Support to Master's Degree Programmes in Human Rights

Budget line 19.04.01

Reference: EuropeAid/126255/C/ACT/MULTI 

Deadline for submission of applications: 19/02/2008 
 
 

Notice

This is an open Call for Proposals. Applications must include both a Concept Note and a Full Application Form. In the first instance, only the Concept Notes will be evaluated. Thereafter the Full Application Forms corresponding to the pre-selected Concept Notes will undergo evaluation.

The eligibility conformity check will only be performed for the full applications that are provisionally selected. This check will be undertaken on the basis of the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority and the "Declaration by the applicant" signed and sent together with the application.

All references to the Internet links indicated in the present document are valid at the time of publication of this Call for Proposals. Nevertheless, they may be subject to changes at a later stage.  

SUSPENSIVE CLAUSE 

The conclusion of the grant contracts for actions selected under this Call for Proposals is subject to the adoption of the relevant financing decision, i.e. the adoption of the Annual Action Programme.  

The adoption of the afore-mentioned programme does not depend only on the European Commission. If the above-mentioned programme is substantially modified and/or does not provide adequate coverage for the proposed action or is not adopted, the present Call for Proposals or some of its allocations may be cancelled and/or replaced by other Calls for Proposals adapted to the finally approved Annual Action Programme.

 

Table of contents 
 

1. THE EUROPEAN INSTRUMENT FOR DEMOCRACY AND HUMAN RIGHTS (EIDHR)

1.1 Background

The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR)¹ was adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in December 2006 under the Financial Perspectives 2007-2013. This new financing instrument is the successor to the European Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights, established upon the initiative of the European Parliament in 1994. This thematic instrument, which entered into force on 1 January 2007, reflects the high political profile and specific Treaty mandates relating to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms, and will bring financial support worldwide to activities in this area.

1.2 Objectives of the programme and priority issues

The general objectives of the new financing instrument are to contribute to the development and consolidation of democracy and the rule of law, and respect for all human rights and fundamental freedoms, within the framework of the Community’s policy on development cooperation, and economic, financial and technical cooperation with third countries, and consistent with the European Union’s foreign policy as a whole.

This instrument aims at helping civil society to become an effective force for political reform and defence of human rights. In this way, it will complement the new generation of geographical programmes, which will increasingly mainstream democracy and human rights, though focusing primarily on public institution-building. The EIDHR will offer independence of action, allowing for the delivery of assistance in principle without the need for government consent, which is a critical feature of cooperation with civil society organisations at national level, especially in the sensitive areas of democracy and human rights. It also offers more flexibility and capacity to respond to changing circumstances or to support innovation.

The EIDHR will thus be global in scope, operating at national, regional and international level, supporting actions in third countries around the globe, and also in Member States if relevant to needs in third countries. 

The European Commission has drawn up a Strategy Paper 2007-2010 for the implementation of the EIDHR. The EIDHR Strategy Paper identifies five distinct objectives, forming the response strategy for the period 2007-2010: 

1) Enhancing respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in countries and regions where they are most at risk;

2) Strengthening the role of civil society in promoting human rights and democratic reform, in supporting the peaceful conciliation of group interests and consolidating political participation and representation;

3) Supporting actions on human rights and democracy issues in areas covered by EU Guidelines, including on human rights dialogues, on human rights defenders, on the death penalty, on torture, and on children and armed conflict;

4) Supporting and strengthening the international and regional framework for the protection of human rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy;

5) Building confidence in and enhancing the reliability and transparency of democratic electoral processes, in particular through election observation.

The European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) Strategy Paper for the period 2007-2010 can be consulted at the following address:

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /where/worldwide/eidhr/index _en.htm

The present guidelines concern the Call for Proposals launched in order to select actions to implement Objective 4 of the EIDHR Strategy Paper entitled "Supporting and strengthening the international and regional framework for the protection of human rights, justice, the rule of law and the promotion of democracy".

The global objective is to strengthen the international frameworks for the protection of human rights, justice and the rule of law, and the promotion of democracy in accordance with European Union policy priorities.  

