1. Introduction Regulations binding the Sponsorships for International Events (v8.dd 20.11.2014) 1.1 A number of sponsorships to attend international conferences, workshops and seminars are being offered under, a project managed by the Centre for Development, Research and Training (CDRT) within the Office of the Prime Minister. These sponsorships are co-financed by the European Social Fund, Operational Programme II Empowering People for More Jobs for a Better Quality of Life Cohesion Policy 2007-13. 1.2 These sponsorships were extended to public employees within the wider public administration as by Letter-Circular dated 8 November 2011 addressed to all Permanent Secretaries. 1.3 Applicants eligible for sponsorship are officers holding an appointment in the Public Administration as recognised by the Public Administration Act and that are nominated by a Permanent Secretary to attend an international event held either locally or abroad that is considered important and relevant to the respective Ministry. 1.4 Nominated officers from the Public Administration who are not Public Service officers may be required to obtain clearance from the State Aid Monitoring Board within the Ministry for Finance, the Economy and Investment to confirm the existence of no conflict with State Aid regulations, given the nature of some of the public entities from where nominated officers derive. 2. Areas 2.1 The international event to be sponsored shall focus on at least one of the identified key areas. These are as follows: Governance, Strategy and Policy Development Leadership and Strategic Thinking Information Management Sustainable Development and Planning European Studies, Policies and Administration Public Administration Management including Project Management and Evaluation, as well as Financial Management Data Analysis and use of Evidence Human Resources and General Management Continuous Personal Development in areas directly related and relevant to Public Administration and to the applicant s responsibilities Equality Training Skills
2.2 Vertical areas, that is, areas which are highly relevant to a particular department/entity and which are crucial for the public administration and public sector reform, will also be considered as long as certain conditions are adhered to. This investment in vertical training is being limited to Continuous Professional Development opportunities that fall under seminars, conferences and events, which will be widened to include also short training programmes in the case of vertical training. In addition, in the event of such requests for sponsorships in subject areas that are of a vertical nature, the justification that the training requested is of relevance to the public administration is to be provided by the Permanent Secretary concerned. It shall be solely their responsibility to justify this need and correlating benefit and to ensure that such programmes reap success. 2.3 In-depth, specialised short training courses of a horizontal nature and that fall within the priority areas of this project will also be considered as long as certain conditions are adhered to. Such courses need to be highly relevant and important to the current issues and projects within a specific Ministry/Department or entity or the wider Public Administration. In the event of such requests for sponsorships for in-depth short training courses of a horizontal nature, detailed justification is to be provided by the Permanent Secretary concerned. It shall be solely their responsibility to justify this need and correlating benefit and to ensure that such programmes reap success. 2.4 The CDRT reserves the right to refuse any nominations it considers inappropriate within the objectives of the sponsorship. 3. Eligibility 3.1 To be eligible for the award of a sponsorship, nominated officers from the public administration must have: a) evidence of their acceptance by the organiser/s, to participate in the international event (such as a formal invitation, confirmation of booking or acceptance letter); b) evidence of the existence of a participation fee over the international event (unless waived); c) been nominated by a Permanent Secretary within the Public Administration; d) proof that the event is directly related to their duties. 3.2 Prior to submission of the Nomination Letter, the nominated officer shall email Ms Fabianne Muscat a copy of the programme/agenda of the event on fabianne.muscat@gov.mt. Ms Fabianne Muscat will then confirm whether the event in question is eligible for sponsorship or not as per Clauses 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3. 3.3 It is of utmost importance that the GA27 is filled-in accurately. The following must be clearly stated on the GA27: (ii) (iii) Breakdown of estimated expenditure should take into account all estimated costs of visit including but not limited to subsistence allowance, contingency, airfare and conference fees (if applicable); Class categorisation (Class A or B) should be specified next to the name of each delegate; It has to be clearly stated that the subsistence allowance (and early arrival/late departure allowance if applicable) will be paid directly through ESF funds.
