proposal written in
another EU official language.
Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.
6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA
Eligibility criteria are used to determine whether an applicant is allowed to participate in
the call for proposals and to submit a proposal for an action. They apply to both
applicants and co-applicants, including affiliated entities17 where applicable, and to the
activities for which a grant is applied for.
6.1. Eligible applicants
The following types of entities are allowed to participate to the call, in accordance with
the relevant basic act and the objectives to be achieved:
- Applicants and their partners (potential co-beneficiaries of the grant) must be
public or private bodies. (type of entities: public authorities, universities, research
centres, profit or non-profit private organisations…)
17
Art. 122 FR
10- Applicants and their partners (potential co-beneficiaries of the grant) must be
registered in an EU Member State or be an international organisation including
Regional Sea Conventions.
- Partners from non-EU Countries being a contracting party to one of the four
Regional Sea Conventions18 can be associated to the action on a no-cost basis or
at a maximum of 5-10% of the total cost for the action (at a maximum of 5% for
each partner and maximum total of 10% for all partners), if this is valuable for the
contents of the action.
- Legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants (coordinator or
partner), which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose
of its implementation, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may
declare eligible costs as specified in section 11.2.
For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application
form. These affiliated entities have to fulfil the eligibility and exclusion criteria
and therefore provide the appropriate documents.
In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are
requested:
- private entity: a duly completed identification form (signed and dated) + a copy
of an official document (Company Register, Official Gazette, etc.) showing the
name of the Legal Entity, the address of the head office and registration number
provided by the National Authority; and a copy of a document confirming the
applicant's tax or VAT number (extract of trade or association register, certificate
of liability to VAT);
- public entity: a duly completed identification form (signed and dated) + any
official document attesting the establishment of the entity by National authorities,
e.g. a copy of the resolution, law, decree or decision establishing the entity; and if
a VAT or registration number is applicable, an additional document confirming
this reference number must also be provided.
- affiliated entities: should provide a completed identification form (signed and
dated) and a proof of their legal or capital link19 with the applicant (coordinator
of partner). In order to prove the required link, applicants should provide a copy
of the consolidated accounts of the group of entities to whom the applicant and its
proposed affiliated entities belong; or provide copy of the statutes or equivalent
act establishing the entity, indicating the mentioning of the affiliation.
- consortium: in the event of an application grouping several applicants, the above
supporting documents shall apply to each applicant. The consortium members
18
The four European Regional Sea Conventions are:
- The Convention for the Protection of the Marine Environment in the North-East Atlantic of 1992
(further to earlier versions of 1972 and 1974) – the OSPAR Convention (OSPAR)
- The Convention on the Protection of the Marine Environment in the Baltic Sea Area of 1992
(further to the earlier version of 1974) – the Helsinki Convention (HELCOM)
- The Convention for the Protection of Marine Environment and the Coastal Region of the
Mediterranean of 1995 (further to the earlier version of 1976) – the Barcelona Convention
(UNEP-MAP)
- The Convention for the Protection of the Black Sea of 1992 – the Bucharest Convention.
19
The legal and capital link defining the affiliation encompasses mainly two notions:
(i) Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial
statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings.
(ii) Membership, i.e. the beneficiary is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which
the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the beneficiary participates in the same entity (e.g.
network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.
11will have to sign a mandate between the main applicant (coordinator) and each
consortium member (partner) that will participate in the project.
6.2. Eligible proposals
The following conditions will be applied to proposals:
a) Proposals should cover as a minimum one marine subregion (as established
according to article 4.2 of MSFD);
b) Proposals must be submitted jointly and implemented by partners who are public
authorities or private bodies of at least two Member States within the relevant
region/subregion;
c) Joint proposals from different regions and subregions are acceptable;
d) Grants will be awarded to ensure a reasonable geographic balance across the
regions and subregions.
6.3. Eligible activities
The activities eligible under this call will be applicable to the marine waters of Member
States as defined in Art. 3.1 of the MSFD, but may also encompass marine waters of
non-EU countries within the marine regions defined in Art. 4, provided that such efforts
are at no additional or minimal cost to the projects (see eligibility rules).
