Action number: EU-TM-0136-M Action Title DP Implementation - Call CEF 2014 Deliverable 1.7 FPA information package - Guidelines for execution phase

Transcription

1 Action number: EU-TM-0136-M Action Title DP Implementation - Call CEF 2014 Deliverable 1.7 FPA information package - Guidelines for execution phase 3 rd December 2015 V1.0

2 DOCUMENT IDENTIFICATION SHEET DOCUMENT DESCRIPTION DOCUMENT TITLE Deliverable 1.7 FPA information package - Guidelines for execution phase REFERENCE NUMBER ACTIVITY REFERENCE NUMBER: Activity 1 Version edition: SUB-ACTIVITY REFERENCE NUMBER: Not Applicable V1.0 Executive Summary This Paper represents the Deliverable 1.7 FPA information package Guidelines for execution phase, produced according to the Specific Grant Agreement (No. INEA/CEF/TRAN/M2014/ ) for the funded Action DP Implementation - Call CEF 2014 N. EU-TM-0136-M. The Paper aims at providing the beneficiaries with the relevant batch of information addressing the overall description of the Action, the processes designed for its timely and efficient execution, as well as detailed Action Plan for the Action execution up to its closure. Contact Persons: Paola Di Giovanni Mail: Paola.digiovanni@sesardeploymentmanager.eu Role: FPA Coordination Manager Organisation: SDM 2

3 Contractual delivery Date: 20/11/2015 Revised/ Actual Date: 3/12/2015 TIMING Actual delivery date revised so to ensure the full alignment of the deliverable with the final content of the FPA and SGA signed on the 27 th of November

4 DOCUMENT CHANGE RECORD The following table records the complete history of the successive editions of the document. Edition Date Reason for change V0.1 17/11/2015 Strawman All Sections/Pages Affected V0.2 26/11/2015 Contribution on DP execution monitoring activities content Section 3 V0.3 26/11/2015 Full Internal Draft All V0.4 02/12/2015 Streamlining of monitoring processes Section 3 V0.5 03/12/2015 Editorial and formatting All V1.0 03/12/2015 Final version All DOCUMENT APPROVAL The following table identifies authors and contributors of this document. Organization Authors Contributor/Reviewer APPROVAL date SDM Paola Di Giovanni SDM Team 03/12/2015 4

5 Table of Contents Introduction SESAR Deployment Manager s roles and responsibilities SESAR Deployment Manager under Art. 9 of the Regulation 409/ SESAR Deployment Manager as FPA Coordinator Introduction to the Action DP Implementation Call CEF 2014 N. EU-TM-0136-M Working Structure and organizational view Layer 1 FPA Coordination Layer 2 Project Management Layer 3 AF Implementation coordination Layer 4 IP Implementation Action monitoring and reporting FPA Coordinator monitoring activities - Action Status Report Action Status Report structure Descriptive content Financial and technical content ASR elaboration process ASR elaboration timeline Synthesis of the roles DP execution monitoring activities Overview What is monitored Measurement of implementation progress Monitoring milestones achievement Focus on monitoring at specific monitoring gates Focus on IPPs Focus on Action and Activity Leaders

6 Focus on the Continuous interactions between SDM and Implementing Partners Synthesis of the roles FPA Coordinator monitoring activities - Final report at Action Closure Payments, Check and Audits Pre-financing Interim Payment Interim payment request workflow Interim payment request timeline Action eligible costs Balance Check and Audits Information Flow Supporting tools for the Action execution Action Plan Annexes

7 Introduction This paper represents the Deliverable 1.7 FPA information package Guidelines for execution phase, produced according to the Specific Grant Agreement (No. INEA/CEF/TRAN/M2014/ for the funded Action DP Implementation - Call CEF 2014 N. EU-TM-0136-M. The CEF Transport Calls 2014 have been launched by the European Commission to provide financial support to the implementation of the Pilot Common Project included in the Implementing Regulation (EC) No 716/2013. The call closed on 5 th March 2014 and saw the submission of 5 proposals under the Priority 3 Single European Sky - SESAR Part 1. CEF Coordination Committee approved the list of proposals awarded for funding (Annex 1) on 10 th of July, thus triggering the preparation of the Specific Grant Agreement for its signature. Due to the efficient process set up by SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) as an interface between the Implementing Partners and INEA and the proactive support of the Implementing Partners involved, two relevant Agreements, SESAR Framework Partnership Agreement Amendment II (No. MOVE/E /SESAR FPA) (Annex 2) and Specific Grant Agreement (No. INEA/CEF/TRAN/M2014/ ) (Annex 3) have been finalized and signed by SDM Managing Director on behalf of all Implementing Partners (through the collected Mandates) on 27 th of November The Specific Grant Agreement groups in an innovative scheme the 5 proposals submitted under Priority 3 Single European Sky - SESAR Part 1, together with one submitted under Priority 3 Single European Sky - SESAR Part 2, and following EC evaluation, included in SDM coordinated Action. The Action execution phase has been successfully launched through the Kick off meeting held in Brussels 19 th and 20 th of November and it will last until 31 st of December The present Paper is issued by the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) to support the Implementing Partners during the Action DP Implementation CEF 2014 execution phase. The paper is based on the obligations resulting from SESAR Deployment Framework Partnership Agreement (FPA) (Annex 7), Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) (Annex 3), Internal Cooperation Agreement (ICA) (Annex 4) and it s also in line with the INEA indications received during the SGA preparation phase. In particular, the Paper aims at providing the beneficiaries with the relevant batch of information addressing the overall description of the Action, the processes designed for its timely and efficient execution, as well as detailed Action Plan for the Action execution up to its closure. Accordingly, the present paper is structured as follows: 1. SESAR Deployment Manager s roles and responsibilities - describes the scenario in which the SDM has been selected and its roles and responsibilities. The main focus has been put on clarifying the role of the SDM as Coordinator of the FPA 7

8 and his main tasks/responsibilities according to the Implementing Regulation (EU) No 409/2013 art Introduction to the Action: DP Implementation Call CEF 2014 N. EU-TM M - provides a brief outline of the CEF Call 2014 and reports the activities which have been performed from the Call publication (September 2014) until the launch of the Action (November 2015). In particular, this section illustrates the Action WBS and four layers of the participation to the Action, including the proposed organizational arrangements. 3. Action monitoring and reporting - this section provides the description of the processes and deadlines to be followed in order to submit the Action Status Report and Final Report by beneficiaries as well as by SDM. Chapter 3 also explains the Deployment execution monitoring which will be performed by SDM with support of Implementing Partners (IPPs). The combined outcomes of those activities ensure the timely and synchronised implementation of the Deployment Programme. 4. Payments, check and Audits this part provides an overview of the payments (pre-financing, interim and balance payment) to be received from INEA (description of the related processes), timeline and the obligations of SDM and beneficiaries linked to the payments. 5. Information flow the section describes the process to be followed by the IPPs in managing the information flow and any possible change arising in the Action execution on SGA contractually relevant data. 6. Supporting tool for execution phase reports a brief outline of the tools which have been put in place by SDM to ease the timely and efficient Action execution. 7. Action Plan provides the detailed GANTT 1 elaborated on the basis of the SGA Annex I Description of the Action which reports all Activities, milestones and deliverables deadlines. 8. Annexes - the section provides all relevant templates and supporting documents necessary for the Action execution phase. The present document is complemented by PMO manual and STAR tool manual. The three documents combined will enable the detailed view on the key processes, roles, responsibilities and tasks to be undertaken during the entire Action execution phase. 1 Refer to Annex 21 8

9 1. SESAR Deployment Manager s roles and responsibilities On 5 th of December 2014, the SESAR Deployment Alliance, composed of a group of air navigation service providers, airports and airlines, has been appointed as the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) by the European Commission (EC) to synchronise and coordinate the modernisation of Europe s air traffic management system, under the political oversight of the European Commission. Through the SDM selection, the SESAR Deployment 3 - layer governance (Figure 1- SESAR Deployment governance) has been established: Level 1 - Policy level, under the responsibility of the European Commission; Level 2 - Management level, composed by the Coordinating Partners and under the responsibility of the SESAR Deployment Manager, who ensures the coordinated and synchronised implementation of Common Projects in accordance with the Deployment Programme; Level 3 - Implementation level, composed of so-called Implementing Partners that are responsible for implementing the ATM functionalities of the Common Projects in the European ATM Network through Implementation projects. Figure 1- SESAR Deployment governance The Management level (level 2) of the SESAR Deployment Governance has been established through the Call for proposals no. MOVE/E /SESAR FPA ESTABLISHMENT OF THE SESAR DEPLOYMENT FRAMEWORK PARTNERSHIP. To further clarify different role of level 2 and level 3, the Explanatory memorandum on the Management and Implementation levels of the SESAR deployment governance (Annex 5), states that the Partners may participate to the FPA in two different capacities, in particular: a) Coordinating Partners (SDM level 2): 9

10 - are members of the SESAR Deployment Manager; - have to sign the Framework Partnership Agreement(FPA) and the Specific Grant Agreement (SGA) and assume collectively the role of the coordinator of the Framework Partnership; - are responsible for fulfilling the tasks listed in Article 9 of the Regulation 409/2013 and those of the coordinator, defined in the FPA; - can either be individual legal entities (such as individual ANSPs, airspace users, airports, ) or they can be legal entities grouping several individual entities (such as associations or networks of the individual entities); - have to claim reimbursements of costs according to the rules and funding rates established in the SGAs. b) Implementing Partners (level 3): - have to sign the FPA and the SGA for implementation projects 2 ;; - can either be individual legal entities (such as individual ANSPs, airspace users, airports, etc.) or they can be legal entities grouping these individual entities (such as associations or networks of the individual entities); - have to claim reimbursement of costs according to the rules and funding rates established in the SGAs. In line with the Regulation (EU) N 409/2013 and Article II.1.3 of the SESAR Deployment FPA (No. МОVЕ/Е /SESAR FРА) signed on 5 th of December 2014, SDM s level 2 roles and responsibilities can be divided as illustrated in the Figure 2 Roles and Responsibilities of the SDM in two main functions: 1. SESAR Deployment Manager Tasks under Article 9 of the Regulation (EU) No 409/2013. The SESAR Deployment Manager shall be responsible for the management level of the SESAR Deployment Governance. 2. SESAR Deployment Manager Tasks as Coordinator of the FPA under Article II.1.3 of the SESAR Deployment FPA. The SESAR Deployment Manager, acting as FPA Coordinator, is required to coordinate the activities of the Implementing Partners. 2 The SDM signs the FPA as well as the SGA on behalf of all Implementing Partners on the basis of the provided Mandates (Annex IX) of the FPA and Annex X of the SGA 10

11 Figure 2 Roles and Responsibilities of the SDM 1.1. SESAR Deployment Manager under Art. 9 of the Regulation 409/2013 In accordance with the requirements set within the INEA Call for proposals no. MOVE/E /SESAR FPA and Regulation (EU) No 409/ art. 9 the SESAR Deployment Manager has the following obligations and tasks: - developing, proposing, maintaining and implementing the deployment programme; - associating the operational stakeholders that are required to implement Common Projects; - establishing mechanisms and decision-making processes that ensure efficient synchronisation and overall coordination of the implementation projects and the related investment in line with the Deployment Programme; 3 Refer to Annex 8 11

12 - ensuring effective management of risks and conflict of interest; - advising the Commission on issues related to the implementation of Common Projects and to the setting up new Common Projects; - implementing Commission decisions and ensuring and monitoring their implementation by the implementation level; - identifying the most appropriate financing mechanisms combining public and private funding; - monitoring implementation of the Deployment Programme; - reporting to the Commission; - ensuring appropriate coordination with National Supervisory Authorities. To perform the tasks described above, the SDM liaises with the Implementing Partners at different levels, in order to cover the coordination, synchronization, monitoring, and reporting processes. One of the main tasks of the SDM, as mentioned above, is to develop, maintain and implement the Deployment Programme. Figure 3 - Action scope vs PCP vs DP Pilot Common Project is the document that defines what, where, when to implement and by whom. The how, corresponding to the PCP project view, is instead provided through the Deployment Programme (DP). The reference to the 2014 CEF Transport Calls was provided by the Preliminary Deployment Programme version 0 (PDP V0), attached to the SESAR FPA signed on 5 th December Following the Consultation phase with the Operational Stakeholders, the Deployment Programme (DP 2015) (Annex 6a and 6b) has been submitted by SDM to EC on 30 th of September The DP 2015 main objectives are: 12

