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Use the
reference 126779 in "search by reference"
The DEADLINE for the submission
of Concept Notes is 7 May 2008 (date at place of dispatch) as evidenced by the
postmark or the date of the deposit slip. In the case of hand-deliveries, the
deadline for receipt is 7 May 2008, 16:00 (
European Commission
Investing in People (IiP)
Equality Between Women and Men
Strengthening
the capacity of civil society organisations
(including economic and social partners)
active
in the field of promoting women's rights
and equality between women and men
in Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon,
Morocco,
Palestinian Territories, Syria and Tunisia
Restricted Call for Proposals 2008
Guidelines for grant applicants
Budget line 21 05 01 04
Reference:
EuropeAid/126779/C/ACT/MULTI
Deadline for submission of Concept Notes:
07/05//2008, 16:00 CET
Notice
This is a restricted Call for Proposals. In the first
instance, only Concept Notes must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter,
applicants whose Concept Notes have been pre-selected will be invited to submit
a Full Application Form. Further to the evaluation of the Full Applications, an
eligibility check will be performed for those which are provisionally selected.
This check will be undertaken on the basis of the supporting documents
requested by the European Commission, the signed "Declaration by the
Applicant" sent together with the Concept Note and the second Declaration
sent together with the Full Application.
All Internet links in the present document are valid
at the time of publication of this Call for Proposals. Nevertheless, they may
be subject to changes at a later stage.
Table
of contents
1. The Programme
'Investing in People' – EQUALITY BETWEEN WOMEN AND MEN....... 4
1.1 Background 4
1.2 Objectives
of the programme and priority issues 4
1.3 Financial
allocation provided by the European Commission 5
2. Rules FOR thIS call
for proposalS....................................................................................... 6
2.1 Eligibility
criteria 6
2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants: who may apply? 6
2.1.2 Partnerships and
eligibility of partners 7
2.1.3 Eligible actions:
actions for which an application may be made 8
2.1.4 Eligibility of
costs: costs which may be taken into consideration for the grant 11
2.2 How
to apply and the procedures to follow 12
2.2.1 Concept Note content 12
2.2.2 Where and how to
send Concept Notes 13
2.2.3 Deadline for
submission of the Concept Notes 14
2.2.4 Further information
for Concept Note 14
2.2.5 Full Application
Form 14
2.2.6 Where and how to
send the Full Application Form 16
2.2.7 Deadline for
submission of the Full Application Form 16
2.2.8 Further information
for Applicants 17
2.3 Evaluation
and selection of applications 17
2.4 Submission
of supporting documents for provisionally selected proposals 21
2.5 Notification
of the European Commission’s decision 22
2.5.1 Content of the decision 22
2.5.2 Indicative time table 23
2.6 Conditions
applicable to implementation of the action following the European Commission's
decision to award a grant 24
3. LIST OF annexes.................................................................................................................. 25
1. The
Programme 'Investing in People' – EQUALITY BETWEEN
WOMEN AND MEN
1.1 B
The Reports on Human Development in Arab countries, as well as the main
studies carried out in the region stressed that status and roles assigned to
women are one of the main deficits which hold back the development of Southern
Mediterranean Countries. Indeed, although these countries have ratified several
regional and international Human Rights Instruments, as well as the Convention
on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW[1][1]) – with, however,
reservations and interpretative declarations–, the integration of international
obligations with respect to women's civil, political, social, economic and
cultural rights in national legal systems, and the implementation of norms in
this regard, is incomplete. Furthermore, even when a legal framework to promote
equality between women and men is in place, it is in practice seldom followed
up.
In the framework of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, the member
States of the Partnership committed themselves to improve the participation and
overall situation of women in the civil, political, economic, social and
cultural spheres (Conclusions of the Ministerial Conference of Istanbul[2][2] November 2006).
In some countries of the region, civil society organisations play an
important role in the advent of reforms. However, their capacities need to be
strengthened: access to data and information, knowledge of some highly
specialised domains (macro-economy, trade, labour market, impact on women of
the creation of a free trade area, of SME expansion, of migratory fluxes etc.),
capacity to advocate and to network are often lacking.
In addition, the commitment and the participation of traditional actors
do not suffice to reach the objective of equality between women and men. Thus,
it is essential to ensure the cooperation of organisations with a general
mandate as well as key actors of economic and social life and to reinforce
partnership.
In this context, the thematic Programme "Investing in People"
prioritises the support to capacity-building and actions of civil society
organisations active in the promotion of women's rights and equality between
women and men in the Southern shore of the
1.2 Objectives of the progr
The global objective of the thematic Programme "Investing in People" (2007-2010 Thematic Strategy[3][3] and 2007 Annual Action Plan[4][4]) is to help the countries partner of the EU to improve their human and social development levels.
Activities carried out under the "Equality between women and
men" component will focus on policy development, advocacy and monitoring.
To this end, the Programme will support the activities and improvement of the
capacity of civil society organisations
active in promoting women's rights and equality between women and men.
Under the 2007 budget , this
component supports in particular,:
-
Coordinated
efforts by civil society organisations to promote the rights of women and
equality between women and men, including by developing or consolidating
networks at national or regional level.
-
Better
practice among economic and social partners concerning the rights of women and
equality between women and men. Support
to their advocacy efforts towards gender equality on the labour market and at
work place.
-
Efforts
by civil society towards a better attention to the rights of women and equality
between women and men, in the socio-economic development strategies.
