of ECGA. This is part of the “Overeenkomst van opdracht” contract and guaranteed by Dutch legislation. The costs of employing the consultant are not significantly different from the personnel costs of employees of the same category working under labour law contract for the beneficiary. AlmereGrid benchmarks its costs against similar jobs also in other organisations offering similar jobs. The remuneration is based on working hours rather than on the delivering of specific outputs/products and should be recorded in the accounts of the beneficiary. Guaranteed by the “Overeenkomst van Opdracht” rules in the Dutch legislation. The persons have to fill out timesheets recording their work, signed by the project manager for AlmereGrid in IDGF-SP. Travel and subsistence costs related to such consultants' participation in project meetings or other travel relating to the project would have to be paid directly by the beneficiary in order to be eligible. Train tickets, flight tickets and event fees are paid as much as possible directly by AlmereGrid. Other costs will be paid by XxxxxxXxxx to the employee on the basis of daily allowances. Role in the project Within IDGF-SP, AlmereGrid leads WP3 on setting up campaigns to attract more citizens, and contributing to WP5: especially on Green IT contributions and the editing of the Road Map.
of ECGA. The Financial Contribution of the Union/Euratom The maximum EU/Euratom contribution which appears in this article cannot be exceeded. Even if the eligible costs of the project happen to be higher than planned, no additional funding is possible. The EU/Euratom contribution includes:
of ECGA. There is only one pre-financing payment (advance payment) during the life of the project, and it will be received by the coordinator at the beginning of the project and, in any case, within 30 days of the entry into force of the grant agreement (unless a special clause stipulates otherwise), for all pre-financing to be transferred by the European Commission as from 1/1/2013. This new provision applies not only to grants signed as from 1/1/2013, but also to on-going grant agreements (signed before 31/12/2012) which pre-financing is to be paid after 31/12/2012. The coordinator will distribute it to the other beneficiaries: • Once the minimum number of beneficiaries as required by the call for proposals have signed and returned Form A (accession form), and • Only to those beneficiaries who have signed and returned Form A. Like any other payment, the coordinator will distribute the pre-financing to the other beneficiaries in conformity with the ECGA and the decisions taken by the Consortium, and has to be able to determine at any time the amount paid to each beneficiary (and inform the Commission of this when required). The pre-financing will remain the property of the EU/Euratom until the final payment. The purpose of this pre-financing is to make it possible for the beneficiaries to have a positive cash-flow during (most of) the project. It will be defined during the negotiations, but as an indicative general rule, for projects with duration of more than two reporting periods, it should be equivalent to 160% of the average EU funding per period. However the amount of the pre- financing may change in cases where the specific circumstances of the individual project require it.
of ECGA. The 5% EU contribution transferred to the Guarantee Fund will be returned to the beneficiaries via the coordinator at the moment of the final payment, at the end of the project; however, a maximum deduction of 1% of the EU contribution may be applied to some beneficiaries in the circumstances detailed in Article II.20 of ECGA.
of ECGA. For its management work related to the competitive call within Work Package I: 100% • For its scientific coordination of the project: 50/75% (as this is part of the RTD activities) • For its management costs related to the certificate on financial statements: 100% Can a financially weak legal entity be coordinator of a project? The Commission will systematically analyse the financial viability of coordinators which are not public bodies, higher and secondary education establishments or whose participation is not specifically guaranteed for the project by a Member State or Associated country. The Commission will also analyse the financial viability of any proposed beneficiary receiving an estimated EU/Euratom contribution of more than EUR 500,000. If as a result of this analysis an entity (whether coordinator or other beneficiary) is considered to have an "insufficient" financial capacity it will usually not be allowed to participate in the project. In the case of the coordinators, if the results of this analysis show a "weak" financial viability, this entity will in principle not be allowed to be coordinator of the project. The Commission will not request additional guarantees or securities from it, and therefore an entity with a weak financial viability must be replaced as coordinator of the Consortium (though it could still be a participant/beneficiary in the project, unlike those with "insufficient" financial viability). However, this legal entity could still be coordinator if, on a voluntary basis, it provides the Commission with a guarantee which can be considered equivalent to a guarantee by a Member State or an Associated Country. This financial guarantee must be provided by a bank or insurance company; guarantees from other sources (like affiliated or mother companies) will not be accepted. The financial viability of the coordinator can be re assessed during the project and depending on the results the guarantee may be released. The guarantee should cover the amount of the pre-financing for the Consortium, should be irrevocable and should be valid for a period equal to the duration of the project plus six months. At the request of the consortium, if duly justified by the beneficiary, the Commission services might decide to release the guarantee earlier or reduce the amount covered by the guarantee. As it is the consortium which has chosen to keep this entity as coordinator despite its weak financial status, the costs of the guarantee is not an elig...
of ECGA has to declare to the Commission any fundamental change14 in its methodology, including the date of the change. In these cases, the beneficiary has to submit another certificate on the methodology. Until the acceptance of this new certificate, the requirement to provide intermediate CFS would not be waived. A beneficiary that has been making false declarations or has seriously failed to meet its obligations under this grant agreement shall be liable to financial penalties according Article II. 25
of ECGA. The Commission has the right to recover funds unduly paid, as well as to apply liquidated damages, when an inappropriate use of the approved methodology or any event which invalidate the basis on which the approval was granted is identified, for example during an on-the-spot-audit. Consequences of the rejection by the Commission: - In case the certificate cannot (yet) be accepted, a motivated decision will be communicated to the beneficiary. The beneficiary will be invited to submit another certificate on the methodology which is compliant with the requirements of the Commission. Until the acceptance of the certificate on the methodology, the requirement to provide intermediate certificates on the financial statements is not waived.
of ECGA. A beneficiary may opt to declare average personnel costs. For this purpose, a certificate on the methodology used to calculate the average personnel costs, "certificate on average personnel costs" may be submitted to the services of the Commission for approval. This methodology must be consistent with the beneficiary's usual accounting practices. Averages calculated according to the certified and accepted methodology are deemed not to differ significantly from actual personnel costs. For more information on acceptability criteria for the Certificate on average personnel costs (CoMav) please refer to point II.14.1 of this Guide. For the submission and approval of the CoMAv the following stages can be identified:
of ECGA. The Commission has the right to recover funds unduly paid, as well as to apply liquidated damages, when an inappropriate use or lack of compliance with the approved methodology and/or any significant abuse is identified, for example during an on-the-spot- audit. - It does not waive the obligation to provide an intermediate CFS (whenever the EUR 375,000 threshold is reached) unless this is part of the certificate on the methodology. - Average personnel costs charged by this beneficiary according to the certified and accepted methodology are deemed not to significantly differ from actual personnel costs. The auditors will therefore only have to focus on checking compliance with the certified methodology and systems, omitting individual calculations; such calculations may be however carried out in order to verify that the methodology has correctly been applied and that no abuse has taken place. Practical examples and more information about the procedures to submit the certificate on average personnel costs are described in the guidance notes for beneficiaries and auditors at the following address: xxx://xxx.xxxxxx.xxxxxx.xx/pub/fp7/docs/guidelines-audit-certification_en.pdf