13 - to provide a robust project view to deliver PCP in time and through families of synchronized and coordinated implementation projects; - to specify content for the future CEF calls, through which the budget for SESAR deployment will be allocated; - to provide initial methodology to ensure the PCP implementation s contribution to performance, through performance threads; - to provide a planning view where activities are ordered in time and with details on how synchronization and monitoring will be performed; - to identify potential risks of not achieving PCP full deployment and propose, and, where possible, provide mitigation actions; - to identify, together with SESAR JU and EASA, the standardization and regulation coverage of the overall Programme, in order to de-risk its implementation; - to mitigate gaps and risks identified in this PDP V1. It is worth noting that all Implementation Projects selected for co-funding by the European Commission as results of the 2014 CEF Transport Calls are embedded in the DP 2015, and will be coordinated and synchronised by the SDM SESAR Deployment Manager as FPA Coordinator Under Article II.1.3 of the SESAR Deployment FPA (General Obligations and Role of the Coordinator) (Annex 7) the SESAR Deployment Manager, acting as FPA Coordinator, is required to coordinate the activities of the Implementing Partners (FPA Coordinator s Tasks): - monitor that the Action plan and actions are implemented in accordance with the Framework agreement and the Specific agreements; - be the intermediary for all communications between the partners and the Commission, except where provided otherwise in the Framework agreement or a Specific agreement, and, in particular, the coordinator shall: immediately provide the Commission with the information related to any change in the name, address, legal representative as well as in the legal, financial, technical, organizational or ownership situation of any of the partners or of its affiliated entities, or to any event likely to affect or delay the implementation of an action, for which a specific grant was awarded, of which the coordinator is aware; bear responsibility for supplying all documents and information to the Commission which may be required under the Framework agreement or a Specific agreement, except where provided otherwise in the Framework 13

14 agreement or Specific agreement; where information is required from the other partners, the coordinator shall bear responsibility for obtaining and verifying this information before passing it on to the Commission; - make the appropriate arrangements for providing any financial guarantees required under the Framework agreement or a Specific agreement; - establish the requests for payment in accordance with the Framework agreement and the Specific agreements; ensure that all the appropriate payments are made to the other partners without unjustified delay; bear responsibility for providing all the necessary documents in the event of checks and audits initiated before the payment of the balance, and in the event of evaluation in accordance with Article In order to best address the above listed tasks in full compliance with obligations set forth within Regulation (EU) No 409/2013 (Annex 8), the Framework Partnership Agreement (Annex 7), and the Explanatory memorandum on the Management and Implementation levels of the SESAR deployment governance (Annex 5), the corresponding activities have included in the Activity 1 FPA Coordination of the funded Action. 14

15 2. Introduction to the Action DP Implementation Call CEF 2014 N. EU-TM-0136-M The European Commission launched the CEF Transport Calls 2014 on 11 th of September 2014 to offer financial support to the implementation of the Pilot Common Projects included in the Implementing Regulation (EC) No 716/2013. The call closed on 5 th March 2014 and saw the submission of 5 proposals under the Priority 3 Single European Sky-SESAR Part 1. On 10 th of July the CEF Coordination Committee approved the list of proposals awarded for funding reported in Commission Implementing Decision establishing the list of proposals selected for receiving EU financial assistance in the field of Connecting Europe Facility (CEF)- Transport sector. Due to the efficient process set up by SESAR Deployment Manager as an interface between the Implementing Partners and INEA and the proactive support of the Implementing Partners involved, two relevant Agreements, SESAR Framework Partnership Agreement Amendment II (No. MOVE/E /SESAR FPA) (Annex 2) and Specific Grant Agreement (No. INEA/CEF/TRAN/M2014/ ) have been finalized and signed by SDM Managing Director on behalf of all Implementing Partners (through the collected Mandates) on 27 th of November 2015 (Annex 3). The SGA groups in an innovative scheme the 5 proposals submitted under Priority 3 Single European Sky - SESAR Part 1, together with one submitted under Priority 3 Single European Sky - SESAR Part 2, and following EC evaluation, included in SDM coordinated Action. The Action DP Implementation Call CEF 2014 (N.EU-TM-0136-M) includes 84 PCP related projects - Implementation projects (IP) - from 01/01/2014 up to 31/12/ grouping an overall investment of Euro yielding to an expected financial support from the European Commission of Euro. DP Implementation Call CEF 2014, which sees the SESAR Deployment Manager in the role of coordinator, contributes to the implementation of the Deployment Programme, the project view of the Pilot Common Project (PCP) and combines coherent technological improvements aiming to enhance the performance of the European Air Traffic Management system in the short to medium term. In particular, the Implementation Projects have been identified and selected in an alignment with Preliminary Deployment Programme V0 (PDP V0), which provides the initial project view of PCP ATM functionalities of the Pilot Common Project. The Preliminary Deployment Programme was organized in three levels deriving PCP project view from the 6 ATM functionalities and sub-atm Functionalities included in the PCP IR 716/2014: 15

16 - AF1 Extended AMAN and PBN in high density TMA implementation; - AF2 Airport Integration and Throughput implementation; - AF3 Flexible ASM and Free Route implementation; - AF4 Network Collaborative Management implementation; - AF5 Initial System-Wide Information Management implementation; - AF6 (Not covered by the present Action) Working Structure and organizational view The Action is aimed at facilitating the coordinated and synchronised deployment of a number of implementation initiatives under the framework of the Pilot Common Project (PCP) and in particular within the areas identified by the following PCP ATM Functionalities: - AF1 Extended AMAN and PBN in high density TMA implementation - AF2 Airport Integration and Throughput implementation - AF3 Flexible ASM and Free Route implementation - AF4 Network Collaborative Management implementation - AF5 Initial System-Wide Information Management implementation. The Figure 4 The Action High level Gantt reports the Action high level GANTT which highlights the overall picture of the Action duration at Activity Level, considering the implementation timeframe of the IPs. Action - CEF CALL 2014-EU-TM-0136-M Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 A1 FPA Coordination A2 Project Management A3 AF1 implementation A4 AF1 implementation Airspace users A5 AF2 implementation A6 AF2 implementation Airspace users A7 AF3 implementation A8 AF4 implementation A9 AF5 implementation Figure 4 The Action High level Gantt In order to best mirror Deployment Programme (DP) structure at Level 3, where the relevant Implementation Projects lay, the present Action, groups the Implementation Projects according to the ATM sub-functionalities. 16

17 To this end, In line with the INEA indications 4 and the need of ensuring coordination processes underpinning the execution of the awarded projects, the present Action has been structured into 9 Activities: - Activity 1 - Framework Partnership Agreement Coordination - Activity 2 - Project Management - Activity 3 - AF1 Implementation - Activity 4 - AF1 Implementation Airspace users - Activity 5 - AF2 Implementation - Activity 6 - AF2 Implementation Airspace users - Activity 7 - AF3 Implementation - Activity 8 - AF4 Implementation - Activity 9 - AF5 Implementation Figure 5 - WBS 4 The Work Breakdown Structure (WBS) has been split into nine activities in order to accomplish with INEA s financial reporting needs. In particular, the AF1 and AF2 have been duplicated with the objective of separating those activities entitled to 20% co-funding rate from those entitled to 50% cofunding rate. 17

18 In addition, the Action is based on four complementary and synchronised layers of activities (refer to the Figure 6 -Action breakdown per layer): - Layer 1 - FPA Coordination: Responsible for FPA Coordination activities as single interface between INEA and IPPs; - Layer 2 - Project Management: Responsible for Action execution and transversal coordination; - Layer 3 - AF Implementation coordination: Responsible for coordination at AF level and contribution to transversal AF coordination; - Layer 4 - IP Implementation: Responsible for the implementation of the funded initiatives (IPs). Figure 6 -Action breakdown per layer 18

19 Layer 1 FPA Coordination Figure 7 Focus on Activity 1 FPA Coordination According to the activities listed in Article II.1.3 General obligations and role of the coordinator of the Framework Partnership Agreement with multiple partners of the SESAR Framework Partnership Agreement signed on 5 th of December 2014 (Annex 7), FPA coordination activity envisages a series of tasks also supported by Action and Activity Leaders on the basis of contributions provided by Implementing Partners. In particular the SDM acting as FPA Coordinator, is required to coordinate the activities of the beneficiaries in their role of Implementing Partners with regards to the interactions between Level 1 (Policy) and Level 3 (Implementation) of the SESAR deployment 3 layer Governance. Those activities can be grouped into the following 3 groups which will be in detailed described in the following chapters, in particular: - Action monitoring and reporting (refer to section 3) SDM is in charge of monitoring the execution of the Action to ensure that the Implementation Projects (IPs) are implemented in accordance with the Framework Partnership Agreement and the Specific Grant Agreements. FPA will address also a quality management process encompassing three different elements: 1. Quality Planning, aiming at identify in quality requirements of the whole Action with particular regards to methodologies and deliverables; 2. Quality Assurance, aiming at planning procedures oriented to the prevention, detection and reporting of any issue which might impact on Action quality; 3. Quality Control, aiming at verifying the effective implementation of quality procedures. The implementation of the quality management processes will be provided by the PMO in support to AF leaders and IPPs. 19

20 Furthermore, is worth to note that the process, involving the specific support of the Action and Activity Leaders, aims at achieving the two main milestones (Action Status Report and Action Final Report) as well as all supporting processes, information and tools that will insure such milestones are produced in time and with the expected contributions from all the beneficiaries. It is understood that, each of the above mentioned milestones relies on the provision of consistent and exhaustive information by Implementing Partners (refer to section3). - Payments, checks and audits (refer to section 5). FPA s coordinator will bear responsibility for: Designated as the sole recipient of payments on behalf of all of the partners in the FPA, ensuring that all the appropriate payments are made to the other partners without unjustified delay; Establishing the requests for payment in accordance with the Framework agreement and the Specific agreements; Supporting the requested beneficiaries in making the appropriate arrangements for providing any financial guarantees required under the Framework Agreement or a Specific agreement. - Information flow (refer to section 6) - SDM is acting as an intermediary for all communications between the Implementing Partners and the European Commission, except where provided otherwise in the Framework Partnership Agreement or the Specific Grant Agreements. As a matter of fact, is worth to note that the magnitude and complexity of the Action require a significant coordination effort to manage the information flow concerning the periodic exchanges between Management Level (Level 2 of the SESAR Deployment Governance) and Implementation level (Level 3 of the SESAR Deployment Manager Governance), as well as those triggered on-demand following a change request on Action contents. Regarding the latter, the following steps are envisaged by the SDM: Change verification in terms of nature as technical, formal, legal and/or financial matter; Information document elaboration (if needed) to address changes raised; Support to Implementing Partners in identifying and providing any supporting documents; Update of Action Agreements according to the agreed changes, in case it is needed. 20