The specific objective is to provide assistance to regional networks for the training of specialists in the application of international human rights instruments, in particular, to support Master's Degree Programmes in Human Rights and Democratisation outside the European Union.

1.3 Financial allocation provided by the Contracting Authority

The overall indicative amount made available under this Call for Proposals is EUR 5.2 million from the 2007 budget, subject to the adoption of the relevant financing decision (2007 Annual Action Programme). Subject to the final decision of the budgetary authority, an additional EUR 0.45 million may be allocated to this Call for Proposals. 

The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds and to reallocate any remaining balance to other Call for Proposals within the EIDHR instrument, preferably within the same strategic objective.  

Size of grants 

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

• Minimum amount: EUR 400,000

 

• Maximum amount: EUR 1,500,000

 

No grant may exceed 80% of the total eligible costs of the action (see also Section 2.1.4). The balance must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Community budget or the European Development Fund. 
 

2. Rules FOR thIS call for proposalS

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of actions financed under this Call, in conformity with the provisions of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions.  

The majority of terms used in the present guidelines are explained in the Glossary to the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions. 

The afore-mentioned Practical Guide and the Glossary can be consulted at the following Internet address: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /work/procedures/implementation /practical_guide/index_en.htm 

In addition to the Glossary, the following definitions apply:

Partnership  the grouping of organisations i.e. the main applicant and its partners for the purpose of implementing the proposed action 

Applicant  the organisation responsible for submitting the application 

Partner  member organisation of the partnership other than the applicant  

Associate organisation that plays an active role in the action but which cannot benefit from funding under the grant  

Subcontractor  organisation contracted by the beneficiary or its partner(s) in accordance with the appropriate procedures in order to execute specific tasks in implementing the action 

2.1 Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to: 

• applicant(s) which may request a grant (2.1.1), and their partners (2.1.2),
• actions for which a grant may be awarded (2.1.3),
• types of cost which may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.4).

2.1.1 Eligibility of applicants: who may apply?

(1) In order to be eligible for a grant, applicants must:

• be legal persons and
• be non-profit making and
• be or belong to a higher education institution² and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action partners, not acting as an intermediary.

 

(2) No nationality restriction applies to applicants³.

(3) Potential applicants may not participate in Calls for Proposals or be awarded grants if they are in any of the situations which are listed in Section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide to contract procedures for EC external actions (available from the Internet address indicated at the beginning of the section 2).

In Part B, Section VI of the Grant Application Form (“Declaration by the applicant”), applicants must declare that they do not fall into any of the situations.

2.1.2  Partnerships and eligibility of partners

Applicants must act with partner organisations as specified hereafter.

Applicants will be the leading university of the Master's programme of their region. They will have at least four other partner higher education institutions from different countries in the same region, represented in the decision-making bodies of the programme, and able to actively participate in the training of students. 

Partners

The choice of partner higher education institutions should be transparent and ensure that each participating university is able to demonstrate a high level of academic achievement in human rights and democratisation issues and/or expertise relevant to the region. 

Applicants’ partners participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the grant beneficiary. They must therefore satisfy the same eligibility criteria as applicants. 

The following are not partners and do not have to sign the “partnership statement”: 

• Associates

Other organisations may be involved in the action. Such associates play a real role in the action but may not receive funding from the grant with the exception of per diem or travel costs. Associates do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in Section 2.1.1. The associates have to be mentioned in Part B section IV - “Associates of the applicant participating in the action” of the Grant Application Form.  

• Subcontractors

The grant beneficiaries have the possibility to award contracts to subcontractors. Subcontractors are neither partners nor associates, and are subject to the procurement rules set out in Annex IV to the Standard Grant Contract (see Annex F on the last page of the present guidelines). 

The applicant will act as the lead organisation and, if selected, as the contracting party (the "beneficiary"). 

2.1.3 Eligible actions: actions for which an application may be made

Definition: An action (i.e. project) is composed of a set of activities. 

