FAQ BSB JOP 2007-2013

All documents related to the second Call for Proposals (the Application Package) are available on the programme’s website:

The deadline for the submission of applications is 30th of September 2011 as evidenced by the date of dispatch, the postmark or the date of the deposit slip.

In case of hand-deliveries, the deadline for receipt is at 12:00 hours local time as evidenced by the signed and dated receipt. Any application sent after the deadline as defined above will automatically be rejected.

However, for reasons of administrative efficiency, the JMA may reject any application submitted to mail / courier before the deadline but received after the effective date of approval of the administrative check step.

The funds made available under this Call for Proposals amount to EUR 15,169,098.86 (ENPI contribution). For Turkish partners’ participating in joint actions, the funds available under this Call for Proposals amount to EUR 5,300,241.30 (IPA contribution).

Size of ENPI grants

Any ENPI grant contribution awarded under this Call for Proposals must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

Size of IPA grants

Any IPA grant awarded under this Call for Proposals for the implementation of a joint Action must fall between the following minimum and maximum amounts:

For example, the maximum possible amount awarded to an Action involving only ENPI partners for Priorities 1&2 is 700,000 EURO (excluding the minimum 10% co-financing). When adding the co-financing to the maximum grant possible to be awarded, the ENPI total eligible costs may exceed 700,000 EURO.

Also, the maximum possible amount awarded to an Action involving ENPI and IPA partners for Priorities 1&2 is 1,400,000 EURO (excluding the minimum 10% co-financing). When adding the co-financing to the maximum grant possible to be awarded, the ENPI + IPA total eligible costs may exceed 1,400,000 EURO.

No grant may exceed 90% of the total eligible costs of the Action.

The rate of co-financing is minimum 10% of the total eligible costs of the Action and it is requested for each approved proposal. It is not compulsory for all partners to contribute each with minimum 10% to the total eligible costs of the project: some partners may contribute with more than 10%, some may contribute with less than 10%; however, the co-financing should be minimum 10% at the project level.

Each participating country decides on its own co-financing system (from national/regional/local level or directly from the Beneficiary, or both from the national/regional/local level and from the Beneficiary itself). For further details, you may contact the National Authorities /National Info Points (contact details here). No resources, which have been assisted by other EU contribution, may be taken into account as co-financing.

Even if there might be cases when the national co-financing comes from the state budget, the applicants should take into consideration at least covering de 10% co-financing at cash flow level during the implementation of the Action. In any case, any (partial) co-financing that may come from a state budget should not be reflected in the Budget of the project at the application moment.

Yes, as long as the minimum 10% national co-financing is ensured at the project level.

No, the project proposal must be submitted under one Priority and one Measure of the programme, even if it targets several interlinked objectives.

Applications must be submitted in one original and two copies in A4 size, each bound and attached together with a list of contents. The complete Grant Application Form, all annexes and supporting documents must be submitted as well in electronic format (CD-Rom): .doc format and .xls format for the application and annexes and .pdf/.jpg version for documents including signatures and stamps. The electronic format must contain exactly the same application as the paper version enclosed.

Applications must be submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail, private courier service or by hand-delivery (a signed and dated certificate of receipt will be given to the deliverer) at the address below:

Postal address and address for hand delivery or by private courier service

Ministerul Dezvoltarii Regionale si Turismului
Directia Generala Cooperare Teritoriala Europeana
Bd. Libertatii nr. 12, Bucuresti 040129, sector 5, Romania
REGISTRATURA, ETAJ 4

Finding partners tools

• “Partner Search” tool on the programme’s website: http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/content/view/full/191
• “Project Idea Search toll on the programme’s website: http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/Projects/Projects-ideas-search
• “Finding Partners” tools on the RCBI’s website ( http://www.rcbi.info/pages/18_1.html)

In order to ensure the equal treatment of applicants and partners, the Joint Managing Authority may not give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an Applicant, a partner, a project proposal or specific activities.

