FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 4 (from the information session for shortlisted applicants on 21 May 2013) Guidelines for Applicants Section 1.3.

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1 Ref. Ares(2013) /06/2013 EUROPEAN UNION DELEGATION TO INDIA Call for Proposals: Support to in-country actors to prevent and respond to crises in fragile and conflict affected situations in South Asia Ref: IFS-RRM/ FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS 4 (from the information session for shortlisted applicants on 21 May 2013) Question Reference Comments General 1 How many projects will be financed under this Call for Proposals? 2 Can we receive a copy of the Powerpoint presentations from the information session for shortlisted applicants? Section aid/onlineservices/index.cfm?do=publi.welco me&nbpublilist=15&orderby=upd &orderbyad=desc&searchtype=rs &aofr= Depending on the amount requested by the highest scoring eligible applications, one or two projects per lot are likely to be funded. If only one project is financed under one lot and there is money left over in the allocation for that lot, the money left over may be used to fund a project under a different lot depending on the quality of the proposals. The Contracting Authority also reserves the right not to award all available funds, or to increase the allocation should more funds become available. The Presentations are available on the website. 1

2 Eligibility 3 What is the difference between a Co- Applicant and a Sub-Grantee? 2.1. Eligibility criteria Eligible actions - Redistribution of the grant Annex II of Grant Contract General Conditions Articles Co-applicant(s) participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the applicant. Co-applicant(s) must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the applicant. In the case of applicants anticipating a redistribution of the grant, they must specify in their applications the objectives and results to be obtained and the types of entity that will be eligible for a sub-grant. A fixed list of the types of activity eligible for sub-grants must be included in the application, together with the criteria for selecting sub-grantees including the criteria for determining the exact amount of each subgrant. The maximum amount of a sub-grant is per third party. Co-applicants are part of the design and implementation of the project and should therefore be indicated in the application and their added value to the project should be explained. Coapplicants may incur a range of costs under the project (human resources, rent, implementation of activities, etc). Sub-grant recipients on the other hand are not identified before the project starts. If the applicant plans to award sub-grants, the application should explain which criteria will be used for selecting sub-grantees, but not specify in advance who these are. The sub-grants given to sub-grant recipients should be for a specific activity that contributes to the objectives of the project. Please keep in mind that any recipient of funding from a foreign source, including through sub-grants, will have to comply with relevant local legislation. For example, any 2

3 4 What is the difference between affiliated entities and co-applicants? 5 Is FCRA compulsory also for Co- Applicants? Changes from Concept Note 6 Can we include Associates in the Full Application even though we didn't mention them in the Concept note? 2.1. Eligibility criteria Affiliated entities Indian sub-grant recipients need to be registered under the FRCA regulation. The following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the applicant or to the co-applicant(s): (i) legal entities together forming one legal entity, including where it is specifically established for the purpose of implementing the action. (ii) legal entities having a link with the applicant, notably a legal or capital link, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation on the condition that they satisfy the eligibility and non-exclusion criteria of an applicant. Co-applicants do not have such a legal link other than the mandate given to the Applicant for this specific Application, and any MoU that may have been signed between the Applicant and Co-Applicant. Please ensure that all Applicants, Co-Applicants and Affiliated Entities comply with the relevant local legislation about receiving funds from foreign sources. In the case of India, this means that all actors in the project that directly or indirectly receive EU funds need to be registered under the FCRA, including Applicants, Co-Applicants, Affiliated Entities and Sub-Grantees. Yes. 3