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 18 months nor exceed 36 months. 

Sectors or themes 

The present Call for Proposals aims to support at least 5 networks of higher education institutions running 5 regional Master's Degree Programmes in Human Rights and Democratisation.  

Location 

The regional Master's Degree Programmes in Human Rights and Democratisation supported under this Call will be located outside the European Union. 

Type of activities/Results 

Applicants must define indicators that will serve as a reference regarding the type of results expected from the activities proposed in the application. These indicators should be included in the Logical Framework that sets out the logic of the action and their relevance will be assessed as part of the evaluation procedure (see point 3.5 of the full application evaluation grid). 

Types of activities that may be financed through this Call for Proposals are indicated below:  

(1) Academic activities  

(a) Content of the curriculum  

Each regional network will run an academic programme with a core curriculum with common features as specified hereafter:

• Aspects of the European Union human rights and democratisation policy and activities, with links to good governance and conflict prevention;
• Human rights instruments (Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international and regional instruments concerning civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights);
• Promotion of democratisation and the rule of law;
• International criminal justice.

 

Regional variations can be reflected in the programme. A particular effort will be made to ensure that children's, women's and disabled people's rights are fully part of the curriculum. 

All regional Master's programmes should have a strong element of operational skill-building. Academic teaching should be supervised by academics of high professional standing. Preference should be given to those applications including teaching not only by academic experts, but also by experts from intergovernmental organisations, NGOs and national authorities, human rights practitioners experienced in fieldwork. 

The system of examinations and assessment of thesis should be consistent between all participating higher education institutions. 

Visits to international and regional institutions should be considered.  

The working language of each regional Master's programme should be the most common language of the region. Language training can be offered to allow participation by deserving students from countries in the region where the language of the programme is not widely used.

(b) Students 

The selection process for students should be demonstrably transparent, equitable and coherent between the participating higher education institutions. Reflecting the inter-disciplinary nature of human rights and democracy, students can represent a variety of academic backgrounds. Attention should be paid to ensuring a gender and sub-regional balance in the selection of students. The majority of the students should come from the region concerned. There should be a reasonable minimum number of students per region. Moreover a small number of fee-paying students (mainly those coming from outside the region concerned) may be also allowed to participate in the programmes. 

Each programme should follow-up graduate career development, including the provision of opportunities for internships and supporting alumni associations.

(c) Academic recognition of the Master's Degree 

In order to ensure the academic recognition of the Master's degree, each Master’s programme is expected to deliver at least 60 ECTS (European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System) credits or their equivalent. The degree should be conferred as an academic postgraduate degree by one or more of the participating higher education institutions, and must be recognised by the other regional human rights and democratisation Master’s programmes.  

(d) Co-operation with other regional Masters programmes 

The selected regional networks should cooperate with one another with a view to enriching their programmes through the exchange of lecturers, tutors, students, examiners and dissertation supervisors. This should include the European Master’s programme in human rights and democratisation organised by the European Inter-University Centre based in Venice, Italy. 

They may also integrate the different regional programmes through the organisation of joint events and activities (website, international conferences, alumni reunions, visits to institutions, internships with international agencies) and the publication of yearbooks, journals and newsletters. 

(2) Management 

The European Commission encourages the applicant to establish joint consultations between the decision-making bodies of the Master's programmes and student representatives, elected by their peers each year, on issues of concern to them.

(3) Monitoring and Evaluation 

The teaching staff and experts should be regularly evaluated by students.

Proposals (Full Application Forms) should also include planning, human resources and budget for the monitoring and evaluation systems of the proposed action.

The following types of action are ineligible:

• actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses;
• actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses;
• one-off conferences: conferences can only be funded if they form part of a wider range of activities to be implemented in the life-time of the action. For these purposes, preparatory activities for a conference and the publication of the proceedings of the conference do not, in themselves, constitute such “wider activities”;
• actions supporting individual political parties;
• actions including proselytism.

