Intelligent Energy Europe
Projects 2008 - Kick-off meeting
ADORE IT
IEE/07/504
PO dario.dubolino@ec.europa.eu
FO juliette.schael@ec.europa.eu

EACI – EXECUTIVE AGENCY
for COMPETITIVENESS and INNOVATION
Management of the following EU programmes:
Competitiveness and Innovation
Programme (CIP) 2007-13
Intelligent Energy Entreprise Europe
Eco-innovation Marco Polo
- Europe network
new new new
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Contents
3. Selected highlights on contractual / financial topics*
4. Suggestions - Do’s and don’ts
* for details please refer to detailed presentation available on
programme website:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/implementation/index_en.htm
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Your grant agreement
Characteristics of the grant agreement Elements of the grant agreement
 Rights and obligations  Core agreement
 Between EACI and all  Special Conditions: account for the
specific needs of the IEE program
beneficiaries
 General Conditions: legal, admin.
 One beneficiary will act as co- and financial provisions
ordinator with additional  Annexes
responsibilities vis-à-vis EACI  (I): Description of the action
 (II): Estimated budget of the action
 (III): Technical Implementation
Reports and Financial Statements
 (IV): Mandates
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Article I.3 defines the roles of the beneficiaries
 The coordinator has a very active role, in particular:
 Accountable for implementation in accordance with the agreement
• Check out the \"Implementing your project\" corner on our website
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/implementation/index_en.htm
 Intermediary for communication with EACI (claims, requests for changes,
etc.)
 Responsible for supplying documents and information to EACI and to the
co-beneficiaries
• Proactively inform the Project Officer (e.g. project summaries, access to
project website, upcoming meetings, etc.)
• Inform EACI on transfers of budgets (see Art. I.4.4)
• Provides proof of transfer of funds to the co-beneficiaries (compulsory)
 Transfers funds to co-beneficiaries within 30 days of receipt, UNLESS
justified delay.
 Make sure ‘financial guarantees’ are sent to EACI within 60 days of entry
into force of agreement/inform EACI that no guarantees will be submitted
 Establishes payment requests on behalf of all beneficiaries
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Article I.3 defines the roles of the beneficiaries
(continued)
 Co-beneficiaries are accountable for the proper
performance of planned work and reporting to the
coordinator in particular
 Timely forwarding of data for reporting, financial reports, information on
events that might impact the implementation of the action to the
coordinator
 Send all info for EACI through the coordinator
 Inform the coordinator in time on budget transfers (see Art. I.4.4)
 Provide the coordinator with all the necessary documents requested by
EACI (see Art.II.6 – Evaluation by EACI & Art.II.19 – Checks & Audits)
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Reporting (Article I.6)
 Technical progress reports (PR)
 First Progress Report due 30/06/2009, covers period 01/09/2008-31/05/2009
 Technical report, not connected to a payment
 Interim report (IR)
 Due 30/06/2010
 Includes interim financial statement in currency used in accounts of beneficiary
 After approval of the IR, second pre-financing will be paid
 Final report (FR)
 Within 60 days of action completion (due 31/10/2011)
 Covers the whole duration of the action
 Includes the final financial statement in currency used in beneficiary’s accounts
(also covering the whole duration of the action)
Check out the report templates in the \"Implementing your project\"
corner on our website!
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Article I.5 specifies the payment scheme
 1st pre-financing is 30% of the contribution
 Paid within 45 days of official receipt of signed agreement and all mandates
 Conditional on receipt of financial guarantees requested
 2nd pre-financing is 60% of the contribution minus the amount
of the 1st pre-financing
 Conditional on approval of Interim Reports and consumption of 1st pre-financing
 EACI will have 90 days to approve the reports and pay the 2nd pre-financing
 NB: 2nd pre-financing means that the funds are still deemed to be property of the
European Commission, and shall need to be justified by costs incurred during the
action.
 Final balance is contribution calculated by EACI based on the
accepted eligible costs minus pre-financing paid, minus
interest on pre-financing
 Conditional on approval of Final Reports
 EACI will have 90 days to approve the reports and pay the balance
 Funds paid as pre-financing can at that stage be recovered in case of
underperformance of one or more partners, or when some expenses are not
deemed eligible
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What happens in case of a change?
Amendments (Article II.13)
 Different type of amendments depending on the
degree of the changes :
 Supplementary agreement (‘Contract Amendment’)
• substantial changes e.g. change in partnership, substantial changes
Annex I/II, budget shifts > 20%…
 Exchange of letters (‘Letter Amendment’)
• minor changes e.g. change bank account, change reporting
schedule,….