21 FPA coordination activities will benefit from the dedicated tool called SESAR Tool for ATM Rollout - STAR set up to facilitate the management of such complex process with the high level number of involved stakeholders (refer to STAR tool manual) Layer 2 Project Management Figure 8 Focus on Activity 2 Project Management Project management activity will aim at integrating and coordinating all the activities to be carried out within the Action, to support the SDM during the Execution phase in order to ensure the total alignment of the activities envisaged within the Action with the scope and objectives pursued by Deployment Programme and PCP, with specific reference to the ATM functionalities. In order to cope with such objective, three layers of project management activities have been envisaged: - Action Leader ENAV, leader of the Project management Activity, focusing on transversal AFs coordination and synchronisation; in Annex 9 you can find the CEF CALL 2014 Action PoCs. - Activity Leaders (one per each ATM Functionality) - ENAV, SDAG, DFS, ENAIRE and Eurocontrol/Network Manager: focusing on AF coordination providing AF related contributions to the transversal coordination (ref. Activity 3 Activity 9); in Annex 9 you can find the CEF CALL 2014 Action PoCs - PMO - BIP providing Project Management competencies and skills to support operational stakeholders, Activity leaders and Action leader in the activities expected at Project management level, on the basis of an ad-hoc framework elaborated following SDM indications. Please note that Project Management activities are performed on the basis of the information provided by Implementing Partners (IPPs) - mainly through the STAR tool. To this end the activities will benefit also from the support of the PMO. 21

22 Layer 3 AF Implementation coordination Figure 9 Focus on Activity 3 and 4: AF1 implementation AF Coordination Activity aims at improving coordination of DP execution at AF level. AF Leaders, which are nominated per each ATM Functionality, with the support of the PMO will perform the identification and preliminary analysis of relevant issues impacting on DP realization at AF level. Such activity will buil further on the information provided by the Implementation projects - falling under the respected AF - at the envisaged reporting gates. On the basis of such analysis, AF leader will be also in the position to propose corrective/mitigation actions to address an effective AF coordination in line with DP and PCP contents Layer 4 IP Implementation Figure 10 Focus on IPs 22

23 The layer 4 IP - Implementation - aims at implementing one or more implementation projects in compliance with FPA and SGA requirements. The Implementing Partners (IPPs) are in charge of realising the funded initiatives according to the planned program submitted with the IP templates. According to SDM provided templates, IPPs are requested to update technical and financial information as well as the progress of the Implementation Projects throughout the Action execution in order to accomplish monitoring and reporting activities. In addition, Implementing Partners contribute to accomplish monitoring and reporting activities set by SDM in compliance with the Agreements, in particular the IPPs elaborate deliverables at IP level and contribute to the elaboration of those which have to be defined at Activity/Action level. The Implementing Partners will be supported by the PMO team to facilitate their reporting at the given monitoring gates. It is worth referring to the Article II.1.3 of the SESAR Deployment FPA, which states major obligation of the IPPs in their relation with the Coordinator (SDM). Each partner shall: Inform the coordinator immediately of any change in its legal, financial, technical, organizational or ownership situation or of its affiliated entities and of any change in its name, address or legal representative or of its affiliated entities; Submit in due time to the coordinator: The data needed to draw up the reports, financial statements and other documents provided for the in the Framework agreement and the Specific agreement(s); All the necessary documents in the event of audits, checks or evaluation Any other information to be provided to the Commission according to the Framework agreement and the Specific agreement(s), except where the provisions thereof require that such information is submitted directly by the partner to the Commission. 23

24 3. Action monitoring and reporting According to the Art 9 of the IR N.409/2013 (Annex 8), SDM is responsible for monitoring implementation of the Deployment Programme (DP), ensuring that the funded initiatives are carried out in full alignment with the DP, and are synchronised and coordinated. Furthermore, as already reported in section 2.1.1, according to Article II.1.3 of the SESAR FPA (Annex 7) it is in charge of Action monitoring, and more extensively is responsible to ensure that monitoring activities are in line with provisions included in the relevant Action Agreements (FPA, ICA, SGA and relevant Annexes). To this end, a structured and comprehensive Action monitoring process, including contractual, technical and administrative reporting activities, will be performed during the whole Action execution phase in relation with both FPA Coordinator and DP execution monitoring activities: - FPA Coordinator monitoring activities scope: achievement of mandatory European Commission (EC) requirements which are outlined in duly signed Agreements. Such requirements are mainly related to the submission of specific technical/financial documents: Action Status Report (Annex 10a and 10b); Final Report (Annex 11); - DP execution monitoring activities scope: timely and synchronised implementation of the funded IPs included in the Deployment Programme (DP). The collection and evaluation of data provided by IPPs is performed: at defined monitoring gates; through a continuous monitoring process. Further details about both monitoring activities streams are provided in the following sections: The processes will describe: - who : who is expected to provide information/data; - what : data/information to be provided; - when : timeframe/ deadline; - how and by whom : how they will be collected and assessed. Please note that the description of the above mentioned monitoring activities is provided in the following sections in a chronological order. 24

25 3.1. FPA Coordinator monitoring activities - Action Status Report The SDM, as FPA Coordinator, in order to accomplish monitoring activities outlined within duly signed Agreements, is responsible for the submission of the Action Status Report (Annex 10a and 10b) to INEA on yearly basis, within the 31 st of March. As requested within the relevant Legal framework, to enable its submission to INEA, the ASR has to be validated by the concerned Member States. The submission of the Action Status Report to INEA in due time is a formal contractual obligation. Furthermore, it represents a key element to ensure the efficiently monitoring of the Action progress status, as well as enable the FPA Coordinator to drawn up the corresponding payments. As outlined in the Figure 11 - ASR submission to INEA main steps 4 steps have to be undertaken by the SDM and beneficiaries in order to accomplish the mandatory monitoring activities: European Commission INEA Submission of validated ASR to INEA 4 ASR assessment and submission to Beneficiaries in order to activate Member States validation process Beneficiaries 2 a 1 ASR submission at IP, Activity and Action level FPA Coordinator 2 b ASR notification submitted to Member States in order to communicate the document status 3 Member States ASR MS validation Figure 11 - ASR submission to INEA main steps 25

26 1. Beneficiaries provide SDM, acting as FPA Coordinator, with IP ASRs, Activity ASRs and Action ASR which are produced respectively by IPPs, Activity Leaders and Action Leader; 2. The SDM collects all reporting documents and finalises the comprehensive ASR at Action level in order to validate it from contractual, technical and financial perspectives. The validated ASR at Action level is provided at the same time to beneficiaries in order to activate the Member States (MSs) validation process and it notified to the Member States with an ad hoc information on the ASR status ready for MS endorsement ; 3. The Member States validation is provided to SDM; 4. The SDM provides INEA with the final ASR validated by MSs. The detailed process for the ASR production including step by step description and relevant RACI matrix is provided within the PMO Manual. Each Action Status Report monitors the progress of the Action on yearly basis thus enabling the monitoring of the Action for all years to which the Action is referred to. The ASR reporting period is a complete calendar year: from 1 st of January to 31 st of December. Nonetheless, as an exception for the first ASR, the reporting period covers both year 2014 and 2015; for all other ASRs (due in year X), the reporting period will be the previous calendar year (year X-1). As a consequence the following reporting periods have to be considered for the ASR submission throughout the Action: - ASR 2016: including information from 1 st of January 2014 to 31 st of December 2015; - ASR 2017: including information from 1 st of January 2016 to 31 st of December 2016; - ASR 2018: including information from 1 st of January 2017 to 31 st of December 2017; - ASR 2019: including information from 1 st of January 2018 to 31 st of December 2018; - ASR 2020: including information from 1 st of January 2019 to 31 st of December

27 Action Status Report structure The Action Status Report is elaborated in accordance with the ASR template provided by the Agency which has been mirrored in the STAR tool in order to facilitate the provisioning of all needed information. Even if the final version of the INEA ASR template is still under further elaboration, the ASR structure illustrated in the present document, which refers to TEN-T template, can be considered as the reference one. Any other minor changes that will be communicated by INEA will be managed in order to ensure the full alignment of the information provided with the mandatory template. The only entry point for the communication of monitoring data, information and documents for the submission of the ASR is the STAR tool. In the STAR tool, through dedicated tabs, will be possible to elaborate and submit the ASR at different levels, on the basis of the roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries: - IP ASR: containing information fields that have to be completed by Implementing Partners; - Activity ASR: all relevant information fields that have to be completed by Activity Leaders through the consolidation and evaluation of IP ASRs and any other information at IP level when requested; - Action ASR: all relevant information fields that have to be completed by Action Leader, through the consolidation and evaluation of Activity ASRs and any other information at Activity level when requested. As further detailed within the following paragraphs, such contractual reporting documents are used by beneficiaries to report on the technical progress of their own projects as compared to the initial plan, as well as the associated budget consumption. The Action Status Report at IP, Activity and Action level contains administrative, technical and financial information outlined in two main separate set of documents. The former is a word document which is mainly related to a descriptive content, the latter is an excel file containing technical and financial information. 27

28 Descriptive content Action Status Report Technical information Public procurement Publicity and communications plan Environmental issues Governance and monitoring Financial and technical content Technical progress Milestones Eligible costs Figure 12 ASR contents breakdown 28

29 Descriptive content The descriptive content of the ASR Template (Annex 10a) is represented by different sections to be completed with relevant information at IP, Activity and Action level. Relevant information should be provided on the basis of roles and responsibilities of involved beneficiaries, as described in the previous paragraph. Technical information: Figure 13 ASR descriptive content template - overview of progress since start of the Action; - activities planned and carried out in the reporting period and their actual progress; - unforeseen or rescheduled activities carried out in the reporting period: especially new activities that were not foreseen but were considered necessary for the successful implementation of the Action; - activities planned in the reporting period but not carried out; - assessment of the impact of current performance on the future performance and planned activities (in terms of objectives of the Action, description of activities, cost-breakdown and Action end date) and information on any Action taken to remedy possible delays in the next period(s); - activities to be carried out in the next reporting period outlining modifications to the original or previously revised plans which might be critical or constitute a significant component of the Action (including new Gantt - if necessary); 29

30 - plans for the remaining parts of the activities expected to be performed beyond the next reporting period up until the end of the implementation (including new end date of the Action - if any); - risk assessment (grid of impact and likelihood) including a risk response strategy as well as foreseen preventive and corrective measures; Public procurement: - existing and foreseen contractual arrangements; - explanation for any deviation from the application of the public procurement procedures; Publicity and communications plan: - measures which have been taken to publicise the Action, including information on planned measures vs. actual measures, as well as on further measures planned for the next reporting period; Environmental issues: - overview of progress of the activities related to the environmental aspects until the end of the reporting, including changes that affect the original environment plan and the proposed measures to be taken in respect of this; - compliance of the activities with the EU legislation; - expected date of provisioning of all documentation required by environmental legislation to the Commission; Governance and monitoring: - Organisational structure and governance, including stakeholders' roles & responsibilities, communication channels, authorities and mandates, decisionmaking processes, identification of project manager & team, overview of human resources; project mgmt. structures such as Project Monitoring Group or Steering Committee; mandate & role of coordinator; identification of authorized representative(s) & link with coordinator; - Internal and external reporting mechanisms; - Quality control and audits, including supervisory arrangements, external controls and audits planning; Management and control systems by the Member State(s). All descriptive information required by ASR template which have been illustrated above, have been included in the STAR tool relevant form (refer to STAR Manual for further details). Through such form will be possible to fill in and type all data and supporting documents to accomplish the submission of the Action Status Report within the expected deadlines. 30

31 Financial and technical content The financial and technical content of the ASR Template (Annex 10b) are then to be reported in 3 different sections: - Technical progress - Milestones - Eligible costs to be completed with relevant information at IP, Activity and Action level. Relevant information should be provided on the basis of role and responsibilities of involved beneficiaries. It is worth noting that some fields of the ASR template will be automatically inherited or calculated by the STAR tool on the basis of contractual information already provided by each involved beneficiary, while other fields shall be filled at Action level as declarative information. Figure 14 ASR technical and financial content template Technical progress The technical progress section of the ASR provides the information on the progress achieved in the reporting period and its comparison with the one expected at the time of SGA and consequent planning or re-planning of progress for the following years. The ASR technical progress, shall report different information according to the type of ASR produced (IP, Activity and Action level); - at IP level the technical progress refers to data provided for each task which belongs to the relevant IP; - at Activity level the technical progress refers to data provided for each subactivity which belongs to the relevant Activity; - at Action level the technical progress refers to data provided for each Activity which belongs to the relent Action. In particular, in the ASR form of the STAR tool the following information have to be provided on the basis of the Action level which is considered for the elaboration of the document: - if the task or project or sub-activity or activity is on the critical path of the respective project or sub-activity or activity or action; - planned dates (start and end date) of task or project or sub-activity or activity; - actual/revised dates (start and end date) of task or project or sub-activity or activity; 31