 

Number of proposals and grants per applicant

Applicants may not submit more than one proposal under this Call for Proposals. If an applicant submits more than one proposal, all the proposals submitted by that applicant will be rejected.

2.1.4 Eligibility of costs: costs which may be taken into consideration for the grant

Only "eligible costs" can be taken into account for a grant (the categories of costs considered as eligible and non-eligible are indicated below. The budget is therefore both a cost estimate and a ceiling for "eligible costs". The eligible costs must be based on real costs based on supporting documents (except for subsistence costs and indirect costs where flat-rate funding applies).  

Recommendations to award a grant are always subject to the condition that the checking process which precedes the signing of the contract does not reveal problems requiring changes to the budget (for instance arithmetical errors, inaccuracies or unrealistic costs and other ineligible costs). The checks may give rise to requests for clarification and may lead the Contracting Authority to impose modifications or reductions to address such mistakes or inaccuracies. The amount of the grant and the percentage of co-financing as a result of these corrections may not be increased in any case.  

It is therefore in the applicant's interest to provide a realistic and cost-effective budget.

Eligible direct costs

To be eligible under the Call for Proposals, costs must comply with the provisions of Article 14 of the General Conditions to the Standard Grant Contract (see Annex F on the last page of the present guidelines). 

Contingency reserve

A contingency reserve not exceeding 5% of the direct eligible costs may be included in the Budget of the action. It can only be used with the prior written authorisation of the Contracting Authority.

Eligible indirect costs (overheads)

A lump sum representing between 0 and 7% of the total amount of eligible costs of the action may be claimed as indirect costs to cover the administrative overheads incurred by the beneficiary for the action. This lump sum should correspond to an approximate estimate of these costs by the beneficiary.

Applicants who claim indirect costs must specify the type of administrative overheads that are generated by implementing the action and are not covered by the detailed budget, so as to demonstrate that these costs do not overlap with any of the budgeted items, nor do they cross-subsidise other actions concurrently undertaken by the beneficiary. The relevant information and justification shall be provided in Annex B, after the detailed budget presentation. 

Indirect costs are ineligible if the beneficiary receives in other respects an operating grant from the European Commission.

Contributions in kind

Contributions in kind do not represent actual expenditure and are not eligible costs. Contributions in kind may not be treated as co-financing by the beneficiary.

The cost of staff assigned to the action is not a contribution in kind and may be considered as co-financing in the budget of the action when paid by the beneficiary or partners.

Notwithstanding the above, if the description of the action as proposed by the beneficiary foresees the contributions in kind, such contributions have to be listed separately in Annex B and must be provided.

Ineligible costs

The following costs are not eligible:

• debts and provisions for losses or debts;
• interest owed;
• items already financed in another framework;
• purchases of land or buildings, except where necessary for the direct implementation of the action, in which case ownership must be transferred to the final beneficiaries and/or local partners, at the latest by the end of the action;
• currency exchange losses;
• taxes, including VAT, unless the beneficiary (or the beneficiary’s partners) cannot reclaim them and the applicable regulations do not forbid coverage of taxes;
• credits to third parties.

2.2 How to apply and the procedures to follow

Prior registration in the PADOR system (Potential Applicant Data On-Line Registration)⁴ is not obligatory under this Call for Proposals. Nevertheless, all organisations that wish and have the possibility both to register and to upload all required supporting documents for this Call for Proposals (see Section 2.4) are strongly invited to do so.

All questions related to the registration in PADOR should be addressed to the PADOR help desk:

europeaid-on-line-registration [email protected] 

2.2.1 Grant Application Form

Applications must be submitted using the application documents annexed to the present Guidelines (Annex A- Grant Application Form, Annex B - Budget and Annex C - Logical Framework). These are to be downloaded from the EuropeAid website at: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /cgi/frame12.pl

The Grant Application Form includes guidance on how to draft the Concept Note (Annex A, Part A) which must also be submitted. Applicants should keep strictly to the format of the application form and fill in the paragraphs and pages in order, taking care to use the correct application documents for this Call. Applications submitted on application documents relating to any other call may be rejected. 

