Education Funds

Funding Support for Policy Reform Networks and partnerships

of Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers.

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 The legal framework

This call for proposals is based on the Regulation N° 1288/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 11 December 2013 establishing “Erasmus+”: The Union Programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport (hereafter “Erasmus+”) for the period 2014 to 2020, and in particular the Key Activity 3 – Support for Policy Reform (as referred to in Article 6.1c and further set forth in Article 9.1a)1.

Under this call for proposals, the European Commission (hereinafter ‘the Commission’) is inviting the submission of proposals for establishing “Networks and partnerships of Vocational Education and Training (VET) providers2”. The funding of these proposals is foreseen in the Commission 2019 Annual Work Programme on grants and contracts for the Erasmus+ Programme (C(2018)6572 adopted on 11 October 2018)3.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA, hereinafter ‘the Agency’), acting under the powers delegated from the Commission, is responsible for implementing the call.

1.2. The policy context

European initiatives to address challenges for employment, social and economic policies have acknowledged VET’s value of providing people with skills for the labour market and society. Throughout Europe, the VET sector continues to attract half of the learners at upper secondary level and provide opportunities to people of working age to continuously upskill and reskill and support learners having a good start in their working lives and advancing further in their careers.

Despite these positive outcomes, the VET sector struggles in most of the EU countries with low image in the society, as well as perceptions of low quality and not positive career prospects.

Ultimately, efforts to increase the quality of VET provision should lead to a better image of VET, better employment prospects for its graduates, reduction of skills mismatches as bottlenecks to growth, and to increased competitiveness of the economy as a whole.

VET systems are characterised by fragmented nature, complexity and a large variety of actors. To be future-proof, European policy initiatives need implementation, impact and awareness at grass root level, which require strong cooperation mechanisms, also among VET providers.

Fostering the role of VET providers at EU level is one of the deliverables defined by the Bruges Communiqué4 on enhanced European cooperation in VET for 2011-2020. The 2015 Riga Conclusions also called for empowering and supporting bodies responsible for the professional development of VET teachers and trainers, including European and national networks of VET providers. The Joint Report on ET2020 in 2015 called for better dissemination of EU tools and findings and stronger cooperation among stakeholders.

The aim of this call is to support projects for the creation of transnational and national networks and partnerships of VET providers in initial and continuing VET. These projects should support policy reflection at a European level, as well as promoting awareness and implementation of European VET policies at national and regional levels.

2. OBJECTIVE AND ACTIVITIES 2.1. Objective

The overall objective of the call is to invite the submission of proposals for bottom up partnerships which should encourage the creation of transnational and national VET providers’ networks and partnerships to work together at national and European level5. These projects should improve the quality and efficiency of VET, enhance its impact and relevance for learners and employers, and build cross-border (transnational) cooperation for VET quality and attractiveness.

The proposals financed under this call should also foster communication, dissemination and support for implementation of the VET policy agenda at EU and national level, to exchange knowledge, feedback and experience of policy implementation and sharing of best practices on VET excellence.

Proposals should be submitted under one of the following two Lots:

✓ Lot 1: National, regional or sectoral VET provider organisations

Projects supported under Lot 1 will establish or strengthen networks and partnerships among VET providers at a national, regional or sectoral level. These will be achieved through transnational projects aimed at capacity building and sharing of best experiences among these VET provider organisations, in particular for countries that have limited representation arrangements among VET providers.

✓ Lot 2: European umbrella VET provider organisations

Projects supported under Lot 2 will foster cooperation among European umbrella organisations6 of VET providers, while supporting policy reflection at a European level as well as outreach capacity to their national members or affiliates. The European umbrella organisations will also play a key role in raising awareness and supporting the implementation of European VET policies through the national, regional and sectoral VET provider organisations.

2.2. Activities

The main goal of the activities is to support the establishment and/or reinforcement of VET providers’ networks and partnerships, aimed at building capacity at grass root level for the effective implementation of European programmes, initiatives and priorities in the field of VET, including those agreed within the context of the Copenhagen process.