The Programme eligible area involves eight countries, some of them including their whole national territory (Armenia, Georgia and R. Moldova), while some others including those regions closest to the Basin (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania, Turkey and Ukraine). For a detailed list of eligible areas click here.

No, the minimum 10% national co-financing of the project must be ensured at project level, therefore it is the partnership’s decision if all or only some of the partners contribute financially and with how much.

Questions may in addition be sent by e-mail or by fax no later than 15 days before the deadline for the submission of applications to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals (2nd Call for Proposals):

E-mail address: infocall@blacksea-cbc.net
Fax: +40 372 111 456

Replies will be given no later than 11 days before the deadline for the submission of applications. The Joint Managing Authority has no obligation to provide further clarifications after this date.

Questions that may be relevant to other Applicants/partners, together with the answers, will be published in English on the programme website: http://www.blacksea-cbc.net in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) section.

The Applicant/partner should contact its National Info Point / National Authority ( http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/Programme-Management/National-Info-Points ) for additional support and information in its national language and when specific national information is needed.

Yes, fewer documents are required when submitting the Grant Application Form for the present call of proposals. A detailed list is presented in Section 2.2.2 Annexes and supporting documents to be submitted with the application from the Guidelines for Applicants.

Target group refers to the group / entity who will be positively affected by the operation at the Operation Purpose level and with whom the operation will work very closely, as well as for whom. On the other hand, final beneficiaries refers to those who benefits these ventures in long term.

Please check the Project Cycling Management Guidelines of the European Union which you can find the following link:

The contractual procedures for procurement contracts necessary for the project implementation shall be those included in the Practical Guide for contract procedures for EC external actions (PRAG) in force at the moment of the launching of call for proposal – according to Commission Regulation no.951/2007, art.23.1)

In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants and partners must represent one of the following legal entities:

• national, regional or local public authority;
• body governed by public law, other than legal entities defined under paragraph a, established for the specific purpose of meeting needs in the general interest (needs not having an industrial or commercial character) and which fulfils at least one of the following conditions:

i. be financed, for the most part, by the national, regional or local authorities, or other bodies governed by public law or

ii. be subject to management supervision by those bodies or

iii. have an administrative, managerial or supervisory board, more than half of whose members are appointed by the national, regional or local authorities, or by other bodies governed by public law;

• association formed by one or several national, regional or local public authorities or one or several bodies governed by public law, as defined under paragraphs a-b or other non-profit organisation, other than legal entities defined under paragraph c;
• public undertaking operating in the water, energy and transport services sectors, undertakings over which the legal entities defined under paragraphs a-c may exercise directly or indirectly a dominant influence by virtue of their ownership of it, their financial participation therein, or the rules which govern it.
• International organisations

An indicative list with examples of potential applicants and partners is presented in section 2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants and partners of the Guidelines for Grant Applicants.

Bodies governed by public law are defined in Article 1(9) of Directive 2004/18/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 on the coordination of procedures for the award of public works contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts ( http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2004:134:0114:0240:EN:PDF) and in compliance with the national legislation of each participating country.

No, but only public undertakings operating in the water, energy and transport services sectors, undertakings over which the legal entities defined under paragraphs a-c in Guidelines for Grant Applicants, section 2.1.1 Eligibility of Applicants (see also question no. 18) may exercise directly or indirectly a dominant influence by virtue of their ownership of it, their financial participation therein, or the rules which govern it. A dominant influence on the part of the entities defined under paragraphs a-c in Guidelines for Grant Applicants, section 2.1.1 Eligibility of Applicants (see also question no. 18) shall be presumed when these entities, directly or indirectly, in relation to an undertaking:

i. hold the majority of the undertaking’s subscribed capital or

ii. control the majority of the votes attaching to shares issued by the undertaking or

iii. can appoint more than half of the undertaking’s administrative, management or supervisory body .