 Modifications relating to merely practical administrative aspects
without financial implications can be done through e-mail
• e.g. change of address for correspondence, change of legal
representative,…)
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Simplification Article I.4.4/II.13 - Budget shifts
 Budget shifts do not require an amendment to the
agreement provided that:
 The budget shifts do not affect the implementation of the action
 The shift between cost categories does not exceed 20% of the total
eligible costs of the beneficiary concerned
 The shift between beneficiaries does not exceed 20% of the total eligible
costs of the receiving beneficiary
Do not forget to inform EACI on Budget shifts below 20% at the
moment of the final report (you may do this earlier, but it is not necessary) !!!
 Budget shifts above 20% are to be considered exceptions
+ require an amendment :
 Inform EACI at the latest 1 month before the completion of the action !!!
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Cost Categories : Staff Costs
 Staff costs (Art. II.14.2)
 Only costs related to actual hours worked as indicated in timesheets
(reconciliation of ALL hours worked, not only on the project !), template can be
found on EACI website.
 Only costs related to persons directly carrying out technical, analytical,
promotional & dissemination work under the action
 Only costs related to persons on the payroll of the beneficiary
 secretarial/administrative/managerial costs are deemed to be included in the
indirect costs
 Only actual salaries plus social charges and other statutory costs included in
the remuneration can by used to calculate the hourly rate. Specific bonuses
paid out only for participation in EU projects are not eligible
 Substantial deviations from the average cost of similar labour in the country
concerned must be evidenced, we do not reimburse ‘prices’ (i.e. cost +
commercial uplift)
 Hourly rates used in Contract Preparation Forms do not constitute agreed
rates !!!
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Cost Categories : Staff Costs (Continued)
 In-house consultants/work contracts
 Costs can be classified as personnel costs, as long as NO profit
is included and all of the following conditions are met :
• Directly employed by the beneficiary in accordance with national
law
• Rate is reasonable and remuneration is in accordance with normal
practices of the beneficiary PROVIDED these are acceptable to
EACI
• Output of consultant is under supervision of participant
• Consultant works on the beneficiary’s premises as a member of
the project team
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Cost Category : Subcontracting
 Subcontracts must be awarded in accordance with Article II.9 of
the grant agreement:
 May only cover the execution of a limited part of the action (e.g. hiring
special expertise)
 Tasks concerned must be defined in Annex 1 or otherwise prior approval
of EACI
 To be selected on transparent grounds, to the best offer, taking into
consideration price and quality (best value for money) – No conflict of
interest ! E.g. three different offers, evaluated against common
established criteria
 Beneficiaries retain sole responsibility & need to make sure that certain
Art. in the grant agreement are also applied to the subcontractors
 Beneficiaries pay 100% of the subcontractor's invoice before claiming
reimbursement from EACI at the agreed level of co-funding
 Subcontractor invoices to refer to grant agreement + detail services
delivered
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Cost Category : Travel & Subsistence
 Travel and subsistence costs:
 Only for staff of the beneficiaries which are taking part in the
action (travel costs of sub-contractors should be included under
the subcontracting costs)
 Based on the beneficiary’s internal rules & usual practices
 When lunch/dinner is offered during mission -> claim less
subsistence
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Cost Category : Purchase costs of equipment
 Purchase costs of equipment:
 Only accepted under exceptional circumstances and with prior
approval EACI
E.g. database software or specific monitoring equipment but no
standard office equipment such as PC, laptop, printer, etc.
 Only portion of depreciation incurred during the action's lifetime
and corresponding to the rate of actual usage for the action
 Utilisation of existing equipment is deemed to be covered under
the indirect costs
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Cost Category : Other Costs
 Other specific costs:
 Linked to the action or arise directly from requirements imposed by the
grant agreement
 Can not be included under the other direct cost categories and do not
belong to ‘indirect costs’ (e.g. mailing costs, office materials etc)
 Examples:
 Charges for financial guarantees, when applicable
 Bank charges for co-ordinator (unless included in indirect costs)
 Subscription fees to conferences or events (if reasonable/necessary)
 Travel costs for persons other than staff or subcontractors
 Miscellaneous costs of organising an event or training courses
 Dissemination of information, reproduction of documents
 Costs of audit certificates, when applicable (Article I.5.3 of the Grant
Agreement)
 Dinner costs related to project meetings (nr of meals eligible for
reimbursement is limited to 2 times the nr of beneficiaries in the
consortium, and max. 40€ per person)
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Cost Category : Indirect costs
Simplification
60 % Flat rate model
 No need to be substantiated by accounting documents
 Automatically computed as 60% of the total direct staff costs
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Contents
 Contractual / financial topics – key elements
 Suggestions - Do’s and don’ts on financial / contractual /
project management issues
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Working with other projects (1)
 When submitting your proposal, you identified other projects
dealing with similar issues. Still others are starting their
activities now. Please ensure that you keep in contact with
them and exploit potential synergies (e.g. by organising
common events when possible/useful).