Budgetary information concerning the action should be provided using round figures and be presented only in the Budget (Annex B); they should not appear in the Grant Application Form (Annex A, Part B, Point 1.3).  

Applicants must apply in: English, French or Spanish. 

Any error related to the points listed in the Checklist (Part B, section V of the Grant Application Form) or any major inconsistency in the Application Form may lead to the rejection of the application. 

Clarifications will only be requested when information provided is unclear, thus preventing the Contracting Authority from conducting an objective assessment.  

Hand-written applications will be rejected.  

Applications (Grant Application Form including Concept Note, Budget, Logical Framework) must be submitted in one paper original in A4 format. These documents must also be supplied in electronic format (CD-Rom). The electronic version must be identical to the paper version. Each component of the application (Full Application Form, Budget and Logical Framework) must be submitted in a single, separate electronic file (for example, the Application Form must not be split into several different electronic files) and should not contain coloured or high resolution graphs, images or diagrams. The electronic version of the applications will only be printed in black and white for evaluation purposes.

Only the Grant Application Form and the published annexes which must be filled in (Budget, Logical Framework) will be evaluated. It is therefore of utmost importance that these documents contain ALL relevant information concerning the action. No supplementary annexes should be sent. 

All the supporting documents indicated in section 2.4 must be provided at the time of submitting the application. 
 

2.2.2 Where and how to send the Applications

Applications must be submitted in a sealed envelope by registered mail with delivery confirmation, private courier service or by hand-delivery at the address below (a signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt will be given by the Contracting Authority).  

Postal address 

European Commission

EuropeAid Co-operation Office

Unit F4 – Finance, Contracts and Audit for Thematic Budget Lines

Call for Proposals Sector

Att. Mrs Jane Robinson

Office: L-41 03/150

B – 1049 Brussels

Belgium 

Address for hand-delivery or by private courier service 

European Commission

EuropeAid Co-operation Office

Unit F4 – Finance, Contracts and Audit for Thematic Budget Lines

Call for Proposals Sector

Att. Mrs Jane Robinson

Office: L-41 03/150

Central Mail Service

Avenue du Bourget 1

B – 1140 Brussels (Evère)

Belgium 

Applications sent by any other means (e.g. by fax or by e-mail) or delivered to other addresses will be rejected. 

The Checklist (Part B, Section V of the Grant Application Form) and the "Declaration by the applicant" (Part B, Section VI of the Grant Application Form) must be stapled separately and enclosed in the envelope. 

The outer envelope must bear the reference and the title of the Call for Proposals, the full name and address of the applicant, and the words "Not to be opened before the opening session".

Applicants must verify that their application is complete using the Checklist (Part B, section V of the Grant Application Form). Incomplete applications may be rejected. 

2.2.3 Deadline for submission of Applications

The deadline for the submission of applications is 19/02/2008 (date at place of dispatch) as evidenced by the postmark or the date of the deposit slip. In the case of hand-deliveries, the deadline for receipt is 19/02/2008 at 16:00 hours (Brussels date and time), as evidenced by the Contracting Authority's signed and dated acknowledgement of receipt given to the bearer.  

Any application sent after the deadline or, in the case of hand-deliveries, received after the stipulated time will be rejected. 

Any application received by the Contracting Authority on or after the effective date of completion of the evaluation of the Concept Notes (see indicative calendar under section 2.5.2) will be treated as having been submitted after the deadline and, therefore, rejected.  

The applicant is solely responsible for the choice of means of expedition amongst those indicated in section 2.2.2 and for following-up the delivery in accordance with the stipulations of the present section. 

If the applicant does not receive the results of the Opening and Administrative Check within 15 days of the date set for completion of this step in the indicative calendar under section 2.5.2 below, a message to this effect should be sent to the Contracting Authority via the e-mail address indicated under the following section 2.2.4. This message should include a legible copy of the signed and dated proof of sending as well as the Contracting Authority's acknowledgement of receipt. 