The eligible public undertaking are defined in Article 2(1)b of Directive 2004/17/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 31 March 2004 coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors

Organizations whose headquarters are registered and located outside the programme area in actions implemented in the eligible area – but in one of the eight participating countries – may be eligible under the following conditions:

q have local/regional subsidiary/branch offices established in the eligible area:

i. in case of a subsidiary (having legal personality) the subsidiary shall be the Applicant (and in case of contracting, it shall be the Beneficiary) / partner;

ii. in case of a branch (not having legal personality) the central organization shall be the Applicant (and in case of contracting, it shall be the Beneficiary) / partner;

q have no local/regional subsidiary/branch offices established in the eligible area, but are located at central/national/regional level, have exclusive competences in a field of activity and/or geographical area and demonstrate that their areas of legal competences established by legal acts extend to the eligible area of the programme and also the proposed Action is for the full benefit of the eligible area of the programme.

This exception is subject to approval of the JMC in the framework of these Guidelines for Grant Applicants. This exception can only be applied on the basis of a substantial justification showing that the Action cannot be implemented or would have difficulties in achieving its objectives without that Applicant/partner’s participation as mentioned in art. 40(2) of Regulation (EC) No 951/2007. The proposal will be evaluated by the Selection Committee under the technical evaluation stage and it will be up to JMC to decide on the necessity of the involvement of an Applicant/partner located outside the eligible area of the programme and grant the exception.

The expressions “exclusive competences in a field of activity” and “areas of legal competences established by legal acts” are intended to designate an authority or a body which fulfils a unique function for the respective country. The proof must be a legal act, meaning an act that comes from competent state authorities.

A private company may only participate as an associate partner or subcontractor. In the latter case, the company must be selected through a tendering procedure.

Associates play a real role in the Action but do not receive funding from the grant with the exception of travel and subsistence costs. Associates do not have to meet the eligibility criteria.

The Beneficiaries have the possibility to award contracts to subcontractors. Subcontractors are neither partner nor associates, and are subject to the procurement rules set out in Annex IV of the Grant Contract.

No. Given the fact that Turkey participates with IPA funds to this ENPI CBC programme, Turkish organisations may not act as applicants, but only as partners.

Only the applicant and the partners can co-finance the project. The associates can contribute but their support can not be considered co-financing.

There is no limitation for associates, however their participation has to bring proven added value to the Action.

The projects will be jointly submitted and implemented by partnerships that will always involve partners from one or several Member States (Bulgaria, Greece, Romania) and from one or several partner countries (Armenia, Georgia, R. Moldova, Ukraine) and/or Turkey. The participation of Turkish partners is only possible in tripartite projects involving at least one partner from a Member State and one partner from a partner country.

In case a partner from Turkey is involved in a joint action, a minimum of 2 other partners are needed (1 from a Member State and 1 from a Partner Country) to complete the partnership.

In the joint actions which involve the participation of one or more Turkish partners, the Turkish partners shall appoint an IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary, who – if the application is approved – shall sign a Grant Contract for IPA funds with the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) in Turkey.

The recommended number of partners involved in each project partnership is between 4 and 8 partners.

2 partners may also form an eligible partnership, as long as they are one from a Member State and one from a partner country.

More than 8 partners may also be eligible, but the Applicant should always keep in mind the difficulty of managing a partnership with so many partners.

Please note that additional 5 points shall be awarded to the joint Actions that have at least 3 partners coming from 3 of the following countries: Armenia, Georgia, R. Moldova, Ukraine and Turkey.

No, Russia and Azerbaijan are not included in the eligible area of the programme. In order to be eligible for a grant, Applicants and partners must comply with the eligibility rules presented under Section 2.1 from Guidelines for Grant Applicants, including the ones referring to the eligible area of the programme.

Yes, “Associates” do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in Section 2.1.1, but they have to play a real role in the joint Action, and may not receive funding from the grant with the exception of travel and subsistence costs.

The initial planned duration of a joint Action requesting an overall grant (ENPI) of Eur 50,000 up to Eur 100,000 may not exceed 12 months;

The initial planned duration of a joint Action requesting an overall grant (ENPI/ENPI+IPA) equal to or over Eur 100,000 up to Eur 700,000/1,400,000 may not exceed 24 months.