For both lots, the beneficiaries should undertake the following activity:

Strengthen cooperation among VET providers by engaging in mutual learning, peer counselling, and capacity building, aimed at raising the quality and attractiveness of VET provision. The networks and partnerships should also promote and foster the effective use of EU funding instruments, as well as support the implementation and dissemination of relevant EU tools and initiatives in the field of VET, whenever possible in national language(s).

Projects should also aim at involving and reaching-out to VET providers that do not yet contribute or benefit from European cooperation.

In addition, beneficiaries should undertake at least three of the six following activities:

1. Contribute to the European Vocational Skills Week, by organising coordinated innovative events and activities at country level, aimed at raising the attractiveness of VET, while reaching out to a wide audience, including parents, learners, teachers, companies, and in particular SMEs.
2. Support the development of an internationalisation strategy at providers’ level, fostering the mobility of leaders, staff and VET learners, as well as the establishment of cooperation partnerships.
3. Increase the quality in VET through feedback loops to adapt VET provision, in line with the Recommendation on tracking of graduates and the Recommendation on the European Quality Assurance Reference Framework for Vocational Education and Training (EQAVET).

Where relevant, develop graduate tracking systems by inter alia combining national or regional statistics with data collected by the VET providers or make use of data of graduate tracking systems for improving VET provision.

4. Support for micro companies and SMEs in developing human capital, through upskilling and reskilling of employees.

This could include identification of their skills needs and/or skills assessment, and/or validation and recognition of skills and/or tailored training offer, where relevant taking account of the conclusions of the 2016-2018 ET2020 WG on Adult Learning.

5. Foster innovative learning of key competences  in VET (for example, allow flexibility and adaptability to meet individual learning needs) by adapting programme design and assessment.
6. Promote tools and opportunities for professional development of teachers, trainers, mentors and/or VET leaders to better equip them for future challenges (e.g. digitalisation), in line with the conclusions of the 2016-2018 ET2020 WG on VET.

Concrete results must be achieved within the project’s duration and evidence must be demonstrated that the project deliverables will be pursued after EU funding has ended.

4. BUDGET AVAILABLE

The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of projects is estimated at a maximum of 6 million euros, with an indicative distribution of 4 million euros for Lot 1 and 2 million euros for Lot 2.

The maximum EU co-financing rate will be 80%.

Each grant will amount to between 300 000 and 500 000 euros for Lot 1 and between 600 000 and 800 000 euros for Lot 2.

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

5. ADMISSIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

Applications must comply with the following requirements:

• −  They must be submitted no later than 31 January 2019, 12:00 noon (Brussels time).
• −  They must be submitted online using the correct official application form (eForm);
• −  They must be submitted in one of the official EU languages;
• −  A detailed description of the project, a declaration of honour and a balanced estimated budget, presented on the official forms, must be annexed to the applications.

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

In order to submit an application, applicants and co-applicants must provide their Participant Identification Code (PIC) in the application form. The PIC can be obtained by registering the organisation in the Unique Registration Facility (URF) hosted in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal. The Unique Registration Facility is a tool shared by other services of the European Commission. If an applicant or co-applicant already has a PIC that has been used for other Programmes (for example the Research Programmes), the same PIC is valid for the present call for proposals. The Participant Portal allows applicants and co-applicants to upload or update the information related to their legal status and attach the requested legal and financial documents (see section 14.2 for more information).

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6. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

Applications which comply with the following criteria will be subject of an in-depth evaluation.

6.1. Eligible partnerships
✓ Lot 1: National, regional or sectoral VET provider organisations

The partnership shall include at least two national, regional or sectoral networks or associations of VET providers, from at least two different Erasmus+ Programme countries (at least one of which must be a Member State of the European Union). One of the partners above will be the coordinating organisation, applying for the Erasmus+ grant on behalf of the partnership.

In case of a network/association not yet legally established, the application can be submitted by a VET provider representing it.

Further composition of the partnership should reflect the specific activities of the call.

✓ Lot 2: European umbrella VET provider organisations

The partnership shall include at least two European umbrella organisations of VET providers, each of them having members or affiliates in at least five Erasmus+ Programme countries (at least one of which must be a Member State of the European Union). One of the European umbrella organisations will be the coordinating organisation, applying for the Erasmus+ grant on behalf of the partnership.

