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Grant Preparation Forms (GPF) -overview

A1 – Project summary

A2.1 – Who we are: legal entity data A2.2 – Who we are: type of organisation A2.3 – Authorised representatives A2.4 – How to contact us A2.5 – Our commitment

A2.6 – Data protection & coordination role

A3.1 – What it costs - Budget per partner A3.2 – What it costs - Overall budget

A4 – Bank account: details of coordinating institution

A5 – Reporting periods: Budget per reporting period

All partners

Coordinator

Coordinator

All partnersAutomatic

Coordinator

Coordinator

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NEF – Negotiation facility

Interactive Online-Tool (similar to EPSS) for the set-up and completion of the GPF

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Grant Preparation Forms (GPF) -procedure

The Project Officer opens the negotiations by e-mailing access key for the NEF to the coordinator

Information from the proposal is already entered into the tool

Coordinator is responsible for the completion of the GPF Partner can enter the data in their own forms themselves (but

have to use the central login for that) Or partners send the information to the coordinator who

enters them into the tool (safer option to make sure no data is lost) A separate login function for partners will hopefully be

introduced soon The Project Officer checks the entries and asks

Coordinator for corrections/updates The final version of the forms is signed by all participants

(A2.5 form), the coordinator also signs the A4 and A2.6 forms

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Grant Preparation Forms (GPF) – A1

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Vertragsverhandlungen

GPF – A2.1

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Legal aspects of participating in FP7

Projects are carried out on the basis of individual contracts (“Grant Agreements”) concluded between the European Commission and the partner institutions

Partner institutions commit themselves by signing the GA !

Grant Agreement Content: Content of the project Maximum funding provided by the EC Project duration EC rules for the implementation of the project (reporting on

the progress and costs, dissemination of project results, liability, etc.) Schedule for EC payments

Model Grant Agreement and Annexes available from CORDIS

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Legal aspects – preparation of contracts

Model Grant Agreement Concluded between Commission and Coordinator Beneficiaries accede to the Grant Agreement by signing

Form A Only project-related parts of the Grant Agreement can be

negotiated (e.g. start date)

Consortium agreement Between the beneficiaries of a consortium Recommended for all projects, compulsory for many areas Signed usually before signature of the Grant Agreement or

shortly afterwards (depending on Commission requirements) – in general: the sooner, the better Consortium partners agree on individual provisions

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Model Grant Agreement - integral parts

Core text Key information (funding, duration, partners,..)Annex I Work plan of the projectAnnex II General Conditions (EC rules for all projects)Annex III Special conditions, per funding schemeAnnex IV Form A – Accession of beneficiaries to the

grant agreementAnnex V Form B – Request for accession of a new

beneficiary to the grant agreementAnnex VI Form C – Financial statement (declaration of

costs) per funding schemeAnnex VII Form D – Terms of reference for the

certificate on the financial statements -report of the auditor (external or internal) on the certification of the costs (audit certificate)Form E - Terms of reference for the certificate on the methodology;

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Model Grant Agreement – reference documentation

Annex II – General Conditions Contains detailed provisions relating to the implementation

of projects (eligibility of costs, reporting, payment schedule)

Answers many questions partners usually have during the implementation of a project!

The Commission is also bound by the provisions

Annex I – Technical Annex Work programme of the project, which is developed on the

basis of proposal part B during the contract negotiations The consortium commits itself to the contents and has to

fulfil the described tasks accordingly (Deliverables) A well-structured and sound TA is the basis for a

successful project implementation

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Partners have to accede to the Grant Agreement according to the following provisions:

Make sure that only the mentioned signatories sign the Accession forms!

Do not forget to stamp the three original forms

Model Grant Agreement – accession form

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Model Grant Agreement – accession form

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Consortium agreement in FP7

Additional agreement which should regulate in more detail certain issues complementing the more general rules in the EC Grant Agreement

The conclusion of a CA is compulsory for the majority of collaborative projects

Legal basis: Grant Agreement (+ Annexes) Rules of participation

CA must not contradict to the provisions of the Grant Agreement

There is no mandatory model provided by the Commission, but only a checklist onhttp://cordis.europa.eu/fp7/find-doc_en.html

The coordinator of a project is supposed to provide a draft agreement and to coordinate the negotiation and signature of the agreement

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Consortium agreement – available models

Different interest groups (industry, academia, research organisations) have developed several models:

DESCA drawn up by Euroean academia, research organisations and interest groups of industry – model used most often (http://www.desca-fp7.eu/) IPCA by ICT and Telecom industries (EICTA) EU-Car by the automotive industries IMG by the aerospace industries

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Consortium agreement – contents

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Consortium agreement – tips for partners

Scientific project leaders should forward the consortium agreement drafts to their legal departments immediately

But: also scientists should read the agreement! individual provisions may be acceptable from a legal point of view, but may potentially lead to organisational problems for the people actually working in the project

Partners can and should propose rules and amendments for the draft text of the agreement according to their requirements

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Liability - general rules & guarantee fund

In FP7 beneficiaries have only technical liability Financial liability - Guarantee fund: Commission retains

certain amount for non-recoverable debts caused by beneficiaries Participant contribution of 5% is retained for ALL projects Upon completion of the projects the money is returned to the

participants – depending on the performance of all projects No more bank guarantee requests by the Commission! The interest generated from the guarantee fund is used to

cover debts If the interest generated is not sufficient to cover the debts,

1% of the EC contribution from participants other than public bodies will be retained

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Liability – guarantee fund

EC retains 5% of the EC contribution from all

consortia

Guaranteefund

InterestCover defaulting

partners

Project complete

5% of funding retained is returned to all entities

Sufficient Interest

generated

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Liability –guarantee fund

EC retains 5% of the EC contribution from all

consortia

Guaranteefund

Interest Cover defaulting

partners

Project complete

•5% of funding retained is returned to all public bodies

•4% to companies

•Up to 1% is used to cover debts

Insufficient interest

generated

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Reporting within FP7

“Progress reports“ for each reporting period Overview of work progress (including milestones/results) Project summary suitable for publication Justification of resources Deliverables due according to Annex I

To be submitted within 60 days after the end of the respective period (annually, 15- or 18-monthly)

The Commission intends to evaluate reports within 3.5 months (but: no automatic acceptance of reports after the end of this period!)