32 - total progress at start of the reporting period % of task or project or subactivity or activity; - planned and actual progress % of the reporting period for task or project or activity; - expected progress % of task or project or activity for future years. Technical progress calculation According to Action WBS, the technical progress is calculated for: - IPs: by considering the weighted average of tasks which belong to each IP (refer to section to get further details about progress computation); - Sub-activities: for sub-activities which do not include IPs, the technical progress is calculated as a linear progress (e.g. 50% of completion is registered when 50% of expected duration of the sub-activity has passed). For sub-activities which include IPs, the technical progress is calculated automatically by the tool, as weighted average of IPs which belong to each sub-activity, on the basis of the theoretical formula already used for the computation of the IP theoretical progress (refer to section ); - Activity: by considering the weighted average of sub-activities which belong to each activity. In particular, the technical progress is calculated automatically by the STAR tool, considering the following different weighs which have been assigned for coordination activities: o progress of the first sub-activity within each Activity (namely: sub- Activity 1.1. FPA monitoring and reporting, sub-activity 2.1 Project Management, sub-activity X.1 - AFy implementation coordination) is weighted at 3% of the total progress of the Activity; o progress of the second sub-activities within each Activity (namely: sub-activity 1.2 support to FPA coordinator process, sub-activity 2.2 PMO support to transversal coordination as well as sub-activity X.2 PMO support to AF implementation) is weighted at 7% of the total progress of the Activity. - Action: by considering the weighted average of activities of the WBS. In particular, the technical progress is calculated automatically by the STAR tool considering different weighs which have been assigned for: o progress of the first activity (Activity 1 - FPA Coordination) that is 3% of the total progress of the Action; o progress of the second activity (Activity 2 - Project Management) that is 7% of the total progress of the Action; o progress of all other activities which have the same weight in order to accomplish the total progress of the Action. 32

33 Milestones All milestones to be achieved at task or IP or Sub-activity and Activity level in the considered reporting periods have to be added in the relevant form of the STAR tool in order to provide the complete list of expected ones. For each of them the following fields have to be filled in, in particular updated when requested: milestone names; contractual delivery date and actual/expected date; description of any deviation from the planned date. Milestones calculation According to the Action WBS, milestones considered within the STAR tool are: - at IP level: those inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the IPs tasks; - at Activity level: the list of milestones is inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the relevant sub-activities, in line with the SGA content; - at Action level: the list of milestones inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the relevant activities. Eligible costs As for the technical progress information, all eligible costs data shall be characterised by different levels of information on the basis of the type of ASR produced (IP, Activity and Action): - at IP level eligible costs refer to information provided for each task which belongs to the relevant IP; - at Activity level eligible costs refer to information provided for each subactivity which belongs to the relevant Activity; - at Action level eligible costs refer to information provided for each Activity which belongs to the relent Action. In the ASR form of the STAR tool the following information have to be provided: - total costs incurred (previous years); - planned and actual costs incurred in the reporting period - total costs incurred at the end of the reporting period; - planned costs for future years; - original planned costs (from Decision); - updated planned cost until final completion of the Action; 33

34 - Deviation %. Eligible costs calculation According to the Action WBS, eligible costs considered within the STAR tool are: - at IP level: those inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the IPs tasks; - at sub-activity level: for sub-activities which include IPs the costs are those inherited automatically by the STAR tool from tasks which belong to the relevant IPs; for sub-activities which do not include IPs the costs are those included in the Decision budget, SGA Annex II Estimated budget of the Action (Annex 3) - at Activity level: those inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the relevant sub-activities; - at Action level: those inherited automatically by the STAR tool from the relevant activities. Due to challenging deadlines to be accomplished for the submission of the ASR due on 31 st of March, the cost data should be provided on the basis of the best information available according to the provisions set forth within the FPA and SGA. Moreover, a specific Declaration of honour (Annex 12) shall be submitted by IPPs to SDM when they have to submit their ASR, in order to certify that all information contained in the Action Status Report are correct, accurate and eligible to the best of IPPs knowledge. The actual costs incurred will be then reported in the envisaged Interim Financial Statements requested for the Interim Payments, please refer to section 5, and into the Final Report (refer to section 4) which has to be provided at the end of the Action. As outlined in the FPA Article II.19 (Annex 7), beneficiaries can consider as eligible costs, where designated in the grant agreement, the following ones: o Incurred during the action duration (previous year); o Indicated in the action budget (Annex II SGA); o Necessary for the implementation of the action; o Identifiable and verifiable; o Comply with tax and social obligations; o Reasonable, justified and comply with sound financial management principles. 34

35 Only costs planned can be considered as eligible and covered by the grant; costs incurred by the partner concerned up to the date when termination of its participation takes effect shall be reimbursed or covered by the grant. Costs relating to current commitments, which were not due for execution until after the termination, shall not be taken into account ASR elaboration process The Action Status Report is elaborated by SDM and all the Action, in accordance with the ASR template provided by the Agency, through an escalation workflow process which aims at consolidate and integrate different contributions provided by all Action layers: 1. SDM as Coordinator of Beneficiaries; 2. Action Leader as Beneficiary; 3. Activity Leaders as Beneficiary; 4. Implementing Partners as Beneficiary. The Action Status Report includes content at IP level, Activity, Action level and SDM level according to the structure of the Action, to INEA policy, as the pyramid below shows: ASR INEA Action ASR Validated ASR SDM Coordinator of Beneficiaries The SDM shall validate the ASR from contractual, technical, financial perspectives PMO Action Leader Activity Leaders PMO Implementing Partners PMO Activity ASR IP ASR Beneficiaries: IPPs, Action Leader and Activities Leaders Beneficiaries shall provide yearly the SDM with the Action Status Report in order to ensure the effective monitoring of the funded initiatives in full alignment with the duly signed Agreements and the Deployment Programme Figure 15 ASR elaboration process workflow The ASR elaboration process workflow starts from the collection of all IP Action Status Reports from the Implementing Partners. The Implementing Partners shall provide relevant information regarding the progress of the project activities at implementation level. Both descriptive and technical/financial content should be provided (refer to section 3.1.1). 35

36 The PMO support will assist the IPPs in ensuring that their implementation activities are timely and effectively realised. In particular, the support is related to the following areas: - timely upload of data and information to be provided on the STAR tool for reporting purposes; - quality check of deliverables; - prompt identification and management of discrepancies, risks and issues; - provision of feedback to the SDM in case of clarification requests. (Refer also to PMO manual for further details) IP ASR Each Implementing Partner should provide the complete IP ASR content, by filling in relevant fields within the ASR template of the STAR tool. Such descriptive, technical and financial data cover a complete calendar year 5 and have to be provided on yearly basis within the 15 th of January Such data represent the starting point to activate the SDM validation activities from technical/ financial perspective. In particular, the SDM will perform data and information assessment of Milestones, Deliverables, % progress of tasks, costs incurred, etc. in order to ensure the proper coordination and synchronization among funded initiatives. The ASR validation is performed by SDM to ensure the full alignment of funded initiatives with duly signed Agreements. Furthermore, the IP ASRs data, provided by IPPs, will be collected and consolidated at AF level by the PMO support, which provides each Activity Leader with an Activity ASR version draft at AF level. Once received, each Activity Leader, performs preliminary analysis of documents provided in order to define a consolidated view at Activity Level and transversal Activity level with PMO support. The ASR final version at AF level is finalised by each Activity Leader with PMO support which in particular is focused on: - monitoring of the Action/Activity implementation progress; - identification of discrepancies, risks and issues; - compliance with quality standard set by the SDM for the elaboration of deliverables. 5 As an exception for the first year the ASR reporting period covers both year 2014 and 2015 as reported already in section

37 Activity ASR Each Activity Leader, on the basis of the relevant IPs contributions, should provide the complete Activity ASR content, by filling in relevant fields within the ASR template of the STAR tool. Such descriptive, technical and financial data cover a complete calendar year 6 and have to be provided on yearly basis within the 30 th of January All results on the progresses at AF level will be elaborated as Action ASR version draft and sent by PMO to the Action Leader that will review/integrate its contents and finalise the ASR. The Action Leader, with the support of PMO, will consolidate at action level the contributions provided. Action ASR The Action Leader, on the basis of the relevant Activity contributions, should provide the complete Action ASR content, by filling in relevant fields within the ASR template of the STAR tool. Such descriptive, technical and financial data cover a complete calendar year 7 and have to be provided on yearly basis within the 15 th of February This consolidated Action ASR, which includes the IP ASRs validated from technical perspective, will be further elaborated by the SDM, acting as FPA Coordinator, before his validation from contractual and administrative perspectives. Then the comprehensive ASR is submitted to beneficiaries in order to activate the Member States endorsement. It is worth noting that, in addition to the overall Action ASR, each beneficiary will receive the executive summary of the comprehensive ASR, including relevant IPs content, thus allowing competent Member State to provide the mandatory validation. At the same time, the SDM provides Member States with an ad-hoc information to inform them about the ASR status which is ready for MS endorsement. Once the Member States have provided the final endorsement, the comprehensive ASR at Action level, including all contributions provided by beneficiaries on the basis of their own responsibilities for the ASR elaboration, is submitted to INEA. 6 As per Note 2 7 As per Note 2 37

38 SDM Beneficiaries: IPPs/Activity and Action Leaders DP IMPLEMENTATION CALL CEF ASR elaboration timeline In particular, the overall ASR process will be completed according to the following timeline: Each IPP provides relevant IP ASR content Each Activity Leader provides relevant Activity ASR content The Action Leader provides Action ASR content and submits it to SDM Beneficiaries submits ASRs validated by Member State to SDM By 15/01 By 30/01 By 15/02 By 25/03 SDM submits validated ASRs to beneficiaries thus enabling the Member State validation SDM submits validated ASR to INEA Figure 16 ASR submission deadline By 4/03 By 31/03 As outlined in the figure, the collection of the ASR data at IP level is expected to be provided within the first monitoring gate which occurs every 15 th of January (refer to section ). At AF level the relevant Activity ASRs have to be provided within 30 th of January. Finally, the contribution of the Action Leader is expected to be provided by the 15 th of February. It is worth noting that data, supporting documents and information submitted through the STAR tool will be frozen in correspondence of the defined deadlines and became not changeable. Modifications and changes do not allow at IP, Activity and Action level after the above mentioned deadlines in order to enable the ASR validation process and the timely submission to INEA. Any proposed contractual changes identified in the ASR drafting process, have to be notified to SDM and authorized by enabled SDM members. Furthermore the assessed change will results in the alternative process of SGA Adjustment or Amendment according to the FPA provisions and managed in coordination with INEA. The detailed process for the ASR production including step by step description and relevant RACI matrix is provided within the PMO Manual released on 30 th of November. 38

39 Synthesis of the roles The following table summarises the roles of the different actors involved in the FPA monitoring activities (SDM, Action Leader, Activity Leaders, IPPs) on the basis of the sections illustrated above and the requirements of the Action Agreements. The role of the PMO is detailed within the PMO manual. Role ASR type IP ASR Activity ASR Action ASR IPPs Upload on ASR template of the STAR tool relevant descriptive content and needed support documents at IP level Provide/update declarative technical progress information at project and task level on STAR tool Update milestone data at task level on STAR tool Provide eligible cost data occurred in the previous calendar year (only for the first ASR the reporting period is related to both 2014 and 2015 year) at sub-activity level for coordination activities NA Provide/update eligible cost data occurred in the previous calendar year (only for the first ASR the reporting period is related to both 2014 and 2015 year) at task level on STAR tool NA Check data provided at IP ASR level and analyse them at aggregated level Upload on ASR template of the STAR tool relevant descriptive content and needed support documents at Activity level on STAR tool Contribute to the elaboration of the descriptive, technical and financial content of the ASR at Action level Activity Leaders Provide/update declarative technical progress information at sub-activity level on STAR tool Update milestone data at sub activity level on STAR tool Provide/update eligible cost data occurred in the previous calendar year (only for the first ASR the reporting period is related to both 2014 and 2015 year) at sub-activity level on STAR tool 39