2.2.4 Further information for Applicants

Questions concerning this Call for Proposal (except those related to registration in PADOR) may be sent by e-mail no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of applications to the below address, indicating clearly the reference of the Call for Proposals: 

E-mail address: EuropeAid-MASTERS2007@ec .europa.eu  

Replies will be given no later than 11 days before the deadline for the submission of applications.  

In the interest of equal treatment of applicants, the Contracting Authority cannot give a prior opinion on the eligibility of an applicant, a partner, an action or specific activities.  

Questions that may be relevant to other applicants, together with the answers, will be published on the Internet at the EuropeAid website: http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /cgi/frame12.pl 

All questions related to PADOR registration should be addressed to the PADOR help desk:

europeaid-on-line-registration [email protected]  

After the deadline for submission of applications, the above-mentioned e-mail address can only be used by applicants for the purpose specified in section 2.2.3 or by the Contracting Authority to initiate correspondence regarding any clarification that may be required. No individual replies to queries with regard to the status of the selection procedure can be given via this mailbox although an updated automatic reply providing the current status of the evaluation procedure will be generated on receipt of all messages sent to this mailbox. 
 
 
 

2.3 Evaluation and selection of applications 

Applications will be examined and evaluated by the Contracting Authority according to the following steps and criteria. 

If at any stage in the evaluation process any component of the application (the applicant, a partner or the action) is identified as not fulfilling the eligibility criteria specified in the sections 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.3 of the present guidelines, the application may be rejected on this sole basis.  

1. STEP 1: OPENING SESSION AND ADMINISTRATIVE CHECK

The following will be assessed:

• The deadline has been respected. If the deadline has not been respected, the proposal will automatically be rejected.
• The Grant Application Form satisfies all the criteria mentioned in the Checklist (Part B, section V of the Grant Application Form). If any of the requested information is missing or is incorrect, the proposal may be rejected on that sole basis and the proposal will not be evaluated further.

Following the opening session and the administrative check, the Contracting Authority will send a letter to all applicants, indicating whether their application was submitted prior to the deadline, informing them of the reference number allocated to it, whether all the criteria mentioned in the Checklist have been met and whether their Concept Note has been recommended for evaluation.

2. STEP 2: EVALUATION OF THE CONCEPT NOTE

The evaluation of the Concept Notes that have passed the first administrative check will cover the relevance of the action, its merits and effectiveness, its viability and sustainability. The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to undertake the evaluation of the Concept Notes whenever considered justified (for example when fewer proposals than expected are received) and to proceed directly to the evaluation of the corresponding Full Applications. 

The scores awarded to the Concept Note are completely separate from those that may be given to the Full Application. 

The Concept Note will be given an overall score out of 50 points in accordance with the breakdown provided in the Evaluation Grid below. The evaluation shall also verify the compliance with instructions provided in the guidance for Concept Note, Part A of the Grant Application Form. 

The evaluation criteria are divided into headings and subheadings. Each subheading will be given a score between 1 and 5 in accordance with the following assessment categories: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good. 

 

*the scores are multiplied by 2 because of their importance 

Once all Concept Notes have been assessed, a list will be established with the proposed actions ranked according to their total score.  

Firstly, only the Concept Notes which have been given a score of a minimum of 12 points in the category "Relevance" as well as a minimum total score of 30 points will be considered for pre-selection.  

Secondly, the list of Concept Notes will be reduced in accordance to the ranking to those whose sum of requested contributions amounts to at least twice the available budget for this Call for Proposals. Subsequently, the Full Application Forms corresponding to the pre-selected Concept Notes will be evaluated.

3. STEP 3: EVALUATION OF THE FULL APPLICATION

An evaluation of the quality of the proposals, including the proposed budget, and of the capacity of the applicant and partners, will be carried out in accordance with the evaluation criteria set out in the Evaluation Grid included below. There are two types of evaluation criteria: selection and award criteria. 