The financial resources of
this call for proposal are exclusively dedicated to partner countries of the
Southern shore of the Mediterranean (
Priorities are defined under
point 2.1.3 below
These priorities also
contribute to the realisation of commitments made within the framework of the
Istanbul Ministerial Conclusions.
1.3 Fin
The overall indicative amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 6 808 900. The European Commission reserves the right not to award all available funds or to attribute additional funds.
Size of grants
|
· minimum
amount: |
250 000 EUR |
|
· maximum
amount: |
1 000 000 EUR |
In addition, no grant may exceed 90 % of the total eligible costs of the action (see
also section 2.1.4). The balance must be financed from the applicant's or
partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Community
budget or the European Development Fund.
2. Rules FOR thIS c
These guidelines set out the
rules for the submission, selection and implementation of actions financed
under this Call, in conformity with the provisions of the Practical Guide to
contract procedures for EC external actions.
The majority of terms used in
the present guidelines are explained in the Glossary to the Practical Guide to
contract procedures for EC external actions.
The aforementioned Practical
Guide and the Glossary can be consulted at the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/practical_guide/index_en.htm
In addition to the Glossary, the following definitions apply:
Partnership the grouping of
organisations i.e. the main applicant and its partners for the purpose of
implementing the proposed action
Applicant the organisation
responsible for submitting the application
Partner member organisation of the partnership other
than the applicant
Associate organisation that
plays an active role in the action but which cannot benefit from funding under
the grant
Subcontractor organisation contracted by the beneficiary or its
partner(s) in accordance with the appropriate procedures in order to execute
specific tasks in implementing the action
Re-granting financial support
that may be given to third parties by the beneficiary of the Community grant
where the implementation of the action so requires, subject to the conditions
laid down in Article 120 of the Financial Regulation and 184a of the
Implementing Rules of the Financial Regulation[5][5]
There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:
· applicant(s) which
may request a grant (2.1.1), and their partners (2.1.2);
· actions for which a
grant may be awarded (2.1.3);
· types of cost which
may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.4).
(1) In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:
· be legal persons, and
· be non-profit making, and
· be nationals[6][6] of one of the following countries and :
· belong to one of the following
categories:
- civil society organisations[7][7] (including non governmental organisations, independent
foundations, economic and social partners), in particular those active in the area of women's rights and equality between women and men,
or
- institutes specialised in development studies, universities and research centres,
and
· be directly responsible
for the preparation and management of the action, not acting as an
intermediary.
(2) Potential applicants may not participate in
Calls for Proposals or be awarded grants if
they are in any of the situations which are listed in Section 2.3.3 of
the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions (available
from the Internet address indicated at the beginning of the section 2).
In Part A, section
III of the Grant Application Form (“Declaration by the applicant”), applicants
must declare that they do not fall into any of the situations.
Partners
Under Priority 1, applicants have the
obligation to act in partnership with at
least one partner organisation as specified after.
Under priority 2 and 3, applicants may act individually or in partnership.
Partnership is encouraged (see sub-section 2.3 of the Concept Note evaluation
grid and sub-section 3.3 of the Full Application Form evaluation grid). Where
the applicant does not propose a partner, a justification has to be
provided and will be evaluated.
Partners
participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur
are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the grant beneficiary. They must therefore satisfy the same
eligibility criteria as applicants, except for the nationality.
Regarding the
nationality criterion, partners can be nationals of
one of the following countries and territories:
-
- the 27
-
During the second
phase of the call for proposals, the partners (and the applicant) must sign the
partnership statement.
Other organisations
may be involved in the action. Such associates play a real role in the action
but may not receive funding from the grant with the exception of per diem or
travel costs.
Participation, as
associates, of organisations established in Arab States of the Gulf (
Associates are not
considered as partners and do not have to sign the partnership statement.
Subcontractors
The grant
beneficiaries have the possibility to award contracts to subcontractors.
Subcontractors are neither partners nor associates, and are subject to the
procurement rules set out in
Subcontractors are not considered as partners and do not have to sign the
partnership statement.
The applicant will
act as the lead organisation and, if selected, as the contracting party (the
"beneficiary").
Definition:
Duration
The initial planned duration
of an action may not be lower than 12
months nor exceed 36 months.
Sectors or themes
The present call
for proposals covers three priorities:
PRIORITY 1:
Coordinated action by civil society in the area of women's rights and equality
between women and men
Supporting coordinated efforts by civil society, including
the development or the consolidation of networks, at national or
regional[8][8] level for the promotion of women's rights and equality between women
and men in the following areas:
- lifting of reserves
and accession to the Optional
Protocol of the CEDAW,
- improvement of the legal
context relating to equality between women and men,
- the effective and operational
implementation of reforms in the areas covered by CEDAW,
- follow-up and monitoring of the
implementation of the "Ministerial Conclusions of Istanbul on
strengthening the role of women in society".
The expected results linked with this priority theme 1 are the
following:
· initiatives of civil
society organisations in favour of equality between women and men are
strengthened,
· their networking at
national, sub-regional or regional level is improved,
· capacities of civil
society organisations to follow and monitor the implementation of the
commitments made by the countries of the Euro-Mediterranean Partnership (
· the process of
lifting of the reserves and of accession by the States parties to the CEDAW's
Optional Protocol is accelerated,
· the implementation
of commitments at each level of the States and of society is strengthened and
monitored.