Eligible areas of the Programme are:

1. Armenia (all regions),

2. Bulgaria (NUTS II regions of Severoiztochen and Yugoiztochen),

3. Greece (NUTS II regions of Kentriki Makedonia and Anatoliki Makedonia – Thraki),

4. Georgia (all regions),

5. Republic of Moldova (all regions) – according to the national legislation of the Republic of Moldova, the potential applicants from the Transnistrian area are eligible under the programme only if they are registered as legal entities in the Republic of Moldova.

6. Romania (NUTS II region of South-East),

7. Turkey (NUTS II equivalent regions of İstanbul, Tekirdağ, Kocaeli, Zonguldak, Kastamonu, Samsun and Trabzon); more precisely: NUTS II equivalent regions of TR10 (İstanbul), TR21 (Tekirdağ, Edirne, Kırklareli), TR42 (Kocaeli, Sakarya, Düzce, Bolu, Yalova), TR81 (Zonguldak, Karabük, Bartın), TR82 (Kastamonu, Çankırı, Sinop), TR83 (Samsun, Tokat, Çorum, Amasya) and TR90 (Trabzon, Ordu, Giresun, Rize, Artvin, Gümüşhane).

8. Ukraine (Odeska, Mykolayivska, Khersonska, Zaporizhska and Donetska Oblasts, Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol)

Three types of projects are eligible:

1. Integrated projects – in which the Applicant and its partners carry out mainly different complementary activities in several countries that jointly achieve a certain objective having a cross border impact

2. Symmetrical projects – in which the Applicant and its partners carry out mainly similar activities in all the countries participating in the Action, having a cross border impact;

3. Projects – implemented mainly or entirely in a single participating-country, but having a cross-border impact.

Only 10% of this Call for Proposals budget will be available for joint Actions implemented mainly or entirely in a single participating-country, but having a cross-border impact.

Yes, for example in a project involving partners from 4 different countries, the activities could be implemented only in 3 countries as long as the project demonstrates to have a cross-border impact.

The projects should always have a cross-border character, which shall be understood in terms of respecting at least two of the following conditions, as described below: joint development, joint staffing, joint implementation and/or joint financing.

• Joint development – means that the project must be designed in common by partners, meaning that applications must clearly integrate the ideas, priorities and actions of all stakeholders. The Applicant is the coordinator of this process but should include other partners from the beginning of the development process;
• Joint implementation – means that the activities to be carried out for the implementation of the joint Action are distributed in a balanced way among the partners. There is a clear content-based link between the activities implemented in each country/region and regular contacts are ensured between all the sides. The Applicant (Beneficiary) is responsible for ensuring that the activities are properly coordinated, that schedules are kept and that the right quality levels are achieved;
• Joint staffing – means that the project should not duplicate functions. Therefore, regardless of where the person is registered and located, there should be one joint project manager, one joint financial manager etc. (more staff may be required for larger projects). These staff will be responsible for project activities on all sides of the borders. The Beneficiary (Lead Partner) is generally the employer of core project staff;
• Joint financing – means that there will be only one ENPI Grant Contract per joint Action and there must be one common budget and common reporting. The common budget shall be divided between the partners according to a balanced distribution of activities to be carried out by them. There is also only one project bank account – held by the Applicant (Beneficiary) – and payments (from ENPI) are made from the programme to this account. The Applicant (Beneficiary) is responsible for the administration and distribution of these funds to the partners and for reporting on their use. Exception will be made in case of joint Actions involving IPA partner(s) where the IPA Lead Beneficiary will sign the IPA Grant Contract with CFCU in Turkey for the IPA funds and it will have a separate bank account for IPA funds. Co-financing should be provided by each partner illustrating the commitment by each partner to the joint Action.

An indicative list with examples of types of activities which may be financed under this Call for Proposals is presented in section 2.1.4 Eligible activities of the Guidelines for Grant Applicants.