Types of activities carried out by the beneficiary which are eligible under this call for
proposals include:
- design, implementation, co-ordination and management of the project;
- awareness-raising, training and dissemination activities;
- monitoring data gathering and campaigns;
- organisation of workshops, meetings, conferences, seminars that contribute to the
project objectives;
- cost of travel for meetings (including kick-off and final project meetings);
- actions aiming at the creation and improving of networks, exchanges of good
practices;
- studies, analyses, action plans and mapping activities directly related to the project;
- establishment of data and information management, including regular update of data
and information products online.
7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA
7.1. Exclusion from participation
The contracting authority shall exclude an applicant from participating in the call for
proposals procedures where:
(a) 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;
12(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the
applicant is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security
contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with
those of the country in which the contracting authority is located or those of the country
of the performance of the contract;
(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the
applicant is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws
or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by
having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional
credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in
particular, any of the following:
- fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the
verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection
criteria or in the performance of a contract;
- entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting
competition;
- violating intellectual property rights;
- attempting to influence the decision-making process of the contracting authority
during the call for proposals procedure;
- attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue
advantages in the call for proposals procedure;
(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the applicant is guilty of any of the
following:
- fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the
European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July
1995;
- corruption, as defined in 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, and in Article
2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as
defined in the law of the country where the contracting authority is located, the
country in which the applicant is established or the country of the performance of
the contract;
- participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council
Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;
- money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive
2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
- terrorist-related 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;
- child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of
Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;
(e) the applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations
in the performance of a contract financed by the budget, which has led to its early
termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or
13which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising
officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;
(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the
applicant has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council
Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.
7.2. Exclusion from award
The contracting authority shall not award a grant for a given calls for proposal procedure
to an applicant who:
(a) is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.120;
(b) has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the
procedure or has failed to supply that information;
(c) was previously involved in the preparation of calls for proposal documents where this
entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.
The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.
Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, or affiliated
entities where applicable, who are guilty of misrepresentation.
7.3. Supporting documents
Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of
the situations referred to in articles 106(1) and 107 to 109, filling in the relevant form
attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals and available at
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/funding/grants_en.htm.
8. SELECTION CRITERIA
Applicants must have the financial and operational capacity required to implement and
complete the proposed action.
8.1. Financial capacity
Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity
throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which
the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity
will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with
the application:
a) For Grants ≥ EUR 60 000:
The profit and loss account, as well as the balance sheet for the two last financial
years for which the accounts were closed;
The table (Form F9) provided for in the financial application form (Annex C),
filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the
ratios as detailed in the form.
For newly created entities, a business plan might replace the above documents.
20
Art 106 FR
14b) For Grants ≥ EUR 750 000, in addition:
An audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the
accounts for the last financial year available.
The assessment of the financial capacity does not apply to public bodies or international
organisations, which are not required to provide the above mentioned supporting
documents.
In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above
supporting documents shall apply to each applicant.
On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Responsible Authorising Officer (RAO)
considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, she/he may:
request further information;
propose a grant agreement without pre-financing;
propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing paid in instalments;
propose a grant agreement with a pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see
section 11.4 below);
where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-
beneficiaries;
reject the application.
8.2. Operational capacity
Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications
and requirements necessary to complete the proposed project. In this respect, applicants
must include the following supporting documents:
curriculum vitae or description of the profile of the people primarily responsible
for managing and implementing the operation;
the organisations’ most recent annual activity report;
an exhaustive list of previous projects and activities performed and connected to
the policy field of a given call or to the actions to be carried out.
A standard model for the curriculum vitae (CV) can be easily downloaded from the
following webpage: http://europass.cedefop.europa.eu/en/documents/curriculum-vitae.
If, during the lifetime of the project, the proposed team should be adapted, the CVs of
new team members shall be submitted to the Commission before they start working for
the project.
9. AWARD CRITERIA AND DECISION
9.1. Award criteria
In order to evaluate the relative merit of proposals received, a set of award criteria has
been defined in the present call for proposals in order to make it possible to select an
action that can guarantee compliance with the policy objectives and can guarantee the
visibility of the European Union financing.
15The total number of points that can be attributed to a proposal is 100. Proposals have to
reach the minimum quality threshold (50 % of the maximum possible mark) for each
criterion, as indicated below. Moreover, proposals that, following the evaluation process,
do not reach a global score of at least 65 points will not be retained for co-funding.