PRIORITY 2:
Action of economic and social partners targeting the labour market and the work
place
The
expected results linked with this priority theme 2 are the following:
· concrete progress
is realised towards equality between women and men on the labour market and at
the work place,
· practice regarding
gender equality issues among social partners is improved,
· the institutional
functioning of these organizations in this area is strengthened in a
sustainable way.
PRIORITY 3: Integration of equality between women and
men in the socio-economic development strategies.
Strengthen the capacity of
civil society organisations so as to enable them to participate in and
decisively influence the dialogue on socio-economic development strategies
including budgetary processes, at both national and local levels.
The
expected results linked with this priority theme 3 are the following:
· the knowledge of
civil society organisations in the area of "gender and economy" is
strengthened,
· their capacity to
influence and monitor socio-economic development strategies in the countries of
the region, at national and local levels, is strengthened,
· their capacity to
influence budgetary processes, at national and local levels, is strengthened.
Particular
attention will be given to the rights of persons belonging to vulnerable
groups. Where appropriate, proposals shall demonstrate how these issues have
been considered in the design, the implementation and the monitoring of the
activities[9][9].
Location
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
§
A limited part of the
activities may take place in EU countries (however, these activities should
only represent a marginal share of the budget).
Types of action
The
types of activities that may be included in the actions under each of the
priorities are the following (not exhaustive):
PRIORITY 1:
· Support to
campaigns, to national, regional and sub-regional civil society networks
working for the withdrawal of reservations and the implementation of the CEDAW
and for the ratification of its Optional protocol by the State parties in the
region (advocacy techniques, training on the CEDAW and its Optional protocol,
the process and mechanisms of reporting by State parties, elaboration of
parallel reports, monitoring the implementation of the CEDAW, etc.);
· Support to
sensitisation campaigns, dissemination of information, development and
dissemination of good practice, training of specialists by national networks
aiming at ensuring the effective implementation of reforms in the following
areas: personal status code, penal legislation, nationality code, labour code,
effective access to justice.
· Support to
sensitisation, training and exchange activities undertaken by national,
regional and sub-regional civil society alliances and networks working for
equality between women and men in the region, and aiming at ensuring an
effective follow-up and monitoring of the commitments made by the countries in
the framework of the Istanbul Conclusions.
PRIORITY 2:
- Support to sensitisation, to
the development of and exchange of good practice undertaken by social
partners, individually or in partnership with other civil society
organisations, aiming at equality between women and men in the workplace
- Support to reform, sensitisation,
development and sharing of good practice, aiming at improved
representation of women in decision-making positions in workers and
employers associations and professional organisations.
PRIORITY 3:
· Support to
activities aiming at promoting civil society organisations' knowledge and
understanding of the links existing
between gender equality and poverty, of gender equality in macro-economic
policies, employment, social security systems etc. Support to their advocacy in
this field.
· Support to
activities aiming at promoting knowledge of civil society organisations
promoting women’s rights and gender equality, in the area of the integration of
the gender dimension in the preparation and analysis of the state budget, as
well as their capacities to advocate gender sensitive budgets. Support to their
advocacy in this field.
·
Support
to campaigns and networks for exchange of know-how and best practices, aiming
at ensuring the capitalisation, the availability and use of positive results of
initiatives in favour of the integration of gender in State budgets.
Re-granting
In order to support the achievement of the objectives
of the action, and in particular where the implementation of the action proposed by the applicant requires
financial support to be given to third parties, the applicant may propose awarding sub-grants.
Any such
re-granting must be duly justified. The applicant must indicate in the proposal
(Full Application Form) the exact amount to be awarded in the form of
re-granting as well as specifying the minimum and maximum amounts that may be
allocated to third parties. In addition, the applicant must specify the
criteria to be used to select the beneficiary third parties and to determine
the exact amount to be awarded and include a fixed list of the different types
of activity that may receive such financial support. The afore-mentioned
elements will be included in the grant contract and, for each activity assigned
in this manner, a specific narrative and financial report annexed to the grant
contract activity reports will be required.
The maximum amount
is limited to EUR 10,000 per third party of the sub-grant while the total
amount which can be awarded as sub-grants to third parties is limited to EUR
100,000.
In no circumstances may re-granting be the principal
activity of the proposed action.
The following types
of action are ineligible:
· actions concerned
only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops,
seminars, conferences, congresses;
· actions concerned
only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
· actions supporting
political parties;
· actions including
proselytism;
· one-off conferences:
conferences can only be founded if they form part of a wider range of
activities to be implemented in the life-time of the action. For these
purposes, preparatory activities for a conference and the publication of the
proceedings of the conference do not, in themselves, constitute such
"wider activities".
Number of proposals and grants per applicant
Only "eligible
costs" can be taken into account for a grant, (the categories of costs
considered as eligible and non-eligible are indicated below). The budget is
therefore both a cost estimate and a ceiling for "eligible costs".
The eligible costs must be based on real costs based on supporting documents
(except for subsistence costs and indirect costs where flat-rate funding
applies).
Recommendations to award a
grant are always subject to the condition that the checking process which
precedes the signing of the contract does not reveal problems requiring changes
to the budget (for instance arithmetical errors, inaccuracies or unrealistic
costs and other ineligible costs). The checks may give rise to requests for
clarification and may lead the European Commission to impose modifications or
reductions to address such mistakes or inaccuracies. The amount of the grant
and the percentage of co-financing as a result of these corrections may not be
increased in any case.