The selection criteria are intended to help evaluate the applicants' financial and operational capacity to ensure that they:

• have stable and sufficient sources of finance to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out and, where appropriate, to participate in its funding;
• have the management capacity, professional competencies and qualifications required to successfully complete the proposed action. This also applies to any partners of the applicant.

The award criteria allow the quality of the proposals submitted to be evaluated in relation to the set objectives and priorities, and grants to be awarded to actions which maximise the overall effectiveness of the Call for Proposals. They enable the selection of proposals which the Contracting Authority can be confident will comply with its objectives and priorities and guarantee the visibility of the Community financing. They cover such aspects as the relevance of the action, its consistency with the objectives of the Call for Proposals, quality, expected impact, sustainability and cost-effectiveness. 

Scoring: 

The evaluation criteria are divided into sections and subsections. Each subsection will be given a score between 1 and 5 in accordance with the following guidelines: 1 = very poor; 2 = poor; 3 = adequate; 4 = good; 5 = very good.  
 
 

Evaluation Grid 

 

Note on Section 1. Financial and operational capacity: 

If the total average score is less than 12 points for section 1, the proposal will be rejected. 

Note on Section 2. Relevance: 

If the total average score is less than 20 points for section 2, the proposal will be rejected. 

Provisional selection 

Following the evaluation, a table listing the proposals ranked according to their score and within the available financial envelope will be established as well as a reserve list following the same criteria.

Note: The scores awarded in this phase are completely separate from those given to the Concept Note of the same application. 

(4) STEP 4: VERIFICATION OF ELIGIBILITY OF THE APPLICANT AND PARTNERS

The eligibility verification, based on the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority (see section 2.4) will only be performed for the proposals that have been provisionally selected according to their score and within the available financial envelope.  

• The Declaration by the applicant (Part B, section VI of the Grant Application Form) will be cross-checked with the supporting documents provided by the applicant. Any missing supporting document or any incoherence between the Declaration by the applicant and the supporting documents may lead to the rejection of the proposal on that sole basis.

 

• The eligibility of the applicant, the partners, and the action will be verified according to the criteria set out in sections 2.1.1, 2.1.2 and 2.1.3.

 

Following the above analysis and if necessary, any rejected proposal will be replaced by the next best placed proposal in the reserve list that falls within the available financial envelope, which will then be examined for the eligibility of its applicant and the partners.

2.4 Submission of supporting documents

Applicants must provide all the supporting documents listed below at the time of submitting their application in order to enable the Contracting Authority to check the eligibility of the applicants and their partners.

Supporting documents must be supplied for the applicant as well as for each partner by using one or other of the following methods:

a) either register (or already be registered) in the PADOR system and upload all required supporting documents for this Call for Proposals. The applicant organisation must communicate to the Contracting Authority its EuropeAid ID number (assigned upon registration), as well as that of any registered partner organisation.

b) or not be registered in PADOR. In this case, the applicant must send all required supporting documents for this Call for Proposals together with the application. 

Required supporting documents:

1. The statutes or articles of association of the applicant organisation and of each partner organisation⁵.  

2. Where the grant requested exceeds EUR 500,000, an external audit report produced by an approved auditor, certifying the accounts for the last financial year available.

This obligation does not apply to public bodies.  

3. Copy of the applicant’s latest accounts (the profit and loss account and the balance sheet for the previous financial year for which the accounts have been closed)⁶.

 
4. Legal entity sheet (see Annex D on the last page of the present guidelines) duly completed and signed by the applicant, accompanied by the justifying documents which are requested therein. If the applicant has already signed a contract with the Contracting Authority, instead of the Legal entity sheet and its supporting documents the legal entity number may be provided, unless a change in its legal status occurred in the meantime.  

The requested supporting documents must be supplied in the form of originals, photocopies or scanned versions (i.e. showing legible stamps, signatures and dates) of the said originals. However, the Legal entity sheet must always be submitted in original. 

Where such documents are not in one of the official languages of the European Union, a translation into one of the languages of the Call for Proposals (see section 2.2.1) of the relevant parts of these documents, proving the applicant’s eligibility, must be attached and will prevail for the purpose of analysing the proposal. 