Further composition of the partnership should reflect the specific activities of the call. The Erasmus+ Programme countries are the following:

• –  The 28 Member States of the European Union: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom19;
• –  The non EU Programme countries: Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Turkey, Serbia20.

Only applications submitted by legal entities established in one of these Erasmus + Programme countries are eligible.

Natural persons are not eligible.

The following supporting documents will be requested if the project is proposed for funding (These documents cannot be attached to the online application form and are not requested at application stage. They will be requested to successful applicants at a later stage):

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

• −  Public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity;
• −  Mandate letters: in addition to the supporting documents referring to their legal status, project’s partners will submit mandate letters.

6.2. Eligible activities

Please see mandatory activities described in section 2.2.
Activities must start between 1 September 2019 and 1 November 2019.

The duration of the projects is 24 months. Applications for projects scheduled to run for a shorter or longer period than that specified in this call for proposals will not be accepted.

However, if after the signing of the agreement and the start of the project it becomes impossible for the beneficiary, for fully justified reasons beyond their control, to complete the project within the scheduled period, an extension of the eligibility period may be granted. A maximum extension of 6 (six) additional months will be granted if requested before the deadline specified in the agreement. The maximum duration will then be 30 months. The total awarded grant will not change.

Only applications that fulfil the eligibility criteria will be considered for a grant. If an application is deemed ineligible, a letter indicating the reasons will be sent to the applicant.

7. EXCLUSION CRITERIA 7.1. Exclusion from participation

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

(a) the applicant is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, 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;

(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 authorising officer 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:

1. (i)  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, a grant agreement or a grant decision;
2. (ii)  entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;
3. (iii)  violating intellectual property rights; -8-

1. (iv)  attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Agency during the award procedure;
2. (v)  attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

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

1. (i)  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;
2. (ii)  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;
3. (iii)  participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;
4. (iv)  money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;
5. (v)  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;
6. (vi)  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, a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union’s budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

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

(g) for the situations of grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, other criminal offences, significant deficiencies in the performance of the contract or irregularity, the applicant is subject to:

1. (i)  facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;
2. (ii)  non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;
3. (iii)  decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;

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1. (iv)  decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union’s competition rules or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.
2. (v)  decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

(h) a person who is a member of the administrative, management or supervisory body of the applicant, or who has powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant (this covers the company directors, members of the management or supervisory bodies, and cases where one person holds a majority of shares), is in one or more of the situations referred to in points (c) to (f) above.

(i) a natural or legal person that assumes unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant is in one or more of the situations referred to in point (a) or (b) above.

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

In the cases provided in (c) to (f) above, in the absence of a final judgement or where applicable a final administrative decision, the Agency may exclude an applicant provisionally from participating in a call for proposals where their participation would constitute a serious and imminent threat to the Union’s financial interests.

7.2. Rejection from the award procedure

The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:
(a) is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with the above section 7.1;

(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 a call for proposals where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities.

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

The applicants should be informed that the Agency may publish on its internet site the following information related to the exclusion and, where applicable, the financial penalty in the cases referred to in points (c), (d), (e) and (f) of the section 7.121:

(a) the name of the applicant concerned;
(b) the exclusion situation;
(c) the duration of the exclusion and/or the amount of the financial penalty.

In case of a preliminary classification in law (i.e. absence of a final judgement or a final administrative decision), the publication shall indicate that there is no final judgement or final administrative decision. In those cases, information about any appeals by the applicant, their status and their outcome, as well as any revised decision of the authorised officer, shall be published without delay. Where a financial penalty has been imposed, the publication shall also indicate whether that penalty has been paid.

The decision to publish the information is taken by the Agency either following the relevant final judgement, final administrative decision or preliminary classification in law, as the case may be. That decision shall take effect three months after its notification to the economic operator.

The information published shall be removed as soon as the exclusion has come to an end. In the case of a financial penalty, the publication shall be removed six months after payment of that penalty.