• An Applicant may submit more than one application under this Call for Proposals.
• An Applicant may not be awarded more than three grants under this Call for Proposals, one grant per each priority.
• An Applicant may at the same time be partner in another application.
• Partners may take part in more than one application.
• An Applicant who was awarded a Grant in the first call, may be awarded another Grant in the second call

The Selection Committee may decide to limit the number of grants awarded to one Applicant.

According with PRAG provisions (Section 6.4.8.6), where several proposals submitted by the same Applicant are selected for financing, but the Applicant does not prove to have the necessary capacity required to implement all selected proposals for which grants may be awarded, the Selection Committee shall reject the proposal(s) which has (have) been awarded a lower score, and select the proposal(s) that the Applicant has the capacity to implement.

Please note that whatever Action may be proposed, they have to be located in the eligible areas as stated in the Guidelines section 2.1.3.

No, only costs that are incurred after the contract signature and project start date.

There is a clear distinction between the service provider (a consulting company or a self-employed expert) and the experts (physical persons) provided by this service provider.

ü In case of a service provider, the ENPI nationality rules apply (art.21(1) of REGULATION (EC) No 1638/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument):

“Participation in the award of procurement or grant contracts financed under this Regulation shall be open to all natural persons who are nationals of, and legal persons established in:

– a Member State of the Community or

– a country that is a beneficiary of this Regulation (Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Russian Federation, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine) or

– a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia including Kosovo, Turkey) or

– a Member State of the EEA (Island, Lichtenstein, Norway)”.

ü In case of experts (physical persons) provided by a service provider, there are no restrictions on nationality (art. 21(5) of REGULATION (EC) No 1638/2006 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument): experts proposed in the context of procedures for the award of contracts need not comply with the nationality rules set out above.

Therefore a service provider (company or self-employed expert) signing a service contract with the Beneficiary has to comply with the ENPI nationality rules. On the other hand, experts (physical persons) provided by a service provider may be of any nationality.

The eligibility of civil servants’ salaries should be checked in the national legislations. Please contact your National Authority /National Info Point (contact details here: http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php?page=MANAGEMENT_NIP).

Civil servants’ salaries are eligible costs as long as the hiring documents (orders of appointment or other) are proving that the members of the team of the project are directly employed by the Beneficiary’s and/or partner(s)’ organisation(s). If this is the case, the hiring documents (orders of appointment or other) may be considered equivalent with work contracts, being necessary only to be accompanied by a letter mentioning the fact that the respective members of the project team are civil servants hired according with this procedure.

Note: This rule is general. Each partner shall check the national rules before committing the budget in this respect.

According with art.2.2 of Annex IV (Procurement by grant Beneficiaries in the context of
European Community external actions) of the Grant Contract – as amended by art.7.2.20. of the Grant Contract (Annex F) – the tenderer must state the origin of supplies. Pursuant to Article 21.1 of the Regulation (EC) No 1638/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24 October 2006 laying down general provisions establishing a European Neighbourhood and Partnership Instrument, all supplies and materials purchased under contracts financed under this Regulation shall originate in:- a Member State of the Community or- a country that is a beneficiary of this Regulation (Algeria, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Egypt, Georgia, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Moldova, Morocco, Palestinian Authority of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Russian Federation, Syria, Tunisia, Ukraine) or- a country that is a beneficiary of an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance set up by Council Regulation (EC) No 1085/2006 of 17 July 2006 establishing an Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance (IPA) (Albania, Bosnia, Croatia, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia including Kosovo, Turkey) or- a Member State of the EEA (Island, Lichtenstein, Norway).

According with section 2.1.5 Eligibility of costs in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, a fixed percentage not exceeding 7% of the total amount of direct eligible costs of the joint Action may be claimed as indirect costs to cover the administrative overheads incurred by the Beneficiary and partners for the joint Action. The threshold of 7% refers to the individual costs of each partner and Applicant and not to the average costs of Applicant and each partner at project level.