Applications should elaborate on all points addressed by this call for proposals in order to
score as many points as possible.
Eligible applications/projects will be assessed on the basis of the following award
criteria:
Technical coherence (maximum score 30 points, minimum score 15 points):
proposal should be clear, detailed, coherent, realistic and feasible in terms of
actions and timetable;
Financial coherence and quality of the proposed budget (maximum score 20
points, minimum score 10 points): consistency with the technical proposal and
and cost-efficiency;
Contribution to the general objectives of the action (maximum score 20 points,
minimum score 10 points): scope of the project, involvement of different
stakeholders, including the Regional Sea Conventions, expected results,
methodology and proposed assessment mechanisms;
EU added value in terms of stimulation of best-practice (maximum score 20
points, minimum score 10 points): innovation, demonstration, potential for
transferability to other subregions and sustainability/continuation after the end of
the preparatory action;
Geographical scope and potential outreach to Third Countries in particular those
being contracting parties to one of the four Regional Sea Conventions (maximum
score 10 points, minimum score 5 points). Proposals submitted jointly covering
all EU Member States in a region (for Black Sea and the Baltic) or subregion (for
the Mediterranean and the NE Atlantic) will be positively considered during the
assessment.
Financial contribution shall be awarded to the highest scoring proposals up to available
budget. Only the highest ranked proposal per (sub)region will be awarded co-funding.
The award criteria and certain indicative aspects which will be considered for the
evaluation of each criterion are provided in the table below.
Award Criteria Indicative aspects
Technical coherence and Proposal should be clear, detailed, coherent, realistic
understanding (max points: and feasible in terms of actions and timetable
30)
Identification and understanding of the issues involved
and the specific needs the proposal is intended to cover
(relevance of the proposal to the objectives of the call)
Sufficient organisation and management structure to
achieve the required quality and meet deadlines
Qualification of the team members in the subject
matter of the present call for proposals and of the
proposed project, as demonstrated by relevant
academic qualifications and sufficient (for senior
16members this would mean several years) relevant
professional experience
Financial coherence and Consistency with the technical proposal, feasibility of
quality of budget (max points: proposed project in terms of availability of resources
20) and coherence with timetables
Quality of the budget, consistency of the expenditures
with the foreseen activities
Cost – efficiency (level of fees and number of working
days will be taken into account)
Contribution to general Scope of the project, description of work that need to
objectives (max points: 20) be accomplished to deliver the results
Involvement of relevant stakeholders, i.e. key national
and regional organisations, such as Regional Sea
Conventions and national policy leads for MSFD.
Expected results: identification of distinct, relevant and
realistic deliverables
Effectiveness and rationality of the proposed
methodology and organisation (including timetable
and monitoring of progress)
Proposed assessment mechanisms (quality control and
risk management)
Strategy for increasing synergies and avoiding
overlaps with major relevant international projects and
activities
EU added value (max points: Potential impact in terms of stimulation of best-
20) practice, innovation and demonstration
Potential for transferability to other subregions and
sustainability of expected results
Geographical scope (max Geographic coverage (ideally proposals submitted
points: 10) jointly covering all EU Member States in a region for
Black Sea and the Baltic or subregion for the
Mediterranean and the NE Atlantic)
Potential outreach to Third countries, in particular
those being contracting parties of one of the four
Regional Sea Conventions
179.2. Award decision
The Commission will select, within the limits of the available budget, those applications
which get the highest ranking based on the total score. This decision shall include, for
selected organisation, the maximum financial amount of the grant.
Applications which pass the minimum sufficiency level but do not achieve enough points
to be selected will constitute a reserve list for consideration in case additional funds
become available for the project or in case applicants withdraw their (selected) proposals.
The selection of an application by the Commission does not constitute an undertaking to
award a financial contribution equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary. The
Commission reserves the right to reduce the grant requested if the proposal includes
elements considered too expensive or not eligible. In addition, since there is a limited
overall budget for the funding programme, the Commission reserves the right to propose
a level of support lower than that requested. Furthermore, under no circumstances can the
amount awarded be more than the amount requested.
The Commission may invite applicants to provide a revised budget to ensure compliance
with the rules on eligible costs or where the granted amount is different from the amount
requested in the application.