In accordance with Regulation (EC) No 45/2001, where personal data is concerned, the Agency shall inform the applicant of its rights under the applicable data protection rules and of the procedures available for exercising those rights.

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 the above sections 7.1. and 7.2, filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals.

If applicable, the relevant documentary evidence which appropriately illustrates any remedial measures taken should be provided in annex to this declaration.

The declaration of honour is available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/ka3- networks-and-partnerships-of-VET-providers_en.

The coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on behalf of all applicants.

8. SELECTION CRITERIA

Applicants must submit a declaration on their honour, completed and signed, attesting to their financial and operational capacity to complete the proposed activities.

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 that will be requested to the selected applicants only:

For grants for an action ≤ EUR 750 000

− A declaration on their honour;

− The profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed;

− For newly created entities: the business plan might replace the above documents.

For grants for an action ≥ EUR 750 000, in addition to the information and supporting documents mentioned above, the following documents will be requested:

− An audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available.

On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Agency considers that financial capacity is not satisfactory, it 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 11.8 below);
• −  Where applicable, require the joint financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries;
• −  Reject the application.

The Research Executive Agency (REA) Validation Services will contact the selected applicants (via the messaging system embedded in the Participant Portal) and request the latter to provide the supporting documents necessary to prove the financial capacity of their organisation. All necessary details and instructions will be provided via this separate notification.

8.2. Operational capacity

Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action.

In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour, and, within the detailed description of the project, the following supporting information:

A description of the profile of the people primarily responsible for managing and implementing the operation, accompanied, where appropriate, by a list of recent publications related to the domain of the project;

An exhaustive list of previous or still running projects and activities performed and connected to the objectives of the call for proposals.

10. LEGAL COMMITMENTS

In the event of a grant awarded by the Agency, 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 2 copies of the original agreement must be signed first by the beneficiary, on behalf of the partnership, and returned to the Agency immediately. The Agency will sign them last.

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

11. FINANCIAL PROVISIONS

11.1. General Principles

1. a) Non-cumulativeaward

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 in the application form 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.

1. 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.

1. 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. 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.

Applicants which foresee that costs will not be incurred in euros shall 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

on the month of publication of this call for proposals. 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.

In the event of procurement exceeding 60 000 euros, the beneficiary must abide by special rules as referred in the grant agreement (Article I.10.1) annexed to the call. Moreover the beneficiary is expected to clearly document the tendering procedure 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.

Sub-contracting, i.e. the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action/work programme as described in the proposal and which cannot be performed by the beneficiary itself must satisfy the conditions applicable to any implementation contract (as specified above) and in addition to them the following conditions:

subcontracting does not cover core tasks of the action;

recourse to subcontracting is justified because of the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;

the estimated costs of the subcontracting are clearly identifiable in the estimated budget;

any recourse to subcontracting, if not provided for in description of the action, is communicated by the beneficiary and approved by the Agency. The Agency 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 report and
• −  does not entail changes to the grant agreement which would call into

question the decision awarding the grant or be contrary to the equal treatment of applicants.

the beneficiaries ensure that certain conditions applicable to beneficiaries, enumerated in the grant agreement (e.g. visibility, confidentiality, etc.), are also applicable to the subcontractors.

1. e)
2. f) Financial support to third parties
   The applications may not envisage provision of financial support to third parties.

11.2. Funding forms

The grants financed through reimbursement of eligible costs in combination with flat rate covering overheads are calculated on the basis of a detailed estimated budget, indicating clearly the costs that are eligible for EU funding.

Maximum amount requested

The EU grant is limited to a maximum co-financing rate of 80% of eligible costs.

Consequently, part of the total eligible expenses entered in the estimated budget must be financed from sources other than the Union grant.

The grant amount may neither exceed the eligible costs nor the amount requested. Amounts are indicated in euros.

Acceptance of an application by the Executive Agency does not constitute an undertaking to award a grant equal to the amount requested by the beneficiary.