There should be made a clear distinction between:

• Staff employed with work contracts (or similar documents) by an institution/organisation – appointed from the existing employed staff of an institution/organisation with clear assignment including information on the extent of involvement in the project – whose salaries should be included in 1. Human resources budget heading;
• External experts who may be contracted if an institution/organisation does not have the adequate professionals to perform some tasks; these costs shall be budgeted under 5.1 External experts budget subheading. They would be selected as a result of a procurement procedure organized as per provisions of Annex IV of the grant contract.

Yes, procedures to award subcontracts for goods/services/works used/provided/delivered during the implementation period may have been initiated but contracts may not be concluded by the Beneficiary or its partners before the start of the implementation period of the Action, provided the provisions of Annex IV were respected.

Please be aware that – according with art. 14.2 in General Conditions – Grant Contract – salaries and subsistence costs must not exceed those normally borne by the Beneficiary or its partners; also, travel and subsistence costs for staff and other persons taking part in the Action are eligible provided they do not exceed those normally borne by the Beneficiary or its partners, according with national legislation applicable for each type of legal entity.

Any contributions in kind, which must be listed separately at Table 4 of the Budget, do not represent actual expenditure and are not eligible costs. The contributions in kind may not be treated as co-financing by the Beneficiary or its partners. However, the cost of staff assigned to the Action is not a contribution in kind and may be considered as co-financing in the Budget of the Action when paid by the Beneficiary or its partners. Notwithstanding to the above, if the Description of the Action foresees the contributions in kind, such contributions have to be provided.

The Beneficiary and its partners accept that the grant can under no circumstances result in a profit for itself and that it must be limited to the amount required to balance income and expenditure for the Action. Profit shall be defined as a surplus of actual income over the actual expenditure of the Action in question when the request is made for payment of the balance.

Where the amendment to the Budget or Description of the Action does not affect the basic purpose of the Action and the financial impact is limited to a transfer between items within the same main budget heading including cancellation or introduction of an item, or a transfer between main budget headings involving a variation of 15% or less of the amount originally entered (or as modified by addendum) in relation to each concerned main heading for eligible costs, the Beneficiary may amend the budget of the Action and inform in writing in 7 days the JMA accordingly. This method may not be used to amend the headings for administrative costs or the contingency reserve.

As stated in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, page 20, section 2.1.2, please refer to Annex IV to the Standard Grant Contract for specific rules regarding procurement procedures, particularly to sections 2.1, 2.2 and 2.3.

You can find this annex (inside Annex F: Standard Grant Contract, zipped file), alongside other documents on the programme website, particularly in the following link: http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/Documents/Guidelines-for-applicants

You will also find in this link, Annex G: Eligibility of expenditure by budget lines. Please refer to the following sections: 3. Equipment and supplies and 5. Subcontracted services (external expertise and services) for the rules on nationality and origin.

Please also refer to the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EU external Actions (PRAG) for a comprehensive definition, specific rules and exceptions of the rules on nationality and origin. (Sections 2.3.1 and 2.3.2) You can find the PRAG in the following link: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/index_en.htm

There is no need for prior approval and providing such proofs at the application stage

The travels to other locations outside the eligible area could be eligible under the condition they are linked to activities described and justified in the Grant Application Form and approved by the Joint Monitoring Committee during the selection phase;

For more information on eligible expenditures, please consult Annex G: Eligibility of Expenditure which you can find among the documents for Second Call for Proposals of the Programme, on the website in the following link:

http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/Documents/Guidelines-for-applicants

The consolidated budget can be only seen on Section 2.5 of the Grant Application Form. The Budget (Annex B) will include 2 files: one ENPI budget with 4 sheets and one IPA Budget with 4 sheets, if it is the case.