40 Role ASR type IP ASR Activity ASR Action ASR NA NA Check data provided at Activity ASR level and analyse them at aggregated level Upload on ASR template of the STAR tool relevant descriptive content and needed support documents at Action level on STAR tool Action Leader Review and consolidation of declarative technical progress information at activity level Review and consolidation of milestone data at activity level Review and consolidation of eligible cost data occurred in the previous calendar year (only for the first ASR the reporting period is related to both 2014 and 2015 year) at sub-activity level SDM Evaluates supporting documents from technical and financial perspectives to detect inconsistencies Engages in structured dialogue with IPPs/Activity Leaders/Action Leader in case of misalignments between planned activities and actual results Checks costs reported and provides a feedback only in case of inconsistencies Engages dialogue with Activity Leaders when needed Evaluates supporting documents from contractual and administrative perspectives to detect inconsistencies Engages in structured dialogue with IPPs/Activity Leaders/Action Leader in case of misalignments between planned activities and actual results Validate beneficiary costs reported on the basis of both the declaration of honour provided by each beneficiary and the validation provided by concerned Member States 40

41 3.2. DP execution monitoring activities Overview In addition to the contractual monitoring activities to be performed in accordance with FPA and SGA contents, all IPPs are expected to support the Deployment Programme monitoring in line with the approach defined in the chapter 5 of the DP. An effective and comprehensive monitoring of the DP during the execution phase is necessary in order to ensure the timely and synchronised implementation of the Programme, such activities are streamlined in the SGA Annex I (Annex 3) according to DP contents (Annex 6a and 6b). Monitoring will be performed both at specific monitoring gates and through continuous interactions between the SDM and the Implementing Partners. Monitoring at specific monitoring gates : the IPPs are expected to provide relevant information on the progress and status of each Implementation Project (IP) at each monitoring gate. Such monitoring activities have the purpose of enabling the elaboration of the DP Execution Progress Report by the SDM. In addition, Action Leader and Activity Leaders will build on monitoring actions performed by IPPs to take into account transversal elements across IPs and AFs. Continuous interactions between the SDM and the Implementing Partners: the Implementing Partners are expected to provide relevant information and documents concerning the achievements of each IP in terms of milestones, deliverables and tasks throughout year, coupling them with indications about costs sustained linked to a specific task. The SDM is expected to provide the IPPs with a feedback on information and documents received. The activities related to monitoring through continuous interactions between SDM and IPPs have the key purpose of enabling a proactive risk identification and management. The matrix below summarises the features of the two typologies of monitoring in order to provide a snapshot of what will be specified hereinafter. Tasks Deliverables Milestones Costs Monitoring at specific monitoring gates Declarative progress % Status Status Actual costs borne per task Monitoring through continuous interactions between SDM and IPPs Completion (100% Declarative progress) Status ( Delivered/Ready for SDM review ) Status ( Delivered/Ready for SDM review ) Actual costs borne for completed task Figure 17 Matrix: typologies of monitoring at IP level The SDM monitoring process will be facilitated by the following elements: 41

42 use of a state-of-the-art programme management IT tool, namely SESAR Tool for ATM Rollout (STAR), that will provide the necessary software support to the structured dialogue between the IPPs, Action/Activity Leaders and the SDM and will allow an easy and efficient exchange of project documents for validation/review purposes; continuous project management support provided by the designated PMO entity (Bip), following the approach shared with SDM, aims at facilitating monitoring tasks and dialogue between the Management and the Implementation levels of the SESAR Deployment governance established by the European Commission. The following Sections provide details on the two levels of monitoring envisaged. The guidelines are designed on the basis of the content of the Specific Agreement signed by IPPs and aim at highlighting the role of all involved parties. It is worth mentioning that the content of the next paragraphs will be integrated in the PMO Manual with further information concerning how tasks, milestones and deliverables progress will be monitored What is monitored Monitoring activities concern four main items: - tasks; - milestones; - deliverables; - costs. Concerning the completion of tasks, the achievement of milestones and the completion of deliverables, the IPPs are required to upload on the STAR tool ad-hoc supporting documents (refer to Annexes 13, 14 and 15) to confirm the progress declared. In particular, supporting documents shall be uploaded on the STAR tool: - when a milestone is achieved and a task/deliverable is complete. This might occur both at specific monitoring gates and throughout the duration of the Action; - in coincidence with the contractual delivery date (for milestones and deliverables) or end date (for tasks), also in case a milestone has not been achieved or a task/deliverable has not been completed. Please note that in case of delay: o in the achievement of a milestone or in the completion of a deliverable, the Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%) status on the STAR tool shall not be selected; o in the completion of a task, a declarative progress of 100% shall not be communicated. Tasks, milestones, deliverables and costs will be discussed in detail in the specific paragraphs devoted to monitoring gates and continuous interactions. With regards to tasks and milestones, general instructions are also provided in the next paragraphs to 42

43 clarify how the implementation progress is measured and the achievement of milestones is reported Measurement of implementation progress The progress of an implementation initiative is measured against three different indicators: - Theoretical Progress: o it is the planned progress of each element of the DP WBS (AF, Sub-AF, Family, IP, Task); it is automatically calculated by the STAR tool on the basis of the duration of the tasks, which is consolidated at the upper level of the Work Breakdown Structure through a weighted average; - Declarative Progress: o it is the progress status communicated at task level by the IPPs on the basis of their own evaluation of the implementation status of each task; o it is reported by the IPPs through the STAR tool on each monitoring gate and any time a task is completed. In the latter case, a 100% declarative progress is declared; - Actual Progress: o it is the progress stemming from the actual level of completion of the envisaged deliverables; o It is automatically calculated by the STAR tool on the basis of the status of deliverables completion declared by the IPPs. The only entry point for the communication of monitoring data, information and documents by the IPPs both at the established monitoring gates and during the continuous interactions with the SDM is represented by the STAR tool. It will be filled mainly by IPPs, who will enjoy direct access to the tool to provide in real time any updates on implementation progress Monitoring milestones achievement The DP monitoring will address the achievement of three kinds of milestones: 1. key milestones, which are specific to each IP. They are associated to each task as defined by the IPPs in their accepted bids. Monitoring such milestones aims at checking the progress of each IP with respect to the achievement of IP specific results; 2. monitoring milestones (for all families), which are common milestones to be applied to all IPs within the Action. Monitoring such milestones, as well as those indicated in the following point, aims at checking the progress of each IP with respect to common results which all the projects in the Action (or all the projects belonging to a specific Family) should achieve, and at facilitating the synchronised 43

44 deployment of the Programme. Article I.5 of the SGA (Annex 3) lists six common milestones, that have to be accomplished by the IPPs: o Start of training; o End of training; o Parallel Operations/Operational Trials; o Cutover SW ready and successfully tested; o Cutover and fall back period completed; o Contribution to final report (Technical Content) IP Level. As reported in article I.5 of the SGA, such milestones are verified through the following means of verification, to be uploaded in the STAR tool: o Kick-off Report; o Training Results Report; o Monitoring Report; o Test Cases Report; o Final Report (Go Live); o Final Report (Technical Content) IP level. The Activity Leaders are also expected to verify the accomplishment of such milestones from the IPPs and to consolidate them at AF Level. Once any of the monitoring milestones (for all families) is achieved, both IPPs and Activity Leaders are expected to upload in the STAR tool the above-mentioned means of verification documents, in addition to the supporting documents, mentioned in section and attached in Annex 14).In case any of these monitoring milestones is not achieved by the expected date, the IPPs and Activity Leaders are expected to upload in the STAR tool only the supporting documents, mentioned in section and attached in Annex 14), in order to provide information concerning the delay in the achievement. 3. monitoring milestones (family specific), which are common milestones applied to all IPs within each specific Family within the action. Monitoring these milestones, as well as those common to all families, aims at obtaining a picture of the progress status of a whole family on the basis of the advancement of the single IPs. Reporting on all these kinds of milestones falls under the responsibility of the single IPPs, who will specify whether a milestone is achieved or not. In particular, IPPs are expected to specify a status with regard to each milestone included in their projects by selecting, in the STAR tool, one of the following options: To do (0%) if the milestone has not been achieved; Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%) if the milestone has been achieved. No intermediate status is envisaged due to the nature of milestones. 44

45 Focus on monitoring at specific monitoring gates Focus on IPPs As outlined within the SGA Annex I Description of the Action (Annex 3), the IPPs shall perform a reporting activity three times per year (milestones IP Periodical reporting in order to provide information on the progress of the respective IPs. In particular, the established three monitoring gates per year are the following: - 15 th January, to provide an input for both the Action Status Report (ASR) and the DP Execution Progress Report; - 15 th April, to provide an input for the DP Execution progress report; - 15 th September, to provide an input for the DP Execution progress report. Monitoring at specific monitoring gates aims at achieving a sound understanding of the progress of the DP through a picture taken on each monitoring gate. The timeframe as just introduced is illustrated in the following figure. Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec Data provision 15th of January Data provided by operational stakeholders 15th of April Data provided by operational stakeholders 15th of September Data provided by operational stakeholders Purpose Input for ASR and DP Execution Progress Report Input for DP Execution Progress Report Input for DP Execution Progress Report Release on the 4 th of March Release on the 31 st of May Release on 31 st of October Chart key: Monitoring gates Figure 18 Monitoring gates On the basis of the data, information and documents provided by the IPPs and collected at each monitoring gate, the SDM will elaborate a DP execution progress report. This report, to be provided to the EC, aims at highlighting key monitoring information related to the progress and status of the Programme as well as any risks and issues to be managed. With specific reference to the 15 th January monitoring gate, it will also feed the elaboration of the Action Status Report (ASR). The information to be provided by the IPPs on each monitoring gate is referred to the tasks, milestones, deliverables and costs related to each IP. More details are provided hereinafter. 45

46 Tasks The IPPs are expected to provide the percentage of declarative progress 8 of each task within each IP, in order to ensure that planned activities are executed according to the agreed timeframes. Declarative progress will be updated on the STAR tool by the IPPs. Deliverables The IPPs are required to provide detailed information concerning the status of each deliverable to be elaborated and released within each IP. In particular, each deliverable whose elaboration has been envisaged in the awarded IP template needs to be associated to one of the following statuses: - To do (0%) ; - On going work started (20%) ; - On going first draft (50%) ; - On going final draft (70%) ; - Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%). Once the status of a given deliverable has been set on Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%), the SDM experts will review it for validation purposes. Milestones At each monitoring gate, all IPPs are expected to communicate the status of all milestones included in their projects choosing between two available options: To do (0%) if the milestone has been achieved; Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%) if the milestone has not been achieved. In particular, if a milestone is achieved, it has to be indicated as ready for SDM review, as the SDM is in charge of validating the achievement of the milestones, through the analysis of the supporting documents provided by the IPPs through the STAR tool. In case a milestone has not been achieved by the expected date, the IPP, supported by the PMO, notifies the SDM through the STAR tool and provides the necessary clarifications (e.g. new deadline and reasons for deviation). The SDM evaluates the impact of delay in the achievement of the milestone, interacting with the interested parties (e.g. Action Leader, Activity Leaders, other IPPs, PMO, etc.). 8 Please refer also to section