11.3. Eligible costs

Eligible costs are costs actually incurred by the beneficiary of a grant which meet the following criteria:

• –  They are incurred during the duration of the action as specified in the grant agreement, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and certificates. The period of eligibility of costs will start as specified in the grant agreement. 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 11.1.b);
• –  They are indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action;
• –  They are incurred in connexion with the action which is the subject of the grant and are necessary for the implementation of the action;
• –  They are identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost-accounting practices of the beneficiary;
• –  They comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;
• –  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 revenues declared in respect of the action with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

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, such as:

– The cost 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 their remuneration, provided that these costs are in line with the applicant’s usual policy on remuneration or, where applicable, its partners.

NB: this cost must be actual cost incurred by the beneficiary and the co-beneficiaries, and staff cost of other organisations is eligible only if it is paid directly or reimbursed by the beneficiaries and its partners.

These costs may include additional remuneration, including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of their nature, provided that it is paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required and independently from the source of funding used.

The corresponding salary costs of personnel of national administrations are eligible to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned was not undertaken.

• –  Subsistence allowances (for meetings, including kick-off meetings where applicable, European conferences, etc.) provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary’s usual practice.
• –  Costs of travel (for meetings, including kick-off meetings where applicable, European conferences, etc.), provided that they are in line with the beneficiary’s usual practices on travel.
• –  Depreciation cost of equipment (new or second-hand): only the portion of the equipment’s depreciation corresponding to the duration of the action and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account by the Agency, except where the nature and/or the context of its use justifies different treatment by the Agency.
• –  Costs of consumables and supplies, provided that they are identifiable and assigned to the action.
• –  Costs entailed by other contracts awarded by the beneficiary or its partners for the purposes of carrying out the action, provided that the conditions laid down in grant agreement are met.
• –  Costs arising directly from requirements linked to the performance of the action (dissemination of information, specific evaluation of the action/project, translations, reproduction, etc.).
• –  Costs relating to a pre-financing guarantee lodged by the beneficiary of the grant, where required.
• –  Costs relating to external audits where required in support of the requests for payments.
• –  Non-deductible value added tax (“VAT”) for all activities which are not activities of the public authorities in the Member States.

Eligible indirect costs

A flat-rate amount, up to a maximum of 7% of the eligible direct costs of the action, is eligible under indirect costs, representing the beneficiary’s general administrative costs which can be regarded as chargeable to the action.

This percentage may not be modified once the budget is approved and no budget transfer to another budget category is allowed.

Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.

Examples of indirect costs are:

• –  All costs for equipment related to the administration of the project (e.g. PCs, portables, etc.);
• –  Communication costs (postage, fax, telephone, internet access, mailing, etc.);
• –  Infrastructure costs (rent, electricity, etc.) of the premises where the project is being carried out;
• –  Office supplies;
• –  Photocopies.

11.4. Ineligible costs

Under no circumstances can the following types of costs be considered as eligible:

• –  Return on capital and dividends paid by a beneficiary;
• –  Debt and debt service charges;
• –  Provisions for losses or debts;
• –  Interest owed;
• –  Doubtful debts;
• –  Exchange losses;
• –  Costs of transfers from the Agency charged by the bank of the beneficiary;
• –  Costs declared by the beneficiary and covered by another action or work programme receiving a grant financed from the Union budget. In particular, indirect costs shall not be eligible under a grant for an action awarded to the beneficiary who already receives an operating grant financed from the Union budget during the period in question;
• –  Excessive or reckless expenditure;
• –  Contributions in kind from third parties;
• –  Deductible VAT.

For more information regarding costs linked to bank transfers, please see Article II.24.11 of the grant agreement.

Costs which could be considered as eligible according to the criteria detailed under section 11.3 become ineligible if they are not supported by adequate supporting accounting documents. In addition, internal documents will not be accepted as valid supporting documents.

11.5. Calculation of the final grant amount and supporting documents

The final amount of the grant to be awarded to the beneficiary is established after completion of the action, upon approval of the request for payment containing the following documents:

• –  A final report providing details of the implementation and results of the action;
• –  A final financial statement of eligible costs, including the revenue since the start of the action (income generated by the action and all financial contributions from third parties);

In case of grants for an action of more than EUR 60.000, but less than EUR 750.000:

The beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a “Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report – Type I” produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer.