Contingency allowance will be paid from local funds as per normal procedure and then reimbursed. 3.4 Eligible officers that are already receiving a sponsorship from other financial mechanisms for the same international event being nominated are not entitled for assistance from this project. 4. Documentation 4.1 All Permanent Secretaries are invited to submit a written nomination for officers in the public administration, considered valuable by the Ministry, and are compliant with the eligibility criteria described in paragraph 3 of these regulations by not later than Tuesday, 16 June 2015, end of business. All international events are to be scheduled by not later than Tuesday, 30 June 2015. A standard nomination letter is available at CDRT. 4.2 If the area of training is considered vertical (as explained in section 2.2 above) the Permanent Secretary would need to attach further justification of how the seminar, conference, workshop, or short course would be addressing public service needs and improving the service to the public or the administrative function. 4.3 Written nominations shall be addressed and submitted for the attention of Ms Fabianne Muscat, Training and Development, Centre for Development, Research and Training, Administration Block B, San Salvatore Bastion, Floriana. 4.4 The following list of documents need to be presented in order for a Nomination Letter to be deemed valid: Original nomination letter approved by the Permanent Secretary (ii) Original justification by the Permanent Secretary as regards vertical training or in-depth, specialised courses of a horizontal nature. (iii) Official agenda and/or programme of activities (iv) Evidence of acceptance by the organiser (v) Copy of confirmation email by Ms Fabianne Muscat that the event is eligible (vi) Three flight quotations which shall include the class of travel used, the time of travel and the amount to be paid. (vii) Original invoice from the event organiser (excluding cases as per Clause 7.2 and 7.3) (viii) Original invoice from the travel agency (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (ix) TR/S-9 Form with the details of travel agency (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (x) Copy of e-ticket/itinerary (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (xi) Copy of LPO issued by accounts section, OPM to the travel agency (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (xii) Original GA27 filled as per Clause 3.3 (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (xiii) TR/S-9 Form for each nominated employee (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4) (xiv) Request for payment originating from the DCS (DSS or as the case may be) which shall include the details of the DAS Department, Vote and Item to debit the Contingency and/or any amount in excess of the granted amount (if direct payment is to be affected as per Clause 7.4)
4.5 Nominations may be refused if the entire budget available is allocated beforehand. Accordingly Permanent Secretaries are invited to plan their events in good time. 5. Award 5.1 Participation in an international event held either locally or abroad must lead to a certificate of attendance or achievement. In the absence of a certificate, the organising body is to certify the attendance of the sponsored officer/s through an apposite letter. 5.2 The presentation of the certificate is a critical factor for the award of the sponsorship and must be presented at the CDRT immediately after the event. Those Ministries who fail to present the certificate / letter shall not receive the sponsorship or may be requested to refund the sum paid. 5.3 The same public employee/s can be nominated and awarded a maximum of two (2) sponsorships per calendar year, to allow an equitable distribution of sponsorships. A third (3 rd ) sponsorship in a calendar year can be allowed in special circumstances where following the payment of the participation fee, flight costs, subsistence allowance and contingency of the first two (2), the total remaining amount will be less than the maximum allowed in Clause 6.1 underneath. In these special circumstances, the public employee/s can be nominated and awarded a third (3 rd ) sponsorship. 5.4 Regardless of clause 5.3 above, in cases of vertical training or in-depth, specialised short training courses of a horizontal nature as mentioned in Clause 2.3 only, public employee/s can be nominated and awarded an unlimited number of sponsorships per calendar year. 5.5 Nominees will be notified in writing of the award of the sponsorship. 6. Financial Thresholds 6.1 Sponsored nominees may receive financial assistance up to the sum of 2,500 per event that is a total of 5,000 per annum. Participation fees and related VAT expenses, as well as flight costs, subsistence and contingency (if any) are eligible for sponsorship. In the case of the special circumstances mentioned in Clause 5.3 the financial assistance for the 3 rd sponsorship shall be limited to the sum of 5,000 less the total amount paid for the first two (2) sponsorship events. In the case of vertical training and in-depth, specialised short training courses of a horizontal nature as mentioned in Clause 2.3 only sponsored nominees may now receive financial assistance up to the sum of 7,000 per event. Participation fees and related VAT expenses, as well as flight costs and subsistence (if any) are eligible for sponsorship. 7. Payments 7.1 Participation fees that are payable in Euro ( ) can be paid directly to the organising body of the international event by CDRT. The nominated officer/s will be required to present an original invoice from the event organiser. The original invoice should refer explicitly to the participation fees in its description. The invoice is to be accompanied by the bank details of the event organiser, which details are to be submitted utilising the TR/S-9 form available from our website. Complete TR/S-9 forms are also accepted prior to the submission of the original invoice.