4 7 In the Concept Note, we had indicated that we want to work in one Indian state, but we would now also like to include some activities in the neighbouring state. Is this possible? 8 Why is there a maximum limit of 20% modification of the budget between the concept note and the full proposal? Full Application Forms Yes but the changes between the Concept Note and the Full Proposal should not be so drastic as to call into question the Evaluation Committee's decision to shortlist the Concept Note. Minor changes to geographical location, activities etc that do not fundamentally alter the objective or focus of the project are acceptable. The EU contribution may not vary from the initial estimate by more than 20%, although applicants are free to adapt the percentage of co-financing required within the minimum and maximum amount and percentages of co-financing, as laid down in these Guidelines under section 1.3. This is because the applicant was shortlisted on the basis of the Concept Note, including the scale and value for money assessed from the Concept Note. Modifications should not be so large as to call into question the shortlisting, therefore any modifications to the overall budget must not be greater than 20%. Sub-granting 9 Is sub-granting encouraged? Eligible actions - Redistribution of the grant Sub-granting is a way for EU funds to reach smaller organisations that may not have the capacity to apply for direct EU grants. The sub-grant component should contribute to the overall objective of the project and adds value to it. Any subgrant component needs to be clearly explained and justified. The beneficiaries of sub-grants should not be identified in advance, but ideally selected through a competitive process during the project implementation period. Co-financing 10 Can we approach another donor for the The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the 4

5 co-financing? 1.3. Financial Allocation action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund. There are no restrictions on where you can receive your cofunding from, except that it cannot be from another EU grant funded under the EU budget. Co-funding from other donors including EU Member States is allowed. 11 Can the co-funding come from an ongoing project? 12 What happens if we are not able to raise the required % of co-financing? Budget 13 How do we indicate in the budget which costs are for the Applicant and which costs for the Co-Applicant? Annex K: Guidelines and checklist for assessing Budget and Simplified It depends on what your agreement is with the donor for the ongoing project, if they agree that money allocated for that project is used for another project (which means that the same funds could not be used for the original project, as this would involve accounting for the same funds twice in two different projects). Using funds from an existing project may be possible under certain conditions, provided that there is no double funding for the same activities, that your reporting makes it clear who is funding what, and that activities that form part of the EU project have not started before the contract signature. The EU will only pay the agreed percentage of co-financing (in the case of this Call for Proposals, maximum 80%) irrespective of whether you find another source of co-financing or not. If you are not able to cover the cost of the remaining % of costs from your organisation's own finances or another donor, the project may be cancelled. It is useful to indicate under Human Resources (in sub-budget lines titles) which staff will be employed by which organisation. 5

6 cost options In case of simplified cost options, as mentioned in Annex K of the call for proposal, names of the applicant or co-applicants concerned have to be mentioned in the budget heading titles. 14 How do we allocate budget for affiliated entities? 15 Should the monthly salary indicated in the budget include other costs such as provident fund, annual salary increase etc? 16 Can we include the annual gratuity/bonus in the human resources cost? 17 Should the per diem line under 1.3 only include per diems for the staff on the Apart from that, there is no need to separate the costs per organisations or per activities. The budget is a budget per nature of costs and it covers the project as a whole. Costs of both the Applicant and Co-Applicant(s) are eligible. The budget is for the project as a whole and should not be separated by organisation, except for in the case of staff. The only thing to keep in mind is that if you use Simplified Cost Options, there is a maximum of Eur 60,000 per organisations, and for this purpose the Applicant and any Affiliated Entity count as the same organisation, i.e. have a combined total maximum of Eur 60,000, whereas each Co-Applicant can have another Eur 60,000 worth of Simplified Cost Options. The monthly salary indicated in the budget should be the gross salary, i.e. what it costs to the organisation (not just what the staff member gets). Depending on the provisions in your organisation's staff regulations, you need to include the cost of social security, pension, salary increases etc. If an annual bonus is part of your organisation's staff regulations and normal practice, then this is a cost that the organisation has to bear for a staff member, and should therefore be included proportionately in the monthly salary of the staff member. For staff of the organisation who receive per diems when travelling away from their base overnight, use the first two 6