The procedure and the format to be followed by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, are detailed in the following “Guidance Notes”:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about-eacea/document-register_en – Audit Type I

The use of the report format set by the “Guidance Notes” is compulsory.

In case of grants for an action of EUR 750.000 or more, when the cumulative amounts of request for payment is at least EUR 325.000:

The beneficiary is required to submit, in support of the final payment, a “Report of Factual Findings on the Final Financial Report – Type II” produced by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer. The certificate shall certify, in accordance with a methodology approved by the Agency, that the costs declared by the beneficiary in the financial statements on which the request for payment is based are real, accurately recorded and eligible in accordance with the grant agreement or grant decision.

The procedure and the format to be followed by an approved auditor or in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer, are detailed in the following “Guidance Notes”:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about-eacea/document-register_en – Audit Type II

The use of the report format set by the “Guidance Notes” is compulsory.

If the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary are lower than anticipated, the Agency will apply the rate of co-financing stated in the grant agreement or grant decision to the expenditure actually incurred.

In the event of non-execution or clearly inadequate execution of an activity planned in the application attached to the funding decision/agreement, the final grant will be reduced accordingly.

11.6. Non-profit rule

EU grants may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action of the beneficiary. Profit shall be defined as a surplus of receipts over the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary, when the request is made for payment of the balance.

In this respect, where a profit is made, the Agency shall be entitled to recover a percentage of the profit corresponding to the Union contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary to carry out the action.

11.7. Payment arrangements

A first pre-financing payment corresponding to 40% of the grant amount will be transferred to the beneficiary within 30 days either of the date when the last of the two parties signs the agreement, provided all requested guarantees have been received.

A second pre-financing payment of 40 % of the grant amount will be made to the beneficiary within 60 days of receipt by the Agency of the progress report on the action’s implementation.

This second pre-financing payment may not be made until at least 70% of the previous pre- financing payment has been used up.

Where the consumption of the previous pre-financing is less than 70%, the amount of the new pre-financing payment shall be reduced by the unused amounts of the previous pre-financing.

The Agency will establish the amount of the final payment to be made to the beneficiary on the basis of the calculation of the final grant amount (see section 11.5).

If the total of earlier payments is higher than the final grant amount, the beneficiary will be required to reimburse the amount paid in excess by the Commission through a recovery order.

11.8. Pre-financing guarantee

In the event that the applicant’s financial capacity is not satisfactory, a pre-financing guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing may be requested in order to limit the financial risks linked to the pre-financing payment.

The financial guarantee, in euro, shall be provided by an approved bank or financial institution established in one of the Member State of the European Union.

When the beneficiary is established in a third country, the authorising officer responsible may agree that a bank or financial institution established in that third country may provide the guarantee if he considers that the bank or financial institution offers equivalent security and characteristics as those offered by a bank or financial institution established in a Member State. Amounts blocked in bank accounts shall not be accepted as financial guarantees.

The guarantee may be replaced by a joint and several guarantees by a third party or by a joint guarantee of the beneficiaries of an action who are parties to the same grant agreement.

The guarantee shall be released as the pre-financing is gradually cleared against interim payments or payments of balances to the beneficiary, in accordance with the conditions laid down in the grant agreement.

12. PUBLICITY 12.1. By the beneficiaries

Beneficiaries must clearly acknowledge the European Union’s contribution in all publications or in conjunction with activities for which the grant is used.

In this respect, beneficiaries are required to give prominence to the name and emblem of the European Commission on all their publications, posters, programmes and other products realised under the co-financed project.

To do this they must use the text, the emblem and the disclaimer available at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/about-eacea/visual-identity_en, which will be provided by the Agency.

If this requirement is not fully complied with, the beneficiary’s grant may be reduced in accordance with the provisions of the grant agreement .

12.2. By the Agency and/or the Commission

With the exception of scholarships paid to natural persons and other direct support paid to natural persons in most need, all information relating to grants awarded in the course of a financial year shall be published on the Internet site of the European Union institutions no later than the 30 June of the year following the financial year in which the grants were awarded.