IN CASE YOUR ORGANISATION IS NOT SELECTED:
The Commission will officially inform each unsuccessful applicant. A letter will be sent
after the award decision.
Applicants believing that they have been harmed by an error or irregularity during the
award process may petition to the European Commission directly. The European
Commission must reply within 90 days of receipt of the complaint.
The applicant may have recourse to procedures established under EU legislation.
European citizens or residents, including legal entities with a registered office in the
European Union, may also lodge a complaint to the European Ombudsman for alleged
maladministration within two years of the date when the applicant became aware of the
facts on which the complaint is based at the following address:
http://www.ombudsman.europa.eu. Any request the applicant may make and any reply
from the Commission or any complaint for maladministration will have neither the
purpose nor the effect of suspending the deadline for lodging an action for annulment of
the present decision, which must be done within two months of the notification letter.
The court responsible for hearing annulment procedures is the General Court of the
European Union.
10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS
In the event of a grant 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, as well
as the procedure in view to formalise the obligations of the parties.
The grant agreement is composed of special and general conditions. Applicants are
required to carefully read the model grant agreement annexed to this call for
proposals. In the case of international organisations21, the special conditions contain
21
Where the Coordinator is an organisation whose pillars have been positively assessed, it will sign a PA
Grant Agreement based on the PAGoDA template.
18also a special clause related to them (See Annex G). Submission of a grant application
implies acceptance of the general conditions.
The 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary and
returned to the Commission immediately. The Commission will sign it last.
11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS
11.1. General Principles
a) Non-cumulative award
An action may only receive one grant from the EU budget.
In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget.
To ensure this, applicants shall indicate the sources and amounts of Union
funding received or applied for the same action or part of the action or for its
functioning during the same financial year as well as any other funding received
or applied for the same action (see Section IV "Additional funding" from the
Grant Application Form).
Applicants participating in several proposals for this specific call should provide a
consolidated activity plan for each project and justify the difference between the
planned actions and the items declared under each cost category of the different
budgets.
b) Non-retroactivity
No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.
A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun only where the
applicant can demonstrate the need to start the action before the grant agreement
is signed.
In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the
date of submission of the grant application.
c) Co-financing
Co-financing means that the resources which are necessary to carry out the action
may not be entirely provided by the EU grant.
Co-financing of the action may take the form of:
the beneficiary's own resources,
income generated by the action,
financial contributions from third parties.
In-kind contributions from third parties, i.e. non-financial resources made
available free of charge by third parties to the beneficiary or to the consortium
might be included in the estimated budget but the corresponding costs are not
eligible and cannot be used to cover the required co-financing. Their unit value is
evaluated in the provisional budget and shall not be subject to subsequent
changes.
d) Balanced budget
The estimated budget of the action is to be attached to the application form. It
must have revenue and expenditure in balance.
The budget must be drawn up in euros.
19Applicants who foresee that costs will not be incurred in euros, are invited to use
the exchange rate published on the Infor-euro website available at
http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en
.cfm .
e) Implementation contracts/subcontracting
Where the implementation of the action 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 and retain the documentation for the event of an
audit.
Entities acting in their capacity of contracting authorities in the meaning of
Directive 2014/24/EU22 or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive
2014/25/EU23 shall abide by the applicable national public procurement rules.
Beneficiaries may subcontract tasks forming part of the action. If they do so, they
must ensure that, in addition to the conditions specified in Article 11.1.e, the
following conditions are also complied with:
a) subcontracting does not cover core tasks of the action;
b) recourse to subcontracting is justified because of the nature of the action and
what is necessary for its implementation;
c) the estimated costs of the subcontracting are clearly identifiable in the
estimated budget;
d) any recourse to subcontracting, if not provided for in description of the
action, is communicated by the beneficiary and approved by the Commission.
The Commission may grant approval:
i. before any recourse to subcontracting, if the beneficiaries requests an
amendment
ii. after recourse to subcontracting if the subcontracting:
- is specifically justified in the interim or final technical report and
- does not entail changes to the Agreement which would call into
question the decision awarding the grant or be contrary to the equal
treatment of applicants;
e) the beneficiaries ensure that the conditions applicable to visibility are also
applicable to the subcontractors.
f) Financial support to third parties
The applications may not envisage provision of financial support to third parties.