7 organisation's payroll? 18 Can we put per diems for conference participants under budget heading 6: Other: Conferences? 19 Our organisation does not pay a flat-rate per diem, but we reimburse actual costs for travel, food etc. How do we represent this in the budget? lines. For people who are not staff but receive per diems, for example conference participants, use the third line. All per diems should be listed under 1.3 irrespective of who the recipient is. Only if the organisation of the conference including the payment of per diems is fully subcontracted. If your organisation will pay the per diems to participants, it should be reflected among the other per diems under budget heading 1.3. The per diem line under budget heading 1.3. is only for per diems that are given as a flat rate. If you pay for actual costs for travel, accommodation, food etc, you need to add it under the relevant heading, e.g. Travel under The guidance says that we should only list for example conferences under budget heading 6: Other if they are fully subcontracted. What do we do if a conference is partly subcontracted? If a conference is fully subcontracted, list the cost under 5.7, otherwise allocate the cost according to the nature of costs (travel, per diem, etc), or use a Simplified Cost Option (see Annex K). 21 If we have to separate the actual costs of organising conferences and workshops into human resources, travel, food, per diems, room rental, projector rental, etc, this becomes very complex. Is there a simpler way of representing this in the budget? 22 What is included under the indirect costs (maximum 7% of the total direct eligible costs of the Action)? How is this budget Use a Simplified Cost Option, explained in Annex K to the call for proposal (available on the website). The budget heading for indirect costs is meant to cover costs that cannot be directly attributed to the project, for example the cost of an office telephone line that is not exclusively used for 7

8 heading different from budget heading 4. Local Office Costs? 23 What costs can we put under the budget heading visibility (5.8)? 24 How many external audits/expenditure verifications should we budget for during the project? Grant Contract General Conditions Article 6 Visibility EU visibility manual visibility/ Annex VII of the Standard Grant Contract, Model report of factual findings and terms of reference for an expenditure verification of an EU financed grant contract for external action. the EU project. Under Local Office Costs, you put costs that are directly attributable to the EU project. This can be used for covering the cost of banners, posters, etc with the organisation's and EU logo. You may also think more creatively about visibility and for example organise press conferences, invite journalists to visit the project and interview your target group etc, if you consider that it is possible to safely promote your work. The EU only requires one final external audit together with the final report. However, if it is part of your organisation's practice to conduct project-specific audits on an annual basis, the cost of this can be included. The EU cannot pay for your organisation's overall annual audit (apart from as included under indirect costs). Please ensure that you allocate sufficient funds to cover the cost of an external audit. 25 In addition to the actual costs they incur, our Co-Applicants charge a "management fee" for their overheads. How do we include this in the budget? 26 If we use flat-rate financing for a headquarters-based staff member who spends 5% of her time on the EU project, do we need to keep timesheets for this person? Footnote no 4 of the Budget Annex K: Guidelines and checklist for assessing Budget and Any costs for overheads should be paid for under budget heading 10.Indirect Costs and do not need to be specified. The Applicant, Co-Applicant(s) and any Affiliated Entities need to ensure that they agree on how to split the budget for indirect costs. Yes, timesheets are necessary for part-time staff unless you define a simplified cost option (flat rate is one of them) as prescribe in Annex K of the call for proposal.. 8

9 27 Is there a separate section in the budget where we add any costs under Simplified Cost Options? 28 Where in the budget do we indicate the estimated budget for year 2 and 3, in case of a 3 year project? Simplified cost options. Annex K: Guidelines and checklist for assessing Budget and Simplified cost options No, the costs should be included in the relevant budget heading, e.g. Human Resources, Travel, etc. Please indicate if a Simplified Cost Option is used, e.g. "Travel within District (flat rate)". The budget should only include the total budget and the estimated budget for year Can we add lines to the budget? Please add sub-budget lines where relevant, e.g. one line for each staff member under Human Resources. However, you may not add new main budget headings; only the 6 main existing budget headings should be used. Add any new subbudget headings under the most appropriate of those main 6 headings. 30 Do we have to list each item to be purchased in the budget, e.g. computers, printers, etc? Submission of Full Application 31 Should both the original and the copy be spiral bound? Where and how to send the Full Application In the main budget sheet, you can lump together similar costs under a common heading, e.g. IT equipment. Then use the Budget Justification sheet to explain what the actual costs are. The original and the copy should be bound separately. You can use any binding you prefer, as long as you make sure that there are no loose documents that can get lost. 9