HORIZON HORIZON 2020 2020 Administrative and financial aspects Directorate D Key Enabling Technologies DG Research and Innovation Helene Chraye Head of Unit
Content 1. One set of rules 2. Time to grant 3. Speeding up the process 4. Financial capacity check 1. One set of rules 5. Five personnel cost categories 6. Single rates of funding & indirect cost 7. New funding model: what is impact? 8. Other cost connected issues 9. Final remarks Q&A
1. One set of rules EU Financial Regulation H2020 Rules for Participation and Dissemination H2020 Grant Agreement Terms and Conditions Annexes (1 6)
Terms and Conditions: Chapter 1: General subject of the agreement Chapter 2: Action Title of action, start date, duration and budget Chapter 3: Grant Grant amount, reimbursement rates, eligible costs Chapter 4: Rights and obligations For implementing the action: resources, third parties, subcontracts Grant administration: reporting, deliverables, payments, audits Background/results: access, protection results, exploitation, dissemination Others: researches working conditions, gender equality, ethics, confidentiality Chapter 5: Division of beneficiaries' roles Obligations of beneficiaries and coordinator, consortium agreement Chapter 6: Rejection of costs, reduction of the grant, recovery of undue amounts, penalties, liability for damages, suspensions, termination, force majeure Chapter 7: Final provisions Communication, amendments, accession, applicable law, disputes
Annexes: Annex 1: Annex 2: Annex 3: Annex 3a: Annex 4: Annex 5: Annex 6: Description of the action Estimated budget Accession forms of beneficiaries Declaration on joint liability of third parties Model financial statements Model certificate on financial statements Model certificate on the methodology
2. Time to grant (1) A maximum time to grant of 8 months: 5 months for informing all applicants of outcome of scientific evaluation Some exceptions apply: - Actions of ERC - Complex actions - Large number of proposals - On request of applicants 3 months for signature of GA
2. Time to grant (2) 5 months 3 months (2 months for GA preparation) Validations (incl. Third parties!) Viability data Cons. agreement Up to 3 iterations Annex 1 adaptations, start date, reporting periods, eligible costs, viability check, additional clarifications GA production Progr. Committee Comm. Decision
3. Speeding up the process How to speed up the process: No more long negotiations: In principle each proposal evaluated 'as it is', not as 'what could it be'; Proposals mirrored as much as possible in Annex 1 of GA No more paper: e-communication & e-signatures
4. Financial capacity check Compulsory for: 1. Private coordinators if action budget 500.000 EUR 2. All private partners (incl. COO) if there are doubts about their financial capacity (e.g. 'weak' result in previous year ) For 'weak' results, no bank guarantee is allowed but financial capacity can be guaranteed by other legal entity (incl. mother company ). Important to verify this as soon as possible!
5. Five personnel cost categories In Annex 2 of GA (Estimated budget) 5 categories for Direct personnel cost: 1. Personnel normal employment or appointment contract 2. Natural persons under direct contract 3. Seconded persons seconded from third parties against payment must be mentioned in Annex 1! 4. SME owners without a salary 5. Beneficiaries that are natural persons without a salary
6. Single rates of funding & indirect cost One H2020 project = One funding rate Defined in the Work Programme for all beneficiaries and all activities in the grant; Up to 100 % of eligible cost; For innovation projects limited to a maximum of 70 % of eligible cost (100 % for non-profit organisations). Single model of indirect cost: 25% flat rate
7. New funding model: what is impact? An example FP7 Majority of HES & RTOs Direct costs Indirect costs Total costs % EU contribution EU contribution Model indirect cost = 60 % of direct cost 100 60 160 75% 120 Direct costs Indirect costs Total costs % EU contribution EU contribution Model indirect cost = 25 % of direct cost 100 25 125 100% 125
8. Other cost connected issues VAT eligibility VAT is eligible if non deductible Additional remuneration for non profit entities Audit certificates Timesheets Non-profit organisations eligible for additional personnel remuneration up to 8000 euro/year/person Only for final payment/per beneficiary or third party /only for EU contribution 325 000 for reimbursement of actual & unit costs Optional Certificate on Methodology for calculating and claiming direct personnel costs declared as unit costs Not needed if persons work exclusively on the action
9. Final remarks Annex 1 readiness Quality of proposal shall allow its direct transposition into Annex 1 Quick reactions from consortia Due to short time to conclude Grant Agreement (3 months), consortia shall be able to react quickly during Grant preparation phase Consortium stability It is strongly needed to have committed partners to project & prepared the consortium agreement Number of project partners For efficient management of big projects, it is recommended to keep number of project partners as low as possible
Thank you very much for your attention! Q&A session Find out more: www.ec.europa.eu/programmes/horizon2020