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Project reports – scientific activity report

Report on progress of R&D activities at the end of each reporting period in the form of workpackage reports

Report on management activities Comparison: planned in Annex I – actually achieved Important results achieved Explanation on deviations from the workplan Report on past and future dissemination and exploitation

activities (especially in the final report)

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Project reports - finances

Information on costs according to cost categories (for management report of the coordinator)

Official cost statement of each partner: Financial Statement -Form C (presents costs per activity), signed by scientist-in-charge and the finance department

Audit certificate (if necessary)

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Financial reports – practical advice

Claimed costs in the financial statements should be coherent with the description of activities in the scientific report

Travel costs claimed should correspond to travel activities described in the scientific report (i.e. project meetings, conferences,..).

People working on the project should not only “appear“ in financial statements, but be also mentioned in the activity report

Costs for the acquisition of equipment and major consumable items should be clearly allocated to specific work packages and tasks in the activity report

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Payments – cash flow

Pre-financing: 45 days after the entry into force of the grant

agreement, as soon as a certain number of partners have acceded to the agreement Amount should correspond to 160% of the average EU-

funding per reporting period, can also be discussed during contract negotiations Is fixed in Art. 6 of the grant agreement

Interim payments, based on the amount of accepted costs of the past reporting period

Before the end of the project pre-financing and interim payment taken together must not exceed 90% of the total max. funding for the project („ceiling“)

Final payment: after acceptance of final report / at least 15% of total funding (10% retention due to ceiling + 5% contribution to guarantee fund)

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Financial management – practical advice for project partners

Project account/ budget records for the project should always be up to date

Time records have to correspond to personnel costs booked on the project, and they should be updated up monthly, organised centrally for the department.

Transferring budget between cost categories, project partners and reporting periods is possible!

In case major budget shifts are required, inform the coordinator and provide him/her with updated budget plan and justifications

In case of doubts with regard to eligibility of costs, ask the coordinator or the EC project officer (via the coordinator)

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The three “Inter-Levels“ of an EU project consortium

Intercultural EU Member States: Founding Members, New Member States Candidate countries

Third Countries Inter-institutional

Research: Universities, Research Institutes

Industry: Big Industry, SMEs

Interdisciplinary Representatives from different scientific backgrounds work

together toward a common goal (or goals)

Problems due to different cultural backgrounds are often LESS critical than

inter-institutional or interdisciplinary

communication problems !

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Intellectual Propterty Rights (IPR) –What is it all about?

Intellectual property = Knowledge and know-how of the scientists involved

In a knowledge-based society, IP is valuable goods! But: only if knowledge is protected and used it will lead to

innovation and benefit for societyA major aim of European research funding is to help

create new knowledge which will result in innovation IPR is an important element of ALL projects in FP7 ! It is also important for the individual researchers who

create the knowledge: Recognition for scientific achievements („authors rights“

should be recognised) Advancement of career Financial benefits (resulting from consulting, commercial

applications, etc.) See www.ipr-helpdesk.org for information

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IPR issues in an FP7 project – when to deal with them?

Defining project-related pre-existing know-how of the partners Ensuring confidentiality (conclude agreement with partners) Proposal preparation incl. plan for the dissemination and use of project knowledge

Strategy for protection & management of newly generated knowledge Granting of access rights to project partners

•Dissemination & Exploitation of results Protection of IP generated in the project

Duringproject Implementation

Before project start

After project end

At all stages!

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Information, copyright and related IPR that is held by participants prior to the project

Information & IPR which is needed for carrying out the project or for using the results of the project

Remains the property of the owner

IPR issues in FP7 – definitions

BackgroundAll results, information,

material, knowledge generated in the EC-funded project

Includes unprotected know-how (e.g. confidential material)

Foreground is owned by the participant who generated it Sole OwnershipImportant: Keep laboratory books to prove ownershipClarification of employees’ rights

Foreground

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IPR issues – Access rights in FP7

Project participants have to grant access to the other partners to their project-related background and to the foreground they generate in the project

Background may be excluded from that obligation in a written agreement with all partners

Access rights are granted on the following conditions:

Background Foreground

For project work of the other partner

Royalty-free, unless otherwise agreed in a written agreement

Royalty-free

For use of own results of the other partner

Royalty-free, OR on fair and reasonable conditions to be agreed

Royalty-free, OR on fair and reasonable conditions to be agreed

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Exploitation activities

All project results MUST be used! Grant Agreement Annex II.29: „The beneficiaries shall use

the foreground which they own or ensure that it is used. The beneficiaries shall report on the expected use to be made of foreground in the plan for the use and dissemination of foreground.“

„Use“ of results can be: Application in further research and/ or teaching activities Commercial application (patenting, licensing, spin-off

companies…)

Exploitation activities should also be a part of the project strategy from the start and can be funded by the project budget (technology watch, market analyses, patent search, business plans..)

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Thank you

Further Information

Claudia GiehlJörg Scherer

European Research and Project Office GmbHScience Park 1 / Stuhlsatzenhausweg 6966123 Saarbrücken

Tel.: +49 681/95 92 33 60Fax: +49 681/95 92 33 70

c.giehl@eurice.euj.scherer@eurice.eu

http://www.eurice.eu