7.2 Participation fees in other currencies need to be paid by the participant s Ministry/ department or entity and a request for reimbursement (using prescribed form) submitted with CDRT. The request for reimbursement will need to be accompanied by the CBM Debit Advice, the CBM Funds Transfer, a copy of the LPO, a copy of the invoice paid by the Ministry, the agenda of the event, a copy of the travel report drawn for the event (where applicable) and a certified true copy of the certificate(s) of attendance received by each nominee following participation. Other payment documentation may be required upon request. 7.3 In case of payments prior to the event (such as deposit or early registration fee), the respective Department will be required to pay from their Vote and CDRT reimburses the Department following the presentation of a proof of payment, as instructed by the CDRT. 7.4 In case that the nomination letter is received by CDRT more than one (1) month prior to the start of the event, the subsistence and flights can be paid directly by CDRT. The subsistence allowance will only be paid once the documents mentioned in Clause 4.4 are provided and one month prior to the event. Regarding flights, once a supplier is chosen, the respective DCS shall inform the accounts section of OPM to issue a Local Purchase Order (LPO) for flights, which will then be paid after the return of the nominated officer from the event. Further to the documents in clause 4.4 the following document must be received by CDRT not later than four (4) weeks after the event. Original boarding passes or other evidence in case of on-line check in 7.5 In the case that flights and subsistence have been paid directly by CDRT the ministry, department or entity can claim contingency reimbursement. Reimbursements for contingency are made against a request for reimbursement (using the prescribed form) and accompanied by the following documents: (ii) (iii) (iv) Original Statement of Expenditure as per PSMC template Original receipts/tickets SEPA report in case of further payment to the officer was required Copy of DAS receipt in case a refund by the officer was made 7.6 In the case that the nomination letter is received by CDRT less than one (1) month prior to start of the event flights,subsistence and contingency shall be reimbursed to the Ministry concerned. In this case in order for flights to be eligible for reimbursement, flight tickets should always be paid by bank transfer by the respective ministry/department/entity. Reimbursements are made against a request for reimbursement (using the prescribed form),, accompanied by the original boarding passes or other evidence in case of on-line check in, a signed copy of the travel report drawn for the event, a certified true copy of the certificate(s) of attendance received by each nominee following participation together with the sharing of training received checked in the nomination letter. These documents need to arrive at CDRT not later than four (4) weeks after the event. The request for reimbursement will also need to be accompanied by - In case of flights expenses the following documants should also be attached: the original statement of expenditure, (ii) a copy of the invoice / bill featuring the flight ticket(s) expenses,
(iii) the flight ticket(s) or a copy of the e-ticket(s), (iv) Original Proof of Payment for Flight Invoice (Bank Statement or SEPA credit transfer report from the Central Bank of Malta) In case of Subsistence the following document should be attached: the SEPA credit transfer report from the Central Bank of Malta In case of Conference expenses the following documents should be attached: Copy of conference invoice (ii) Original proof of payment for conference invoice (receipt or SEPA credit transfer report or debit advice from the Central Bank of Malta) In case of Contingency the following documents should be attached: (i ) Original statement of expenditure (ii) Original receipts/tickets (iii) SEPA report in case of further payment to the officer was required (iv) Copy of DAS receipt in case a refund by the officer was made 8. Obligations Post-Studies 8.1 Within four (4) weeks from the event, sponsored officers will be required to complete a participation sheet provided to them by the CDRT, ideally prior to the completion of the event. The sheet will also capture personal details such as age, vulnerability and education level, required as per Annex XXIII of Commission Regulation (EC) No 1828/2006. 8.2 Within four (4) weeks from the event, sponsored officers shall present CDRT with a signed report on the event, including comments on the likely benefits on the performance of their duties and the perceived return on investment together with the sharing of training received as marked in the nomination letter 9. Reservations 9.1 The CDRT will not be held liable, if for any reason the organising body decides to cancel the event. 9.2 If a nominated officer, for any reason, fails to attend the sponsored event, he or she may be refused sponsorship and required to refund all of the sponsorship in the unlikely event of a payment having been executed. 9.3 The CDRT reserves the right to refuse any nominations it considers inappropriate within the objectives of the sponsorship. 9.4 The CDRT reserves the right to publish the names of the applicants being sponsored on its website.
10. Further Information 10.1 Further information can be obtained by phoning on 2200 1888 or by sending an email to the following address: fabianne.muscat@gov.mt