The Agency and/or the Commission will publish the following information:

The locality of the beneficiary: address of the beneficiary when the latter is a legal person, region when the beneficiary is a natural person, as defined on NUTS 2

• −  The amount awarded;
• −  The nature and subject of the grant.

Upon a reasoned and duly substantiated request by the beneficiary, the publication shall be waived if such disclosure risks threatening the rights and freedoms of individuals concerned as protected by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union or harm the commercial interests of the beneficiaries.

13. DATA PROTECTION

All personal data (such as names, addresses, CVs, etc.) will be processed in accordance with Regulation (EC) N° 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 European Community institutions and bodies and on the free movement of such data25.

Unless marked as optional, the applicant’s replies to the questions in the application form are necessary to evaluate and further process the grant application in accordance with the specifications of the call for proposals. Personal data will be processed solely for that purpose by the department or Unit responsible for the Union grant Programme concerned (entity acting as data controller).

Personal data may be transferred on a need-to-know basis to third parties involved in the evaluation of applications or in the grant management procedure, without prejudice of transfer to the bodies in charge of monitoring and inspection tasks in accordance with European Union law. In particular, for the purposes of safeguarding the financial interests of the Union, personal data may be transferred to internal audit services, to the European Court of Auditors, to the Financial Irregularities Panel or to the European Anti-Fraud Office and between authorising officers of the Commission and the executive agencies. The applicant has the right of access to, and to rectify, the data concerning him or her. For any question relating to these data, please contact the Controller. Applicants have the right of recourse to the European Data Protection Supervisor at any time. A detailed Privacy statement, including contact information, is available on EACEA’s website: https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/sites/eacea-site/files/privacy_statement-eacea_grants.pdf

Applicants and, if they are legal entities, persons who are members of the administrative, management or supervisory body of that applicant or who have powers of representation, decision or control with regard to that applicant, or natural or legal persons that assume unlimited liability for the debts of that applicant, are informed that, their personal data (name, given name if natural person, address, legal form and name and given name of the persons with powers of representation, decision-making or control, if legal person) may be registered in the Early Detection and Exclusion System (EDES) by the Authorising Officer of the Agency, should they be in one of the situations mentioned in the Regulation (EU, Euratom) N° 966/2012 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 25 October 2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union and repealing Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) N° 1605/2002 (OJ L 298 of 26.10.2012, p. 1) as amended by the Regulation (EU, Euratom) N° 2015/1929 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 October 2015 (OJ L 286, 30.10.2015, p. 1).

14. PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS 14.1. Publication

The call for proposals is being published in the Official Journal of the European Union and on the Internet site of the EACEA Agency at the following address:

https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/ka3-networks-and-partnerships-of-VET- providers_en.

14.2. Registration in the Participant Portal

Before submitting an electronic application, applicants and partners will have to register their organisation in the Education, Audiovisual, Culture, Citizenship and Volunteering Participant Portal and receive a Participant Identification Code (PIC). The PIC will be requested in the application form.

The Participant Portal is the tool through which all legal and financial information related to organisations will be managed. Information on how to register can be found in the portal under the following address: http://ec.europa.eu/education/participants/portal.

The tool also allows applicants to upload different documents related to their organisation. These documents have to be uploaded once and will not be requested again for subsequent applications by the same organisation. Details on the supporting documents that need to be uploaded in the portal can be found on the following link https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus- plus/funding/ka3-networks-and-partnerships-of-VET-providers_en.

14.3. Submission of the grant application

Proposals must be submitted in accordance with the admissibility requirements set out under section 5.

No modifications to the application are allowed once the deadline for submission has elapsed. However, if there is a need to clarify certain aspects or for the correction of clerical mistakes, the Agency may contact the applicant for this purpose during the evaluation process.

All applicants will be informed in writing about the results of the selection process.

➢ Electronic submission

Applicants are requested to log in at https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/ka3- networks-and-partnerships-of-VET-providers_en and follow the procedure for submitting an application.

Read detail at:  https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/erasmus-plus/funding/ka3-networks-and-partnerships-of-vet-providers_en