Where these documents are in an official language of the European Union other than the languages of the Call for Proposals, it is strongly recommended, in order to facilitate the evaluation, to provide a translation of the relevant parts of the documents, proving the applicant’s eligibility, into one of the languages of the Call for Proposals.

If the above-mentioned documents are not provided together with the application, the application may be rejected.

Based on the verification of the supporting documents, the Contracting Authority will prepare the final list of the grants to be awarded under this Call for Proposals.

2.5  Notification of the Contracting Authority's decision

2.5.1 Content of the decision

Applicants will be informed in writing of the Contracting Authority's decision concerning their application and, where applicable, the principal reason(s) for a negative decision.

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the Opening and Administrative Check stage of the procedure (Step 1) or at the Eligibility check stage (Step 4) wishing to obtain further information should send their request by letter, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:

European Commission  
EuropeAid Co-operation Office

Unit F4  - Finance, Contracts and Audit for Thematic Budget Lines  
Attn. Head of the Calls for Proposals Sector   
Office L-41 03/154  
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium

Applicants who were unsuccessful at the technical evaluation stages of the procedure (Step 2 or Step 3) wishing to obtain further information should send their request, indicating the reference of the Call for Proposals and the reference allocated to the proposal, to:

European Commission  
EuropeAid Co-operation Office

Unit F2 - Central Management of Thematic Budget Lines PA RELEX   
Attn. Head of Sector "Democracy and Human Rights"

Office L-41 02/81  
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium 

The request for further information should be sent to the Contracting Authority no later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the letter informing the applicants about the negative decision concerning their application.

The Contracting Authority must reply within 90 days of receipt of the request for information.

Thereafter, applicants believing that there has been an error or irregularity during the award process may send a petition no later than 90 days from the date of receipt of the above-mentioned reply from the Contracting Authority, to the following address: 

European Commission  
EuropeAid Co-operation Office

Directorate F – Thematic Operations

Attn. the Director

Office L-41 06/94  
B-1049 Brussels, Belgium 

The Contracting Authority must reply within 90 days of receipt of the said petition. 

Lastly, the applicant may have recourse to procedures established under Community legislation. European citizens or residents, including legal entities with a registered office in the European Union, also have the right to complain to the European Ombudsman, who investigates complaints of maladministration by the European Community Institutions. 
 

2.5.2 Indicative time table

The dates and times indicated in the table below refer to the Brussels dates and times with the exception of the submission date for applications which may be the date at the place of dispatch (see section 2.2.3).  

 
 
 
 

2.6 Conditions applicable to implementation of the action following the Contracting Authority's decision to award a grant

Following the decision to award a grant, the beneficiary will be offered a contract based on the Contracting Authority's Standard Contract (see Annex F on the last page of the present guidelines). By signing the Grant Application Form (Annex A), the applicant declares accepting, in case where it is awarded a grant, the Contractual conditions as laid down in the Standard Contract. 

Implementation contracts

Where implementation of the action requires the beneficiary to award procurement contracts, it must award the contract to the tenderer offering the best value for money, that is to say, the best price-quality ratio, in compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment for potential contractors, care being taken to avoid any conflict of interests. To this end, the beneficiary must follow the procedures set out in Annex IV to the contract.

3. LIST OF annexes

DOCUMENTS TO BE COMPLETED

Annex A: Grant Application Form (Word format)

Annex B: Budget (Excel format)

Annex C: Logical Framework (Excel format)

Annex D: Legal Entity Sheet (Excel format)

http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /work/procedures/implementation /grants/annexes_standard _documents/index_en.htm

DOCUMENTS FOR INFORMATION

Annex E: Financial identification form, http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /work/procedures/implementation /grants/annexes_standard _documents/index_en.htm

Annex F: Standard Contract (Word format) http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /work/procedures/implementation /grants/annexes_standard _documents/index_en.htm

Annex G: Daily allowance rates (Per diem) http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid /work/procedures/implementation /per_diems/index_en.htm