It is therefore in the
applicant's interest to provide a realistic
and cost-effective budget.
Eligible direct costs
To be eligible under the Call for Proposals, costs must comply with the provisions of Article 14 of the General Conditions to the Standard Grant Contract (see Annex F on the last page of the present guidelines).
Contingency
reserve
Eligible indirect
costs (overheads)
The indirect costs incurred in
carrying out the action may be eligible for flat-rate funding fixed at maximum 7%
of the total eligible direct costs.
If the applicant is in
receipt of an operating grant financed from the Community budget no indirect costs may be claimed within
the proposed budget for the action.
Contributions in kind
Contributions in kind do not represent actual
expenditure and are not eligible costs. Contributions in kind may not be
treated as co-financing by the beneficiary.
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, and when justified by
appropriate supporting documents (salary slips) and related proves of payment
(bank transfers).
Thus, only staff recruited by
the beneficiary and its partners with an employment contract is eligible as
cofinancing. Staff recruited with a service contract (and related payment of
invoices) is to be considered as “sub-contractors”. In this latter case, the
procurement rules must be applied.
Notwithstanding the above, if the description of the action as proposed
by the beneficiary foresees the contributions in kind, such contributions have
to be listed separately in Annex B and must be provided.
Ineligible costs
The following costs
are not eligible:
–
debts
and provisions for losses or debts;
–
interest
owed;
–
items
already financed in another framework;
–
purchases
of land or buildings, except where necessary for the direct implementation of
the action, in which case ownership must be transferred to the final
beneficiaries and/or local partners, at the latest by the end of the action;
–
currency
exchange losses;
–
taxes,
including V
–
credits
to third parties.
2.2 How
to
Prior registration in the
PADOR system (Potential Applicant Data On-Line Registration)[10][10] is not obligatory under this Call for
Proposals. Nevertheless, all organisations that wish and have the possibility
both to register and to upload all
required supporting documents for
this Call for Proposals (see section 2.4) are strongly invited to do so.
All questions related to the
registration in PADOR should be addressed to
the PADOR help desk:
europeaid-on-line-registration-hd@ec.europa.eu
2.2.1 Concept Note content
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl
). Any Concept Note using the format relating to any other Call may be
rejected.
In the Concept Note (cover
page), the applicants must only provide an estimate of the total eligible costs
of the action together with the amount of contribution and percentage requested
from the European Commission. Only the applicants invited to submit a full
proposal in the second phase will be required to present a detailed budget.
This detailed budget may not vary from the initial estimate by more than 20%.
The applicant is free to adapt the percentage of co-financing required as far
as the minimum and maximum amount of co-financing, as laid down in the present
Guidelines, is respected (see section 1.3).
Clarifications will only be
requested when information provided is unclear, thus preventing the European
Commission from conducting an objective assessment.
Hand-written
Concept Notes will be rejected.
The Concept Note together with
the Checklist for the Concept Note (Part A, section II of the Grant Application
Form) and the "Declaration by the applicant for the
Concept Note" (Part A, section III of the Grant Application Form) must be submitted in one paper original in
Concept Notes must be submitted as well in electronic format (CD-Rom). The electronic
version must be identical to the
submitted paper version.
Only the Concept Note form
will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that this document
contains
Concept Notes must be
submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail with delivery confirmation,
private courier service or by hand-delivery at the address below (a signed and
dated acknowledgement of receipt will be given by the European Commission).
Postal
address
European Commission
EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Unit EuropeAid A/5
Audits, Contracts and Finance Unit for Europe, Southern Mediterranean and
”Equality between women and men”
Office: J-54 – 01/230
B-1049
European Commission
Service du Courier Central
EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Unit EuropeAid A/5
Audits, Contracts and Finance Unit for Europe, Southern Mediterranean and
Middle East
”Equality between women and men”
Office: J-54 – 01/230
Avenue de Bourget, 3
B-1140 Brussels-Evere, Belgium
Tel.: +32.2.29 98 453
N.B.: This department is open from 08:00 to 17:00 from Monday to
Thursday and from 08:00 to 16:00 on Friday; it is closed on Saturdays, Sundays
and Commission holidays.
Concept Notes sent
by any other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses
will be rejected.
Where an applicant
sends several different Concept Notes, each one must be sent separately.
The outer envelope must bear the
reference and the title of the Call for Proposals, the full name and
address of the applicant, and the words "Not to be opened before the
opening session".
The deadline for the submission
of Concept Notes is 7 May 2008 (date at place of dispatch) as evidenced by the
postmark or the date of the deposit slip. In the case of hand-deliveries, the
deadline for receipt is 7 May 2008, 16:00 (
The applicant is solely
responsible for the choice of means of expedition amongst those indicated in
section 2.2.2 and for following-up the delivery in accordance with the
indications of the present section.