11.2. Funding forms: mixed financing
Mixed financing grants are calculated on the basis of a detailed estimated budget
indicating clearly the costs that are eligible for EU funding. The grant amount may
22
Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on public
procurement and repealing Directive 2004/18/EC
23
Directive 2014/25/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 February 2014 on
procurement by entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors and
repealing Directive 2004/17/EC
20neither exceed the eligible costs nor the amount requested. Amounts are indicated in
euros.
Maximum amount requested
The EU grant is limited to a maximum co-funding rate of 80 % of eligible costs.
Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimative budget must be
financed from sources other than the EU grant (see section 11.1.c – co-financing).
Eligible costs
The grant will take the form of 'reimbursement of eligible costs actually incurred'
for the following categories of costs: personnel, travel, equipment, subcontracting
and other direct costs.
Eligible costs are costs actually incurred by the beneficiary of a grant which meet all
the following criteria:
they are incurred during the implementation period, with the exception of costs
relating to request for payment of the balance and the corresponding supporting
documents;
they are indicated in the estimated budget of the action. The estimated budget will
be set out in Annex III;
they are incurred in connection with the action as described in Annex I and are
necessary for its implementation;
they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular they are recorded in the
beneficiary's accounting records and determined according to the applicable
accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and
according to the beneficiary's usual cost accounting practices;
they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation; and
they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound
financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.
The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct
reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action/project with the
corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.
The same criteria apply to the affiliated entities.
Eligible direct costs
The eligible direct costs for the action are those costs which, with due regard for the
conditions of eligibility set out above, are identifiable as specific costs directly linked to
the performance of the action and which can therefore be booked to it directly.
The following categories of direct costs are eligible:
- Personnel: the costs of personnel working under an employment contract with
the applicant or equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action, comprising
actual salaries plus social security contributions and other statutory costs included
in the remuneration, provided that these costs are in line with the applicant's usual
policy on remuneration.
Those costs may include additional remuneration, including payments on the
basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature, provided that it is paid
21in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required
and independently from the source of funding used.
The costs of the personnel of national administrations to the extent that they relate
to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if
the project concerned were not undertaken.
The costs of natural persons working under a contract with the beneficiary other
than an employment contract or who are seconded to the beneficiary by a third
party against payment may also be included under such personnel costs, provided
that the following conditions are fulfilled:
i. the natural person works under the instructions of the beneficiary and,
unless otherwise agreed with the beneficiary, in the beneficiary’s premises;
ii. the result of the work belongs to the beneficiary; and
iii. the costs are not significantly different from the costs of staff performing
similar tasks under an employment contract with the beneficiary;
- Travel and subsistence: subsistence allowances and costs of travels (for
meetings, including kick-off meetings where applicable, conferences etc, that
contribute to the project objectives) are eligible provided that these costs are in
line with the beneficiary's usual practices and are not exceeding the EC mission
allowances (see Annex H);
- Equipment (new or second-hand): only the portion of the equipment's
depreciation corresponding to the duration of the action/project and the rate of
actual use for the purposes of the action may be considered eligible by the
Commission;
- Subcontracting/external assistance: costs entailed by implementation contracts
awarded by the beneficiaries for the purposes of carrying out the action/project
are eligible, provided that the conditions laid down in the grant agreement are
met. They include costs arising directly from requirements linked to the
implementation of the action/project (dissemination of information, specific
evaluation of the action, etc...);
- Other direct costs: other costs of consumables and supplies are eligible,
provided that they are identifiable and assigned to the action/project (costs
relating to external audits where required in support of the requests for payments,
translations, reproduction or costs relating to a pre-financing guarantee lodged by
the beneficiary of the grant, where required etc…).
Eligible indirect costs (overheads)
For this category of costs, a flat-rate amount of maximum 7% of the total eligible direct
costs of the action is eligible, representing the beneficiary's general administrative costs
which can be regarded as chargeable to the action/project.
Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.
Applicants’s attention is drawn to the fact that in the case of organisations receiving an
operating grant, indirect costs are not eligible under specific actions.
Ineligible costs
The following costs are not considered eligible:
– return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary;
– debt and debt service charges;
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