Organisations which are not entitled to recover any paid VAT (Value Added Tax) by whatever means should include VAT in the costs. Organisations which are entitled to recover any paid VAT (Value Added Tax) by whatever means should not include VAT in the costs. Organisations which are partially entitled to recover any paid VAT (Value Added Tax) by whatever means, should not include VAT in the costs. For the partially non-recoverable paid VAT (Value Added Tax) by whatever means, the organisations should include VAT in the costs.

Please be aware that there is no separate column/raw for the VAT, but it should be included in the costs foreseen in the Budget, whenever it is the case.

The purpose of requesting an external audit report is to be able to verify that the financial capacity of the entity in question is sufficient to implement the future grant contract.

Since there are two separate entities and two separate grant contracts, an external audit report is requested in the following cases:

1) from the ENPI future Beneficiary if the ENPI grant requested exceeds 500,000 EUR (excluding co-financing);

2) from the IPA future Financial Lead Beneficiary if the IPA grant requested exceeds 500,000 EUR (excluding co-financing).

Consequently, in this example (ENPI grant of 400,000 EUR and IPA grant of 200,000 EUR), it is not necessary to submit an audit report by either of the future beneficiaries.

Yes, it is compulsory to submit Partnership Statements (in Annex A – Grant Application Form, Sections 4.5 and 5.2) at the application moment. This document must be submitted as original by all partners, excluding the Applicant, but including the IPA Financial Beneficiary (if it is the case), as it represents a commitment of the partners (including IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary) towards the Applicant. Therefore, the Applicant has to submit the Declaration by the Applicant, the IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary has to submit the Declaration by the IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary and also Partnership Statement and partners have to submit Partnership Statements.

In case one person is working part-time, the salary should be proportionally with the percentage of time dedicated for the project; in this example, the salary should be split by half. The number of units (in this case month) should reflect the length of the period while the respective person is involved in the project, which may be the entire duration of the project or a shorter period. For each part time staff, please insert as in the following example:

– Description: Regional Coordinator Bulgaria (working 50% over a 18 months period, part time salary 1000 Euro);

– No. of units: 18*50%;

– Unit rate: 2000 Euro.

Yes, please amend the text according with your own situation, in the sense that the non-applicable text should be deleted.

The supporting documents must be submitted as unofficial translations into English, certified in original by the legally authorised representative of the Applicant / partner organisation through signature and stamp, as described in Section 2.2.2 of the Guidelines for Grant Applicants.

No, the Partnership Agreement is not required at the application moment. This document will be required in a later stage only for the selected projects, as a prior condition for concluding the Grant Contract with the Joint Managing Authority.

An Associate does not have a dedicated field to fill in within the Budget as co-financing of the project. The travel and per diem costs of an Associate – the only eligible costs applicable in case of Associates – should be included in the budget of one of the partners.

Please be informed that the formulas in the budget tables were simplified. The previous budget forms included ROUND UP and OFFSET components which caused some errors, while the simplified budget forms have simple SUM UP formulas. If you have already filled out your budget forms, you may manually include simple SUM UP formulas instead of the initial ones. Otherwise you may use the new (simplified) ENPI and IPA budget forms.

Download links:

ANNEX B1: BUDGET ENPI (simplified formulas): http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/content/download/8829/218044/file/ANNEX%20B1%20BUDGET%20ENPI%20(simplified%20formulas).xls

ANNEX B2: BUDGET IPA (simplified formulas): http://www.blacksea-cbc.net/index.php/eng/content/download/8828/218040/file/ANNEX%20B2%20BUDGET%20IPA%20(simplified%20formulas).xls

It is strongly advised that all information presented in the Logical Framework Sheet, should be quantifiable, in particular indicators which are quantitative and qualitative measures of tangible project achievement. These can include process, product (input/output), or impact measures. Indicators must also specify quantity, quality, and timing. These measures must be capable of being substantiated, and the sources of information for this task are indicated in the third column, referred to as means of verification.

The travel and per diem costs of an Associate – the only eligible costs applicable in case of Associates – should be included in the budget of one of the partners, responsible for the relevant activity/event. Therefore, depending on the country of the partner in charge with the activity/event, you can identify if the participation costs for the Associate should be included in the ENPI or IPA budget.