47 Costs The IPPs have to provide information concerning the actual costs sustained during the reporting period, taking into account the cost categories aligned with INEA requirements (HR & travel costs, investment and procurement costs, other costs, etc.). At each monitoring gate, the Implementing Partners are required to provide figures for cumulated costs sustained from the start of the Action up to two weeks before the date of the relevant monitoring gate. Comparing this reporting with the ASR: - the ASR takes into account the costs borne from the 1 st of January to the 31 st of December of the previous year (only for the 1 st ASR it includes costs from the start of the Action to the 31 st of December 2015); - the reporting at each monitoring gate requires the provision of actual costs sustained up to two weeks before the monitoring gate itself. Therefore, the time horizon of the two reporting activities is different. Once information on costs sustained is provided, the SDM will perform a consistency check in order to detect any major misalignments compared to costs planned related to the completion of a task. An interaction with the IPPs will be performed only in case of inconsistencies. Cost Benefit Analysis process and expected interactions with IPPs for ASR purpose The SDM applies the CBA methodology as laid down in the Annex D to the DP 2015 (Annex 6b). This methodology, still initial, might evolve in the future through the successive editions of the DP. However, some key principles are and will remain applicable: 1. In order to ensure harmonisation in between the CBAs and the possibility to aggregate their results to achieve CBAs for groups of projects, the CBAs are all performed by the SDM on the basis of: o the cost data declared for the project by the time of SGA preparation; o a top down SDM assessment of the benefits to be expected from the project taking into account the gap(s) addressed by the project and the percentage of gap coverage estimated by SDM. 2. Initial CBAs by SDM are then submitted to the project s leader for potential comments. SDM may also ask questions when costs are outside an average window that SDM calculates for each family of IP. This loop between SDM and the project leader is intended for SDM to better understand any local specificity and for project leader to be aware of any divergence of costs between its project and other similar projects. 3. In time, in particular for each IP ASR, the CBA is updated as needed, not redeveloped. At IP level, it requires that any variation in costs is reported to SDM. Again, it is the SDM that updates the CBA and re-submit to project leader. 47

48 SDM Beneficiaries: IPPs/Activity and Action Leaders DP IMPLEMENTATION CALL CEF As for the IPs, it is SDM that generates the CBA at activity and action level for ASR campaigns. The Action and Activity leaders could then retrieve their respective CBAs at action and activity levels through the STAR tool and deliver them in order to meet their reporting obligations without any other effort. Not for ASR purpose but to be noted: - In case the updated costs provided by a project reveal that the project is driving PCP implementation (or part of it) outside of the envelope of the overall CBA that has supported PCP adoption, this would trigger mitigation action by SDM to the project. Indeed, SDM shall not only implement PCP fully and timely but also within its CBA envelope. - In the same spirit, after project s completion and final costs stated, SDM intends to perform a final check, including confirmation that project s result goes operational and measurement of its actual contribution to performance. This is what the performance view in the Dp 2015 declares as the final check. This part of methodology however remains to be further refined, in particular through acooperation with PRB. IP ASR Each IPP provides relevant IP cost content Activity ASR Action ASR ASRs submitted to MS Each IPP provides feedback on CBA data in STAR Each Activity Leader retrieves CBA from STAR at AF level The Action Leader retrieves the CBA from STAR at Action level By 15/01 By 15/02 By 25/03 The SDM provides Performance content and upload it in STAR SDM submits CBAs to join ASR Validated ASRs submitted to beneficiaries SDM submits validated ASR to INEA By 4/03 By 31/03 Figure 19 CBA process 48

49 Focus on Action and Activity Leaders Through the STAR tool, Activity Leaders and the Action Leader will be able to verify the monitoring data provided by the IPPs. Building on the information provided by the IPPs, Activity Leaders are required to achieve the following milestones: - Validation of Risks and Issues Registry AF level, to be provided by 15 days after the second and third monitoring gate each year (30/04 30/09); - Validation of Mitigation Registry AF level, to be provided by 15 days after the second and third monitoring gate each year (30/04 30/09); - Preliminary CBA/Performance Analysis (AF level) extracted from the STAR tool to be provided not later than 15/02 each year. Specifically, Activity Leaders will: - interact with the SDM to address AF / transversal related topics; - perform risk and issue management activities at AF / Action level; - verify the progress data provided by the IPPs; - retrieve from the STAR tool the CBA/Performance Analysis; - report any bugs and/or change requests concerning the use of the STAR tool to the DTO. With regards to the achievement of the first two aforementioned milestones (Validation of Risks and Issues Registry AF level and Validation of Mitigation Registry AF level), the Activity Leaders will be required to act according to the following steps, building on information, data and documents provided by the IPPs: - Extract, within the STAR tool, the risks, issues and related mitigation actions related to IPs within the respective AF, - Analyse the extracted information; - Coordinate with the SDM for the identification and management of risks and issues at AF as well as transversal level. The Activity Leaders will perform these activities twice per year and they will accomplish the milestones under their responsibility two weeks after the deadline for submission of information by the IPPs at the monitoring gates of April and September. This time gap will allow them to carry out the tasks listed above; it is considered a sufficient time frame as it is expected that the Activity Leaders will engage in a continuous dialogue with the IPPs and the SDM during the year. The Action Leader, together with AF Leaders and supported by PMO, will perform the analysis of relevant issues impacting on DP realization at transversal AF level, building further on the information provided by the AF Leaders and IPPs at the envisaged reporting gates. In particular, within the scope of sub-activity 2.1 ( Transversal AF Coordination ), the Activity Leader is required to achieve the following milestones (M M in the SGA): 49

50 - Registry Delivery Risks and Issues, to be provided by 15/05 and 15/10 each year); - Registry Delivery Mitigation Actions, to be provided by 15/05 and 15/10 each year); - Preliminary CBA/Performance Analysis at transversal AF level retrieved from the STAR tool. The milestones listed above entail precise activities with a high relevance in light of monitoring of DP execution: - provision of support to the monitoring of risks and issues across different AFs; - monitoring of mitigation actions at transversal AF level; - retrieve from the STAR tool the CBA/Performance Analysis (at transversal AF level). The deliverables associated to such milestones are the following: - Risks and issues registry at transversal AF level, to be provided by 15/05 and 15/10 each year); - Mitigation registry at transversal AF level, to be provided by 15/05 and 15/10 each year). The mentioned deliverables shall be released twice per year after the execution of the following activities: - Extraction, from the STAR tool, of the risks, issues and related mitigation actions at AF and transversal level; - Analysis of the extracted information; - Coordination with the SDM for the identification and management of risks and issues at transversal level. It has to be mentioned that the Action Leader will also engage in a continuous dialogue with the SDM, IPPs and Activity Leaders during the year Focus on the Continuous interactions between SDM and Implementing Partners Monitoring through continuous interactions will be based on data/information/documents concerning the completion of a task, the achievement of a milestone or the submission of a deliverable, provided by the IPPs through the STAR tool when the event occurs. This interaction is expected to happen every time a task or a deliverable is completed and a milestone is achieved in order to keep the SDM constantly updated on the progress of implementation of projects. This will allow promptly verifying the actual progress achieved by each IP and proactively manage misalignments between planned and actual results. 50

51 With reference to monitoring through continuous interactions between the SDM and the IPPs, it is envisaged that: throughout the year, the IPPs provide the SDM, through the STAR tool, with all relevant information and supporting documents concerning: - the achievement of milestones; - the completion of tasks; - the completion of deliverables to be submitted to the SDM for validation purposes; - the detail of actual costs borne for each completed task. In particular, at latest 7 working days after the expected date of achievement of a milestone, completion of a task and submission of a deliverable, the Implementing partners are expected to: - confirm that the deadline has been met on the STAR tool; - upload the relevant documentation (i.e. supporting documents and deliverables) on the STAR tool. The SDM will provide a feedback to each IPP on the received information and supporting documents and deliverables within 10 working days at latest, through the STAR tool. Tasks The IPPs are kindly required to provide information on the completion of tasks within their IPs. In particular, IPPs will: update the STAR tool by communicating a 100% declarative progress; submit relevant supporting documents to the DM containing an overview on the completion of the task, the results achieved and the following steps. list all the costs sustained to complete the task and communicate them to the SDM through the STAR tool. The DTO experts will review the supporting documents provided by the IPPs and make an overall evaluation of the progress of the IPs, in order to highlight any possible major discrepancies and/or inconsistencies with regards to the planning. Should it be necessary, they will activate a structured dialogue with the IPPs in order to bridge any gap by revising submitted documents or providing additional information on completed tasks. Deliverables The IPPs will refer to the STAR tool, beyond planned monitoring gates, to communicate the completion of a deliverable within 7 working dates from the achievement. As a consequence, the Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%) status will be selected on the 51

52 STAR tool. Upon completion, the IPPs will upload supporting documents in the STAR tool to enable the validation process by the SDM. In case of a positive evaluation, the SDM will set the deliverable status in the STAR tool at 100%, marking it as complete ; Should any inconsistencies emerge, the SDM will notify the IPP with regard to the negative evaluation and will set the status of the deliverable back to 70% Final draft. Milestones At the moment of achievement of a milestone, throughout the implementation of a project, the IPPs are expected to provide supporting documents through the STAR tool at the latest 7 working days after the date of achievement. The considerations on the progress status of the milestones made with regards to monitoring at specific monitoring gates are applicable also in the case of monitoring through continuous interactions between the DM and IPPs. Therefore, the IPPs are requested to interact with the SDM by selecting the Delivered/ready for SDM review (90%) status for the concerned milestone, without any intermediate options available between this status and the 0% ( To do ) completion progress. The DTO experts will review the supporting documents provided. After a positive evaluation of supporting documents, they will change the status of the milestone from 90% to 100%, marking its full achievement. Otherwise, the status will be changed to 0% pending activities requested by the DTO experts. Costs When a task is completed, IPPs are expected to provide figures concerning the actual costs sustained. Such information shall be uploaded on the STAR tool to enable evaluation by the SDM. As well as for costs reported at specific monitoring gates, the SDM will check the consistency of costs reported in order to highlight any major inconsistencies. Only in this case the IPPs will be provided with a formal feedback by the means of a structured dialogue aiming at filling the gaps detected by the SDM. Otherwise, information on costs will be acknowledged without providing any feedback to the involved IPPs. 52

53 Synthesis of the roles The following table summarises the roles of the different actors involved in monitoring DP execution (SDM, Action Leader, Activity Leaders, IPPs) on the basis of the main contractual documents and the content of the previous sections. Roles IPPs Activity Leaders Action Leader SDM Monitoring gates Continuous interactions Update tasks declarative progress on STAR tool Upload on STAR tool supporting documents related to the completion/ achievement of: tasks; milestones; deliverables. Provide actual costs sustained up to the monitoring gate. Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Upload on STAR tool supporting documents related to: completed tasks; achieved milestones; completed deliverables. Provide information on actual costs sustained for completed/achieved tasks, milestones and deliverables Give feedback on CBA data (initial, revised, final) Check data provided at IP level and analyse them at aggregated level Validate Risks and Issues Register at AF level. Retrieve from the STAR tool CBA/ performance analysis at AF level Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Continuously monitor progress of IPs within the respective AF Provide means of verification for the relevant milestones Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Check data provided at AF level and analyse them at aggregated level. Validates Risks and Issues Register at Action level. Retrieves from the STAR tool CBA/ performance analysis at Action level. Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Continuously monitor progress at Programme level Provide means of verification for the relevant milestones Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Evaluates supporting documents to detect inconsistencies. Engages in structured dialogue with PMO/ IPPs/Activity Leaders/Action Leader in case of misalignments between planned activities and actual results. Provides input for the CBA at Project or Thread level. Checks costs reported and provides a feedback only in case of inconsistencies Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Evaluates supporting documents and completed deliverables to detect inconsistencies. Engages in structured dialogue with IPPs in case of misalignments between planned activities and actual results. Checks costs reported and provides a feedback only in case of inconsistencies Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues Identify and manage discrepancies, risks and issues 53