2.2.4 Further information for Concept Note
Two information sessions on this call for proposals
will be held
by the end of March 2008 in
Further information on the exact dates and venues of these meetings will
be published
in February 2008 on EuropeAid website at the following address:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl
Questions (except those
related to registration in PADOR) may be sent by e-mail no later than 16
April 2008 (21 days before the deadline for the submission of Concept
Notes) to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for
Proposals:
E-mail
address: europeaid-enpi-south-tenders@ec.europa.eu
Ref.: “Equality between women and men”
|
The answers, will be
published no later than 11 days before the deadline for the submission of
Concept Notes on the EuropeAid website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl It is therefore highly
recommended to regularly consult the above website |
|
In the interest of
equal treatment of applicants, the European Commission cannot give a prior
opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific
activities. |
All questions related to PADOR
registration should be addressed to the
PADOR help desk:
europeaid-on-line-registration-hd@ec.europa.eu
After the deadline for
submission of Concept Notes, the above-mentioned e-mail address can only be
used by applicants for the purpose specified in section 2.2.3 or by the
European Commission to initiate correspondence regarding any requests for
clarification that may be required. No individual replies to queries with
regard to the status of the selection procedure can be given via this mailbox
although an updated automatic reply providing the current status of the
evaluation procedure will be generated on receipt of all messages sent to this
mailbox.
2.2.5 Full
Applicants invited to submit a
Full Application Form following the pre-selection of the Concept Note must do
so by using the application documents annexed to the present Guidelines: (Annex
A, Part B - Full Application Form, Annex
B-Budget and Annex C-Logical Framework). These are to be downloaded from the
EuropeAid website at the address indicated in section 2.2.1. Applicants should
keep strictly to the format of the application form and fill in the paragraphs
and pages in order taking care to use the correct application documents for
this Call. Applications submitted on application documents relating to any
other call may be rejected.
Budgetary
information concerning the action should be provided using round figures and be
presented only in the Budget (Annex B); they should not appear in the
Full Application Form (Annex A, Part B, Point 1.3).
The elements contained in the
Concept Note cannot be modified in the Full Application Form.
The detailed budget (provided
with round figures) may not vary from the initial estimate indicated in the
Concept Note by more than 20%. The applicant is free to adapt the percentage of
co-financing required as far as the minimum and maximum amount of co-financing,
as laid down in the present Guidelines (see section 1.3), is respected.
Applicants must submit their
applications in the same language as their Concept Note.
The Full Application Form
should be completed carefully and as clearly as possible to facilitate the
evaluation. The reference number allocated to the Concept Note should appear on
the cover page of the Full Application Form.
Clarifications will only be
requested when information provided is unclear, thus preventing the European
Commission from conducting an objective assessment.
Hand-written
applications will be rejected.
The Full Application Form, the Budget and the Logical Framework must be
submitted in one paper original in A4 size, as well as in electronic format
(CD-Rom). The electronic version must be identical to the submitted paper version.
Each component of the application (Full Application Form, Budget and Logical
Framework) must be submitted in a single, separate electronic file (for
example, the Full Application Form must not be split into several different
electronic files) and should not contain
coloured or high resolution graphs, images or diagrams. The electronic version
of the applications will only be printed in black and white for evaluation
purposes.
Only the Full Application
Form and the published annexes which must be filled in (Budget, Logical
Framework) will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that these
documents contain
Full Application Form must be
submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail with delivery confirmation,
private courier service or by hand-delivery at the address below (a signed and
dated acknowledgement of receipt will be given by the European Commission).
Postal
address
European Commission
EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Unit EuropeAid A/5
Audits, Contracts and Finance Unit for Europe, Southern Mediterranean and
”Equality between women and men”
Office: J-54 – 01/230
B-1049
Address
for hand delivery or by private courier service
European Commission
Service du Courier Central
EuropeAid Co-operation Office, Unit EuropeAid A/5
Audits, Contracts and Finance Unit for Europe, Southern Mediterranean and
Middle East
”Equality between women and men”
Office: J-54 – 01/230
Avenue de Bourget, 3
B-1140 Brussels-Evere, Belgium
Tel.: +32.2.29 98 453
N.B.: This department is open from 08:00 to 17:00 from Monday to
Thursday and from 08:00 to 16:00 on Friday; it is closed on Saturdays, Sundays
and Commission holidays.
Full Application Forms sent by
any other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses will
be rejected.
The Checklist (Part B, Section
V of the Grant Application Form) and the Declaration by the applicant (Part B,
Section VI of the Grant Application Form) must be stapled separately and
enclosed in the envelope.
Where an applicant
sends several different Full Application Forms, each one must be sent
separately.
The outer envelope must bear the reference
and the title of the Call for Proposals, the reference number allocated
to the Concept Note, the full name and address of the applicant, and the words
"Not to be opened before the opening session".
The deadline for submission of
the Full Application Forms will be indicated in the letter sent to the
pre-selected applicants. Submission within the deadline will be evidenced by
the postmark or the date of the deposit slip. The deadline for reception of
Full Application Forms in the case of hand-deliveries will also be indicated in
the above-mentioned letter. In this case, reception within the deadline will be
evidenced by the signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt given to the
bearer by the European Commission. Any Full Application Form sent after the
deadline or, in the case of hand-deliveries, received after the stipulated time
will be rejected.
The Applicant is solely
responsible for the choice of means of expedition amongst those indicated in
section 2.2.6 and for following-up the delivery in accordance with the
stipulations of the present section.
If the Applicant does not
receive the results of the Opening and Administrative Check of the Full
Application Form within 15 days of the date set for completion of this step in
the indicative calendar under section 2.5.2 below, a message to this effect
should be sent to the European Commission via the e-mail address indicated
under the following section 2.2.8. This message should include a legible copy
of the signed and dated proof of sending as well as the European Commission's
acknowledgement of receipt.