Legal Entity Sheet (Annex D) will be requested from provisionally selected applications. Applicants who have been provisionally selected or listed under the reserve list will be requested by the Chairperson of the Selection Committee to supply the following documents in order to allow the Selection Committee to verify the eligibility of the Applicants and their partners.

Financial Identification Forms (Annex E to these Guidelines) will be requested from the Beneficiary, the IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary (if is the case) and partners in the pre-contracting phase.

Partners do not have to provide external audit report. It is requested from the applicant and the IPA Lead Beneficiary (if it is the case). As stated in section 2.2.2 of the Grant Application Form:

“External Audit Report must be submitted by the Applicant where the ENPI grant requested exceeds EUR 500,000 and by the IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary where the IPA grant requested exceeds EUR 500,000… This obligation does not apply to public authorities, bodies governed by public law and international organisations”

Conversions into Euro from other currencies shall be done at the rate published in InforEuro. Please find InforEuro exchange rates in the following link:

http://ec.europa.eu/budget/inforeuro/index.cfm?Language=en

Please insert all expected outputs and indicators resulting directly from your Action, irrespective of priorities.

Such travel and per diem costs should be included in the budget of one of the partners, responsible for the relevant activity/event. Therefore, depending on the partner in charge with the activity/event, you can identify where you should include those travel and per diem costs.

Please take into account the statement in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants “this obligation does not apply to public authorities, bodies governed by public law and international organisations.”

If the requested information is not available for justified reasons, the respective fields shall be filled in with “NA – Not Available”.

Latest annual accounts refer to the documents available for last financial year for which the information is available.

This section (columns G-J) must be completed if the Action is to be implemented over a period of more than 12 months. If this is the case, the costs for each component of items must be divided into two years. The costs only for the first year must be included in the second group of columns (Year 1, columns G-J) while the total (Year 1 and Year 2, columns

C-F) must be included in the first group of columns.

The tables of Group of Activities are included in the 15 pages. This section (2.4.1) should not exceed 15 pages with the Group of Activities. You can delete the instructions provided, in order to free some more space for the input of your project.

The application does not need to be signed on every page. Please refer to the Guidelines for Grant Applicants particularly section “2.2 How to Apply and the Procedures to Follow”, for detailed explanation on how to submit the application and its annexes.

The list for documents that need to be submitted in the application phase is present in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, particularly section “2.2.2 Annexes and supporting documents to be submitted with the application”

As stated in section “2.4 Submission of Annexes and Supporting Documents for Provisionally Selected Applications” the Legal Entity Sheet (Annex D), Statutes or Articles of Association or other applicable documents and Registration Acts will only be requested from the provisionally selected applications. At this stage these documents do not need to be submitted.

In order to see a full list of documents to be submitted with the application, please check the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, particularly section “2.2.2 Annexes and supporting documents to be submitted with the application”. In this section you can also find the documents listed according to applicant(and IPA Lead Beneficiary)/partner.

For your review, a list of documents is presented below. Please see the Guidelines for the detailed explanations.

1. Budget of the joint Action

2. Logical Framework Sheet

3. Declaration by the Applicant

4. Declaration by the IPA Financial Lead Beneficiary

5. Partnership Statements

6. Latest annual accounts

7. External Audit Report

The general rule that the Grant Application Form shall be typed is valid also for the documents which require applicants and partners insert budget amounts. Please pay attention to provide these documents in typed form and avoid hand writing.

Section 2.3.1.2 “Describe the relevance of the joint Action to any specific measures and any other specific requirements indicated in the guidelines of the call such as partnership, local ownership etc.” should be developed as to demonstrate the relevance of the project to one of the 7 measures launched within the second call for proposals and also to the partnership requirements mentioned in section 2.1.2 of the Guidelines for Grant Applicants.

Please leave the formulas as they are. There is no problem with the default formulas as they do not influence the evaluation process.