54 4. FPA Coordinator monitoring activities - Final report at Action Closure The SDM, in order to accomplish reporting activities outlined within duly signed Agreements, is responsible for the submission of the Final Report 9 to EC at Action closure. The present chapter reports the high level contents of the Final Report, nonetheless SDM will produce a dedicated Deliverable D1.15 Final Report instruction (Overall process), with the support of PMO to provide all detailed information and instructions to ensure successful submission of the document in full alignment with the FPA and SGA provisions. Specifically, on the basis of the contractual obligations set forth within the FPA, all Action levels (SDM/Action Leader/Activity Leaders/Implementing Partners) have to fill in the Final Report providing information on the achievements, final results of the implementation initiatives as well as final costs occurred for the Action execution. The submission of the Final Report to EC in due time (within 12 months form the closure of the Action), represents an essential element to enable the payment of balance, and its elaboration will follows the same workflow which has been described for the submission of the ASR, starting from contribution to be provided at IP level, initially consolidated at AF level and finally at Action level. The major difference between these two reporting documents is their reference period: indeed, the ASR has to be provided to the SDM once per year, while the Final Report only at the Action closure covering the overall duration of the Action. Finally it has to be noted that, before the submission of the Final Report to the INEA, all information needed to justify the eligible costs which have been declared by beneficiaries, have to be validated by respective Member States. Once all the validation by MSs will be collected, the overall Action Final Report will be submitted to EC Agency INEA. 9 Refer to Annex 11 54

55 5. Payments, Check and Audits According to Article II.1.3 of the SESAR Deployment FPA - General Conditions (General Obligations and Role of the Coordinator) (Annex 7), the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM), acting in its role as FPA Coordinator, is required to: - establish the requests for payment in accordance with the Framework agreement and the Specific agreements; - ensure that all the appropriate payments are made to the other partners without unjustified delay; - bear responsibility for providing all the necessary documents in the event of checks and audits initiated before the payment of the balance, and in the event of evaluation in accordance with Article In line with Article 4 of the Specific Grant Agreement - Additional provisions on reporting, payments and payment arrangements (Annex 3), the Implementing Partners (IPPs) will receive three types of the financial aid (further described in the following sections): Pre- financing (Art. II FPA, art SGA) Definition: Pre-financing is a contribution provided to beneficiaries as a financial support in the start-up phase of their projects. First pre-financing payment: The first pre-financing is expected to be paid to SDM by INEA within 30 days following entry into force of the SGA. Amount of the first pre-financing: 40% of the amount of the first annual instalment of the CEF contribution (co-funding). Submission of request for further pre-financing payment by the Coordinator: at the end of each reporting period. For major information related to the pre-financing please refer to the section 0 55

56 Interim payment (Art. II.24.3 FPA, art SGA) Definition: contribution provided to beneficiaries to reimburse/cover the eligible costs incurred in implementing the Action during the corresponding reporting period. Amount: difference between the ceiling for pre-financing and interim payments (80% of the grant amount) and the amount of pre-financing and interim payments already made. Submission of request by the Coordinator: at the end of at least two reporting periods, within 8 months following the end of the reporting period. First interim payment: to be requested in For major information related to the interim payment please refer to the section 5.2 Balance (Art. II.24.4 FPA, art , SGA) Definition: payment aiming at reimbursing/covering the remaining part of the eligible costs. Amount: determined by deducting the total amount of pre-financing and interim payments already made from the final amount of the grant. Submission of request by the Coordinator: at the end of the last reporting period (2020) within 12 months after the closure of the Action. For major information related to the balance please refer to the section

57 5.1. Pre-financing According to Art. II.24.1 of the FPA - General Conditions, Prefinancing is a contribution provided to beneficiaries as a financial support in the start-up phase of their Implementation Projects. It is paid to concerned beneficiaries and it is integrated by interim payments during the course of the Action of the first annual instalment of the maximum CEF contribution as indicated in Annex II of the Specific agreement. Therefore, the pre-financing is equal to 40% of the co-funding provided by INEA to the Action on the basis of the estimated costs for 2014, 2015 and It is calculated on the estimated budget of the whole Action for the reporting period concerned and it is then distributed to the Partners according to the weight of their projects in financial terms. The first pre-financing is expected to be paid to SDM by INEA within 30 days following entry into force of the SGA. According to the Art. 6 of ICA (Annex 4), SDM is entitled to receive an FPA coordination Fee, which has to be paid for services performed by the SESAR Deployment Manager under the terms of the SESAR Deployment FPA and this Agreement on behalf of the Implementing Partners. These services are those included in the Activity 1 FPA coordination. Art.6 let.c reads as follows: c) The FPA Coordination Work-package 10 costs will be recovered at 100% as follows: i. As it will be part of the relevant SGA, the FPA Coordination Work-package is directly eligible for up to 50% Commission co-funding. ii. iii. FPA General Conditions Art. II.24.1 SGA Art Art Art The remaining cost of the FPA Coordination Work-package which is not funded directly by the Commission under a SGA shall be funded directly from the Implementing Partners by the SESAR Deployment Manager charging and collecting from the Implementing Partners the FPA Coordination Fee. The SESAR Deployment Manager shall ensure that the work funded by the Commission under a SGA and the work funded by the Implementing Partners through the FPA Coordination Fee are separately and distinctly accounted for and that together the two separately funded parts of the FPA Coordination Work-package equal 100% of the FPA Coordination Work-package costs. The total cost of the work-package shall comprise 1% of the Maximum Grant Amount Implementing Partners will receive. 10 Please note that the naming FPA coordination Workpackage has been modified in FPA coordination Activity in order to keep the alignment with the INEA nomenclature 57

58 iv. The FPA Coordination Fee will be levied upon the remaining Implementing Partners in order to receive the additional funding required to cover the remaining work-package s cost. This additional funding will be deducted from the grants to be received by the other partners in the Implementation Projects independently of the success, delay or failure of the project itself. v. The FPA Coordination Fee shall be deducted by the SESAR Deployment Manager from the first payment received from INEA in relation to an Implementation Project. vi. vii. FPA Coordination Fee shall be collected as a fraction to be deducted from the cofunding to the other Implementation Project partners proportionally to their respective contribution to the Implementation Project, as reported in the SGA budget. The grant monies relating to an Implementation Project less the FPA Coordination Fee shall be forwarded to each Implementing Partner involved in the Implementation Project in accordance with the procedure set out in Section B section 5 above. According to the above SDM will transfer the pre-financing share, as resulting from the deduction of the FPA coordination fee, to all entitled beneficiaries within 30 days from the receipt of the payment by INEA. Each beneficiary has to provide SDM with the Acknowledgement of the payment receipt duly filled in and signed by the company legal representative (Annex 16). The beneficiaries, upon receiving the pre-financing, have to provide to SDM the notification of the good receipt of the pre-financing. During the Action execution phase further pre-financing payments can be received from INEA. The request for further pre-financing payment should be submitted by the FPA Coordinator at the end of each reporting period, along with the Action Status Report (no later than March 31 st following the end of each period), except for the last reporting period, in accordance with Art. II.23.1b of the FPA General Conditions. The further prefinancing payment shall be calculated on the basis of 40% of the cumulated financing needs and in accordance with Article II.24.2b of the Framework Partnership Agreement. The ASR shall also be accompanied by a Declaration on honour of the IPPs (Annex 12) on the correctness, accuracy and truthfulness of the information provided. According to the Article Specific Grant Agreement the present Action can be divided into the seven following reporting periods: from the starting date of the Action to 31 December

59 from 1 January 2015 to 31 December 2015 from 1 January 2016 to 31 December 2016 from 1 January 2017 to 31 December 2017 from 1 January 2018 to 31 December 2018 from 1 January 2019 to 31 December 2019 Last reporting period from 1 January 2020, up to the end of the Action. Reporting periods Start date 31 Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec Dec 19 Completion date 5.2. Interim Payment According to the Article II.24.3 FPA - General Conditions, the interim payment is a contribution provided to the beneficiaries in order to reimburse/cover the eligible costs sustained in implementing the Action during the corresponding reporting period. The interim payment amounts to the difference between the ceiling for pre-financing and interim payments (80% of the grant amount) and the amount of pre-financing and interim payments already made. FPA General Conditions Art. II.24.3 Art. II.24.5 Art. II.23.2b SGA Art Art Art. 4.2 The total amount of pre-financing and interim payments shall not exceed 80% of the maximum grant amount (Art SGA), equal to EUR , 42 (Art. 3 SGA). As per Art. II.24.3 of the FPA - General Conditions states: The interim payment shall clear 100% of the pre-financing payments already made for the reporting periods covered by the request for interim payment or previous interim payments and which have not been cleared against previous interim payments [ ] The amount obtained [ ] shall be limited to the difference between the percentage of the ceiling for the pre-financing and interim payments set out in Article of the Specific agreement and the total amount of the pre-financing and interim payments already made. The FPA Coordinator can request an interim payment, for the whole Action, at the end of at least two reporting periods, within 8 months following the end of the reporting period itself. 59

60 The first interim payment has to be requested in 2016 upon submission of the Action Status Report. The following mandatory interim payments are expected to be requested in 2018 and The interim payment can be requested only if costs sustained at Action level exceed the pre-financing already received (e.g. if actual costs are higher than 40% of co-funding by INEA for the considered reporting period). If the whole Action s costs (regardless of the performance of the single Partners) are lower or equal than the pre-financing received at Action level, the FPA Coordinator cannot request an interim payment. The interim payment will be distributed among the Partners within 90 days from the date of request, unless causes arise which justify a suspension of time limits for payments. The Commission may suspend the time limit for payment at any time by formally notifying the FPA Coordinator. It might be necessary because it does not comply with the provisions of the Framework Partnership Agreement and the Specific Grant Agreement, because the appropriate supporting documents have not been produced, or because there is doubt about the eligibility of the costs declared in the financial statement. Further details are available in Art. II.24.5 of the FPA General Conditions. The Request for Interim payment has to be submitted electronically and should be accompanied by the following supporting documents: the Interim financial statement: the model is attached to the FPA, Annex VI 11. It shall contain a consolidated statement of the eligible costs incurred for the implementation of the Action during the reporting period or the two reporting periods covered as well as a breakdown of the eligible costs incurred by each partner, its affiliated entities and its implementing bodies. the Certificate on the Financial Statement 12 is requested only for partners for which the total contribution in the form of reimbursement of actual costs is at least and which request a reimbursement in that form of at least This certificate shall be produced by an approved auditor or, in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer according to the model available in Annex VI. It is worth noting that the costs incurred for the preparation of the Certificate on the Financial Statement are eligible costs (even, in case of Certificate on Financial 11 Please refer to Annex 17, 18, 19) 12 Certification on the financial statement is an agreed-upon procedures engagement in which an auditor is engaged to carry out those procedures of an audit nature to which the auditor and the entity and any appropriate third parties have agreed and to report on factual findings. The recipients of the report form their own conclusions from the report by the auditor. 60

61 Statement for the Final Report, when incurred after the end of the eligibility period). As a support to the FPA Coordinator request for Interim Payment, each beneficiary has to provide to the FPA Coordinator: 1. Individual Financial Statement (Annex VI); 2. Certificate on the Financial Statements (Annex VII) if applicable. All the above mentioned documents have to be provided in line with the SDM process and deadlines, both in scanned copies and originals, to the following address: SESAR Deployment Manager, att. Paola Di Giovanni Avenue De Cortenbergh 100 Brussels 1000, Belgium Interim payment request workflow In order to accomplish the timely submission of the interim payment requests to EC, all involved beneficiaries are requested to provide the relevant intermediate financial statements and the certificate on it by considering the process described below: - Once the ASR is validated form INEA, each beneficiary has to fill in the Interim financial statement and provide it to SDM acting as FPA Coordinator; - The SDM collects all Interim financial statements in order to assess their completeness and formal accuracy; - On the basis of the feedback provided by the SDM in the previous activity, each beneficiary, submits to SDM, the certificate on the financial statement (when applicable); - The SDM collects them thus enabling the elaboration of the proper interim payment request to be submitted to EC Interim payment request timeline The overall interim payment request process will be completed according to the following timeline: 61