Any Full Application Form
received by the European Commission on or after the effective date of
completion of the evaluation of the Full Application Forms (see indicative
calendar under section 2.5.2) will be treated as having been submitted after
the deadline and, therefore, rejected.
2.2.8 Further information for Applicants
Questions concerning the Full
Application Forms (except those related to registration in PADOR) may be sent
by e-mail no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of
applications to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call
for Proposals:
E-mail
address: europeaid-enpi-south-tenders@ec.europa.eu
Ref.: “Equality between women and men”
Replies will be given no later
than 11 days before the deadline for the submission of Full Application Forms.
In the interest of equal
treatment of applicants, the European Commission cannot give a prior opinion on
the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities.
Questions that may be relevant
to other applicants, together with the answers, will be published on the
Internet at the EuropeAid website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/cgi/frame12.pl
All questions related to PADOR
registration should be addressed to the
PADOR help desk:
europeaid-on-line-registration-hd@ec.europa.eu
After the deadline for
submission of Full Application Forms, the above-mentioned e-mail address can
only be used by applicants for the purpose specified in section 2.2.7 or by the
European Commission to initiate correspondence regarding any requests for
clarification that may be required. No individual replies to queries with
regard to the status of the selection procedure can be given via this mailbox
although an updated automatic reply providing the current status of the
evaluation procedure will be generated on receipt of all messages sent to this
mailbox.
2.3 Ev
If at any stage in the
evaluation process any component of the application (the applicant, a partner
or the action) is identified as not fulfilling the eligibility criteria
specified in the sections 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 of the present guidelines, the
application may be rejected on this sole basis.
(1)
STEP 1:
OPENING SESSION AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK OF THE CONCEPT NOTE
The following will be
assessed:
· The deadline has been respected. If the deadline has
not been respected, the proposal will automatically be rejected.
· The Concept Note satisfies all the criteria mentioned
in the Checklist (Part A, Section II of the Grant Application Form). If any of
the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the proposal may be
rejected on that sole basis
and the proposal will not be evaluated further.
Following the opening session
and the administrative check of the Concept Notes, the European Commission will
send a letter to all applicants, indicating whether their Concept Note was
submitted prior to the deadline, informing them of the reference number
allocated to it, whether all the criteria mentioned in the Checklist have been
met and whether their Concept Note has been recommended for evaluation.
(2)
STEP 2: EVALUATION OF THE CONCEPT NOTE
The evaluation of the Concept
Notes that have passed the first administrative check will cover the relevance
of the action, its merits and effectiveness, its viability and sustainability.
The European Commission reserves the right not to undertake the evaluation of
the Concept Notes whenever considered justified (for example when less than
expected number of Concept Notes are received) and to directly invite the
applicants to submit Full Application Forms.
The scores awarded to the
Concept Note are completely separate from those that may be given to the Full
Application.
The Concept Note will be given
an overall score out of 50 points in accordance with the breakdown provided in
the Evaluation Grid below. The evaluation shall also verify the compliance with
instructions provided in the guidance for Concept Note, part A of the Grant
Application Form.
The evaluation criteria are divided into
headings and subheadings. Each subheading will be given a score between 1 and 5
in accordance with the following assessment categories: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor;
3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good.
|
|
Scores |
|
|
1.
Relevance of the action |
Sub-score |
15 |
|
1.1 Relevance of the
problems to needs and constraints of the country/region to be addressed in
general, and to those of the target
groups and final beneficiaries in particular 1.2 Relevance to the priorities
and objectives mentioned in the Guidelines |
5 |
|
|
5(x2)* |
||
|
2.
Effectiveness and Feasibility of the action |
Sub-score |
25 |
|
2.1 Assessment of the problem identification
and analysis 2.2 Assessment of the
proposed activities (practicality and consistency in relation to the
objectives, purpose and expected results) 2.3 Assessment of the role and involvement of all stakeholders and
proposed partners |
5 |
|
|
5(x2)* |
||
|
5(x2)* |
||
|
3.
Sustainability of the action |
Sub-score |
10 |
|
3.1 Assessment of the
identification of the main assumptions and risks, before the start up and
throughout the implementation period 3.2 Assessment of the
identification of long-term sustainable impact on the target groups and final
beneficiaries |
5 |
|
|
5 |
||
|
TOTAL
SCORE |
|
50 |
*the scores are multiplied by
2 because of their importance
Once all Concept Notes have
been assessed, a list will be established with the proposed actions ranked
according to their total score.
Firstly, only the Concept
Notes which have been given a score of a minimum of 12 points in the category
"Relevance" as well as a minimum total score of 30 points will
be considered for pre-selection.
Secondly, the list of Concept
Notes will be reduced in accordance to the ranking to those whose sum of
requested contributions amounts to at least twice the available budget for this
Call for Proposals. The preselected applicants will subsequently be invited to
submit Full Application Forms.
(3) STEP 3: OPENING SESSION AND
ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK OF THE FULL APPLICATION FORM
The following will be
assessed:
· The deadline has been respected. If the deadline has
not been respected the proposal will be rejected.
· The Full Application Form satisfies all the criteria
mentioned in the Checklist (Part B, Section V of the Grant Application Form).
If any of the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the proposal
may be rejected on that sole
basis and the proposal will not be evaluated further.
Following the opening session
and the administrative check of the Full Application Forms, the European
Commission will send a letter to all applicants, indicating whether their
application was submitted prior to the deadline, whether their application has
satisfied all the criteria mentioned in the Checklist and whether their
application has been recommended for evaluation.