62 On the basis of the ASR validated by INEA, each beneficiary has to produce the Intermediate financial statement SDM evaluates the completeness and formal accuracy of costs Each beneficiary submits the certificate on interim financial statement to SDM SDM elaborates and submits the interim payment request toec From 6/05 to 4/07 By 18/07 By 28/07 By 5/08 Figure 20 Interim payment request timeline As outlined in the figure, once the ASR has been validated by INEA, each beneficiary shall produce, within the 4 th of July, the interim financial statement, following the defined template. Such reporting document shall be assessed by the SDM, acting as FPA Coordinator, in order to provide within the 18 th of July his feedback on the accuracy and completeness of reported costs. On the basis of the assessment performed by the SDM, each beneficiary shall submit the certificate on interim financial statement to SDM, acting as FPA Coordinator, by 28 th of July. Such certificate is mandatory to allow the SDM to elaborate the relevant interim payment request and its submission to EC within the 5 th of August Action eligible costs The Eligible costs are only direct costs sustained by the partners in the period of duration of the Action (starting from the proposal submission until the end of the Action), indicated in the estimated budget in the SGA, sustained in connection with the Action and necessary for its implementation. In addition, as reported in Art. II.19.1 of the FPA General Conditions, costs should be identifiable, verifiable, reasonable, justified and coherent with the principle of sound financial management and with the requirements of applicable tax/social legislation. There are different costs that fall into this category, in particular: FPA General Conditions Art. II.19.1 Art. II.19.2 Art. II.19.3 Art. II.11.1 Art. II.9.1 SGA Art. 14 Art. 8.4 CEF Regulation - costs of natural persons working under an employment contract with the partner or an equivalent appointing act and assigned to the Action; - costs of travel and related subsistence allowances; - full costs of purchase of equipment/infrastructures (forecasted in Art. 8.4 of the CEF Regulation); - costs of rental/lease (if not exceeding depreciation costs of similar equipment/assets); 62

63 - costs of consumables and supplies (in accordance with procurement rules - Art. II.9 FPA); - costs directly linked to requirements imposed by the FPA or SGAs; - costs entailed by service contracts; - duties/tax/changes paid by the partner (e.g. VAT), unless specified differently 13. Indirect costs are those not specifically linked to the implementation of the Action; for the projects related to the current Action, they are not eligible (Art CEF Call) Balance The balance is a payment aiming at reimbursing/covering the remaining part of the eligible costs not covered by the pre-financing and the interim payments. The request for the balance payment has to be submitted by the FPA Coordinator at the end of the last reporting period, within 12 months following the completion date of the Action. FPA General Conditions Art. II.23.2c Art. II.24.4 SGA Art Art. 4.2 The payment of the balance, which may not be repeated, is intended to reimburse or cover, after the completion date (31/12/2020), the remaining part of the eligible costs incurred by the partners for their projects implementation. The amount of the balance is determined by deducting from the final amount of the grant the total amount of pre-financing and interim payments already made. The balance will be paid within 90 days from the date of request, unless causes arise which justify a suspension of time limits for payments (as well as for the interim payment). 13 In line with the Art. 11 of the FPA INELIGIBILITY OF VALUE ADDED TAX - by way of derogation Article II.19.2 (h) of the Framework Agreement, amounts of value added tax (VAT) paid are not eligible for the following partners: Luftfartsverket, Swedavia AB, NavegaçãoAérea de Portugal (NAV Portugal, E.P.E.), Irish Aviation Authority, Air Navigation Services of the Czech Republic, Finavia Corporation, Austro Control ÖsterreichischeGesellschaft fur ZivilluftfahrtmitbeschränkterHaftung (Austro Control GmbH), Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute, Croatia Air Navigation Services (Croatia Control), SJSC Latvijasgaisasatiksme, Slovenian Air Navigation Services Limited (Slovenia Control), Naviair, Belgocontrol, Bosnia and Herzegoviana Air Navigation Services Agency, EntidadPùblicaEmpresarial ENAIRE, Romanian Air Traffic Services Administration (Romatsa RA), Luchtverkeersleiding Nederland (Air Traffic Control The Specific agreement number: INEA/CEF/TRAN/M2014/ Netherlands), DFS Deutsche Flugsicherung GmbH, Hellenic Civil Aviation Authority, ENAV S.p.A., Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, The State of France, Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy - Direction Générale de l'aviationcivile (DGAC) - Direction des Services de la Navigation Aérienne (DSNA) and KobenhavnsLufthavne A/S. 63

64 The request for the Balance payment has to be submitted electronically and should be accompanied with the following supporting documents: - Final report (template available in Annex IV of the FPA General Conditions): the document outlines total eligible costs incurred in accordance with FPA and SGA, as well as technical information on how the action was implemented and its objectives fulfilled; - Final financial statement (template available in Annex VI of the FPA General Conditions); - Certification by the Member State in which the partner is established: it is requested only for partners established in the EU. The certification shall specify that i) information provided is full, reliable and true and ii) costs declared in the final financial statement are real and eligible in accordance with the FPA and the SGA; - Certification on the financial statement 14 : it is requested only for partners for which the total contribution in the form of reimbursement of actual costs is at least ,00 and which requests a reimbursement in that form of at least ,00. This certificate shall be produced by an approved auditor or, in case of public bodies, by a competent and independent public officer according to the model available in Annex VI. It s worth noting that the costs incurred for the preparation of the Certificate on the Financial Statement are eligible costs (even when incurred after the end of the eligibility period). In support of the FPA Coordinator request for the Balance Payment, each of the beneficiaries has to provide to SDM: a. Final Report b. Final Financial Statement c. Certification by the Member State d. Certificate on the Financial Statement 14 Certification on the financial statement an agreed-upon procedures engagement in which an auditor is engaged to carry out those procedures of an audit nature to which the auditor and the entity and any appropriate third parties have agreed and to report on factual findings. The recipients of the report form their own conclusions from the report by the auditor. 64

65 All the above mentioned documents have to be provided in line with SDM process and deadlines, both in scanned copies and originals to the following address: SESAR Deployment Manager, att. Paola Di Giovanni Avenue De Cortenbergh 100 Brussels 1000, Belgium 65

66 5.5. Check and Audits The European Commission (directly or by an authorised body), during the implementation of the SGA and and expost for a period of 5 years starting from the payment of the balance, may: - carry out technical and financial checks/audits; - check the statutory records of the partners to periodically assess lump sum, unit cost or flat-rate amounts (however not considered in the SGA); - carry out interim/final evaluation of the impact of an action (against the programme s objective); - conduct on-the-spot visits. Information and documents provided in the framework of checks or audits shall be treated on a confidential basis. Checks, audits or evaluations made by the Commission may be carried out either directly by its own staff or by any other outside body authorised to do so on its behalf. In addition to the European Commission, the following bodies are entitled to check Action implementation: - European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF), for checks and inspections; - European Court of Auditors, for checks and audits. FPA General Conditions Art.II.27.1 Art. II.27.2 Art. II.27.3 Art. II.27.4 Art. II.27.6 To this end the IPPs should keep all original documents, especially regarding accounting and tax records for a period of 5 years from the payment of the balance 15, or more in case of on-going audits, appeals, litigation or pursuit of claims concerning the grant (Art. II.27.2 FPA General Conditions). INEA will not ask the invoices or bank statements to be provided together with financial reports, but will ask for sampling through two Sampling methods applied to each submitted cost claim: - Key Item sampling for 30% of the total cost claim Agency targets specific items of the cost claim; - Random Monetary Unit Sampling for 10% of the remaining population. Any findings in Certification Statements will be directly integrated in the ex-ante control. The Audit activities cover compliance with eligibility conditions and also procurement. 15 The period for the keeping the original documents is reduced to 3 years in case of grant lower than EUR 60,

67 Contradictory audit procedure DP IMPLEMENTATION CALL CEF 2014 Audit 30 days 60 days An Audit initiated before the payment of the balance is called Sample Audit, and the European Commission will interface with the FPA Coordinator, that shall provide any information (including information in electronic format), to accomplish with the EC or by any other outside body authorised by it requests. If the check or audit is initiated after the payment of the balance, the European Commission request information to be provided directly to the Implementing Partner concerned. In case of on-the-spot visits, the partners should allow Commission staff and outside personnel authorised by the Commission to have access to the sites and premises where the action concerned is or was carried out, and to all the necessary information, including information in electronic format. On the basis of the findings made during the audit, the Commission (or its authorised representative) will send a draft audit report to the partner concerned. The partner can submit observations within 30 days from the day of receipt. Within 60 days after the period for submitting observations expires, the partner will receive the final audit report. Depending on final audit findings, the Commission may take the measures it considers necessary (including recovery of all or part of the payments, both before and after the payment of the balance). 67

68 6. Information Flow The Information Flow process describes the activities to be undertaken by the SESAR Deployment Manager (SDM) as FPA Coordinator, to act as intermediary for all communications between the Implementing Partners (IPPs) and the European Commission (EC). In particular, the process refers to the activities stemming from the obligations stated in article 9.5 of Regulation (EU) N 409/2013 (Annex 8) and the call ref. MOVE/ /SESAR FPA. Figure 21 Information Flow The FPA Information flow deals with the process accomplished by the FPA Coordinator providing the EC with all documents and information which may be required under the Framework Partnership Agreement or a Specific Grant Agreement and any change related to the variation in the name, address, legal representative as well as in the legal, financial, technical, organisational or ownership situation of any partner or its affiliated entities, or to any event likely to affect or delay the implementation of an Action. In case changes occur in the legal, financial, technical and administrative content of the agreements under-signed for a specific grant, the FPA Coordination Manager evaluates their impact in order to ensure the full alignment and compliance with EC requirements. In particular, any kind of change arose will be analysed carefully by the SDM through the following five phases: 1. Analysis of changes information; 2. Further technical and financial assessment and its elaboration; 3. Evaluation of level of changes impact on Agreements; 4. In case of necessity the SDM can ask for the additional documents / clarifications and Agreements update; 5. Submission of changes /Agreements to EC. 68

69 In this sense the Action Leaders/Activity Leaders/Implementing Partners are requested annually to provide any change arose in correspondence of the submission of the Action Status Report (by 15 th of January). In case the change arose has a relevant impact on the proposed Action the Implementing Partners have to send immediately an official communication to SDM including the supporting documentation (ICA art. 7c) (Annex 4). It is worth noting that the current Action PoCs (Annex 9) will be updated by SDM in correspondence of the three defined monitoring gates (on 15 th of January, 15 th of April, 15 th of September). 7. Supporting tools for the Action execution During the Action execution phase, the SDM will support and assist to the Implementing Partnersin monitoring and controlling the projects implementation. In order to efficiently manage the execution of the projects, and to facilitate the interaction with all stakeholders involved, the SDM has set up the following supporting tools: SESAR Deployment Manager website: All participants can be supported during their project performing process by visiting the SDM website which contains all relevant information (e.g. about SDM, news, events, Q&A): eu Video and tutorials: In a dedicated section of the SDM website ( ager.eu/multimedia), participants can find informative videos about the content of the Development Program and the tutorials to use the STAR Tool. 69

70 address (Cef Call 2014): The dedicated address mentmanager.eu has been set up to facilitate the communications between the Implementing Partners and the SDM during the entire Action lifecycle. To get the necessary support from PMO To get support for the STAR System, please the STAR helpdesk nager.eu) Questions & Answers: The SDM website will contain a dedicated, publicly available, section where all relevant Questions & Answers will be published every two weeks. FPA Repository: To ensure that each Implementing Partner will get all the documents and guidelines SDM has created a specific repository that will support the exchange of documents between the SDM and the IPPs. The repository is available on the SDM the following link: - tmanager.eu/p40145/ - Password: SDM 70