(4) STEP 4: EVALUATION OF THE
FULL APPLICATION FORM
The selection criteria are intended to help evaluate
the applicants' financial and operational capacity to ensure that they:
· have stable and
sufficient sources of finance to maintain their activity throughout the period
during which the action is being carried out and, where appropriate, to
participate in its funding;
· have the management
capacity, professional competencies and qualifications required to successfully
complete the proposed action. This also applies to any partners of the
applicant.
The
award criteria allow the quality of the proposals submitted to be
evaluated in relation to the set objectives and priorities, and grants to be
awarded to actions which maximise the overall effectiveness of the Call for
Proposals. They enable the selection of proposals which the European Commission
can be confident will comply with its objectives and priorities and guarantee
the visibility of the Community financing. They cover such aspects as the
relevance of the action, its consistency with the objectives of the Call for
Proposals, quality, expected impact, sustainability and cost-effectiveness.
Scoring:
The evaluation criteria are
divided into sections and subsections. Each subsection will be given a score
between 1 and 5 in accordance with the following guidelines: 1 = very poor; 2 =
poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good.
Evaluation Grid
|
Section |
Maximum Score |
|
1. Financial and operational
capacity |
20 |
|
1.1 Do the
applicant and partners have sufficient experience
of project management? |
5 |
|
1.2 Do the
applicant and partners have sufficient technical
expertise? (notably knowledge of the issues to be addressed) |
5 |
|
1.3 Do the
applicant and partners have sufficient management
capacity? |
5 |
|
1.4 Does the
applicant have stable and sufficient sources of finance? |
5 |
|
2. Relevance |
25 |
|
2.1 How relevant
is the proposal to the objectives
and one or more of the priorities of
the Call for Proposals? Note: |
5 x 2 |
|
2.2 How relevant
to the particular needs and
constraints of the target country/countries or region(s) is the proposal?
(including synergy with other EC initiatives and avoidance of duplication) |
5 |
|
2.3 How clearly
defined and strategically chosen are those involved (final beneficiaries, target groups)? Have their needs been clearly defined and does
the proposal address them appropriately? |
5 x 2 |
|
3. Methodology |
25 |
|
3.1 |
5 |
|
3.2 How coherent
is the overall design of the action? |
5 |
|
3.3 Is the partners' level of involvement and participation
in the action satisfactory? |
5 |
|
3.4 Is the action plan clear and feasible? |
5 |
|
3.5 Does the
proposal contain objectively
verifiable indicators for the outcome of the action? |
5 |
4. Sustainability |
15 |
|
4.1 Is the action
likely to have a tangible impact
on its target groups? |
5 |
|
4.2 Is the
proposal likely to have multiplier
effects? (including scope for replication and extension of the outcome of
the action and dissemination of information) |
5 |
|
4.3 - financially (how will the activities be financed after
the funding ends?) - institutionally
(will structures allowing the activities
to continue be in place at the end of the action? Will there be local
“ownership” of the results of the action?) - at policy level
(where applicable) (what will be the
structural impact of the action — e.g. will it lead to improved legislation, codes
of conduct, methods, etc?)? |
5 |
5. Budget and
cost-effectiveness |
15 |
|
5.1 Is the ratio
between the estimated costs and the expected results satisfactory? |
5 |
|
5.2 Is the
proposed expenditure necessary for
the implementation of the action? |
5 x 2 |
|
Maximum total score |
100 |
Note on Section 1. Financial
and operational capacity
If the total average score is
less than 12 points for section 1, the proposal will be rejected.
Note on Section 2. Relevance
If the total average score is
less than 20 points for section 2, the proposal will be rejected.
Provisional selection
Following the evaluation, a
table listing the proposals ranked according to their score and within the
available financial envelope will be established as well as a reserve list
following the same criteria.
Note: The scores awarded in
this phase are completely separate from those given to the Concept Note of the
same application.
(5) STEP 5: VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF THE APPLICANT AND PARTNERS
The eligibility verification,
based on the supporting documents requested by the European Commission (see
section 2.4) will only be performed for the proposals that have been
provisionally selected according to their score and within the available
financial envelope.
- The
Declaration by the applicant (Part B, Section VI of the Grant Application
Form) will be cross-checked with the supporting documents provided by the
applicant.
- The
eligibility of the applicant, the partners, and the action will be
verified according to the criteria set out in sections 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and
2.1.3.
Following the above analysis
and if necessary, any rejected proposal will be replaced by the next best
placed proposal in the reserve list that falls within the available financial
envelope, which will then be examined for the eligibility of its applicant and
the partners.
2.4 Submission of supporting documents for
provisionally selected proposals
Supporting documents must be
supplied for the applicant as well as for each partner by using one or other of
the following methods:
a) either register (or already
be registered) in the PADOR system and
upload all required supporting documents for this Call for Proposals. The applicant organisation must
communicate to the European Commission its EuropeAid ID number (assigned upon
registration), as well as that of any partner organisation. The deadline for
this communication will be indicated in the request for supporting documents
mentioned above.
b) or not be registered in
PADOR. In this case, the applicant must send
all required supporting documents for
this Call for Proposals choosing means of expedition amongst those indicated in
section 2.2.2 within the deadline and to the address indicated in the request
for supporting documents mentioned above.
Required supporting documents:
1. The statutes
or articles of association of the applicant organisation and of each partner
organisation[11][11]. Where the European
Commission has recognised the applicant’s eligibility for another Call for
Proposals under the same budget line within 2 years before the deadline for
receipt of applications, the applicant may submit, instead of its statutes,
copy of the document proving the eligibility of the applicant in a former Call
(e.g.: copy of the special conditions of a grant contract received during the
reference period), unless a change in its legal status has occurred in the
meantime.
2. Where the grant requested exceeds EUR 500,000, an external audit
report produced by an approved auditor, certifying the accounts for the last
financial year available. This obligation does not apply to public bodies.
3. Copy of the
applicant’s latest accounts (the profit and loss account and the balance
sheet for the previous financial year for which the accounts have been closed)[12][12].
4. Legal entity
sheet (see annex D on the last page of the present guidelines) duly completed and signed by the applicant, accompanied by the
justifying documents which are requested therein. If the applicant has already
signed a contract with the European Commission, instead of the legal entity
sheet and its supporting documents the legal entity number may be provided,
unless a change in its legal status occurred in the meantime.
5. A financial
identification form conforming to the model attached at
The requested
supporting documents must be supplied in the form of originals, photocopies or
scanned versions (i.e. showing legible stamps, signatures and dates) of the
said originals. However, the Legal entity sheet and the financial
identification form must always be submitted in original.
Where such
documents are not in one of the official languages of the European Union, a
translation into English or French (see section 2.2.1) of the relevant parts of
these documents, proving the applicant’s eligibility, must be attached and will
prevail for the purpose of analysing the proposal.
Where these
documents are in an official language of the European Union other than English
or French, it is strongly recommended,
in order to facilitate the evaluation, to provide a translation of the relevant
parts of the documents, proving the applicant’s eligibility, into one of the
languages of the Call for Proposals.
If the above-mentioned
documents are not provided before the deadline indicated in the request for
supporting documents sent to the applicant by the European Commission the
application may be rejected.
Based on the verification of
the supporting documents, the European Commission will prepare the final list
of the grants to be awarded under this Call for Proposals.
2.5 Notification
of the European Commission’s decision
Applicants will be informed in writing of the European Commission’s
decision concerning their application and, where applicable, the principal
reason(s) for a negative decision.
Applicants who were unsuccessful and who wish to obtain further
information should send their request by letter, indicating the reference of
the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:
European Commission
EuropeAid Co-operation Office
Attn. Mr Jean-Louis Ville, Head of
the Unit EuropeAid A/5
Office: J54 1/243
B-1049
The
request for further information should be sent to the European Commission no
later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the letter informing the
applicants about the negative decision concerning their application.
The
European Commission must reply within 90 days of receipt of the request for
information.
Thereafter, applicants
believing that there has been an error or irregularity during the award process
may send a petition no later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the
above-mentioned reply from the European Commission, to the following address:
European Commission
EuropeAid Co-operation Office
Attn. Mr
Markus Cornaro, Director EuropeAid/A
Europe,
Office: J-54 - 03/205
B-1049
The
European Commission must reply within 90 days of receipt of the said petition.
Lastly, the
applicant may have recourse to procedures established under Community legislation.
European citizens or residents, including legal entities with a registered
office in the European Union, also have the right to complain to the European
Ombudsman, who investigates complaints of maladministration by the European
Community Institutions.
The dates and times indicated in the table below refer
to the Brussels dates and times with the exception of the submission date for
Concept Notes and Full Application Forms which may be the date of the place of
dispatch (see section 2.2.3).
|
|
DATE |
TIME (for hand-delivery) |
|
Information
sessions in |
End March 2008 |
Exact dates and locations
will be indicated later on http://ec.europa.eu/ |
|
Deadline for
sending questions to the functional mailbox of the Call for Proposals (see
section 2.2.4) |
16/04/2008 |
- |
|
Deadline for the
European Commission to reply to questions mentioned above |
26/04/2008 |
- |
|
Deadline for
submission of Concept Notes |
07/05/2008 |
16:00 CET |
|
End of the
evaluation of the Concept Notes |
June 2008* |
- |
|
Notification of
results of the evaluation of the Concept Notes (Step 2)/ Invitations for
submission of the Full Application Forms |
June 2008* |
- |
|
Deadline for
submission of the Full Application Forms
|
August 2008* |
- |
|
End of the
evaluation of the Full Application Forms |
October 2008* |
|
|
Notification of
results of the evaluation of the Full Application Forms (Step 4) |
October 2008* |
- |
|
Notification of
award (after Step 5 - the eligibility check) |
November 2008* |
- |
|
Contract
signature |
Before end of 2008 |
- |
2.6 Conditions
Following the decision to
award a grant, the beneficiary will be offered a contract based on the European
Commission's standard contract (see
Implementation contracts
Where implementation of the action requires the beneficiary to award
procurement contracts, it must award the contract to the tenderer offering the
best value for money, that is to say, the best price-quality ratio, in
compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment for
potential contractors, care being taken to avoid any conflict of interests. To
this end, the beneficiary must follow the procedures set out in
3. LIST OF
including
the Concept note (Part A) to
be submitted during the first phase of the procedure
See documents E3e at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/grants/annexes_standard_documents/index_en.htm
DOCUMENTS FOR INFORMATION
Annex F: St
See documents E3h at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/grants/annexes_standard_documents/index_en.htm
Annex G: Daily
allowance rates (Per diem)
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/work/procedures/implementation/per_diems/index_en.htm
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