 Check the projects described on our website and contact the
coordinators to exchange experiences and work together:
http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/projects/index_en.htm
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Working with other projects (2): IEE projects on
biofuels
Local supply
Supply - chains:
horizontal Biodienet,
issues: Biofuel Biodiesel
Marketplace, Chains, Bio-
Carbon Nett, Probio,
Labelling, Biomotion,
Magalog, Pro- Bionic
Biodiesel,
Refuel, Elobio
Vehicles and 17 projects
NB: other fuels demand:
projects on Compro, total EU
green vehicles Procura, Star contribution:
under STEER! Bus, Sugre, 11 mln €
Madegascar
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Communication and Dissemination
Communication is key to Intelligent Energy
 right from the project start
 audience driven:
 what is in it for me?
 Pro-active:
 emphasis on marketing
 targeted and focussed
 clear and simple
 And….don’t forget the IEE logo & disclaimer rules
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Your project website
 an important „business card“ of the project
 Should be up-to-date and attractive for your target groups
 Should not be a pure management tool for project team
 All public deliverables should be available for downloading as
soon as they are completed.
 They should be presented in a way that is attractive to the target
group: clear titles and description, not only “deliverable n. x” or
“work package n. y”
Check out the website tips in the \"Implementing your project\" corner
on our website!
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Impact / Performance indicators
Project objectives Strategy Action
 Take your performance indicators seriously: they are an
important tool for you to assess the results of your activities,
and for the EACI to monitor the impacts of projects on the
market.
 Record and show impacts of your project
 Install appropriate monitoring system from beginning of the
project - make efforts to quantify your results and impacts
 Provide valid reasons if indicators are not achieved
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Frequent mistakes - Management
 Underestimation of effort to kick-off a multi-national project
(risks delay from beginning)
 Lack of interaction at meetings (too much presentations,
presentations, presentations)
 Outdated website and/or overambitious website which remains
empty in many sections.
 Websites which are not user friendly but are used more as
management tool
 Poor final events – low participation
 Lack of effort to draw conclusions at the end of the project
(European added value)
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Frequent mistakes - Reporting
 Re-use of material – you are encouraged to use existing
material but respect two conditions:
 Quote the references in a professional manner
 Do not charge again to the project
 Badly documented activities, e.g. communication & promotion
– not able to substantiate the hours claimed, may result in
reduction of accepted hours/costs. Keep track of your contacts
with stakeholders and market actors (date, meeting agenda,
minutes, further contacts…)
 Publishable final report missing or not attractive
 Late delivery to EACI due to delayed delivery of inputs from
partners – discipline from partners is needed
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Frequent mistakes – Financial issues
 Time sheets do not reconcile the full working time of a person
 Hourly rates in Contract Preparation Forms (CPF) are assumed
to be agreed rates but are only estimates (see staff costs)
 Unjustified increase of hours to match budget when actual
staff costs are lower than indicated in CPFs
 Financial statements from organisations outside the EURO
zone are presented in EUR instead of national currency
 Reporting period is wrongly referenced on financial statement
 Copies of invoices are missing when submitting financial
statement
 Reference to the project on invoices of subcontracts is missing
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Tips (Do‘s!)
 Read the contract. Take your contract / work programme seriously and
follow them carefully.
 Keep regular contact with your Project Officer. Inform your Project
Officer well in advance about project meetings
 Always put the Financial officer in copy when the issue at stake has
contractual or financial implications
 Ask, if you are not sure
 Flag problems as soon as possible: partners should inform the
coordinator, and the coordinator should inform EACI as soon as
possible about: potential problems and bottlenecks, deviations from
the work plan, financial issues, etc.
 We also like to receive good news, so please feel free to contact your
PO to inform him/her of positive outcomes, achievements you are
proud of, news to spread etc. (during and after the end of the project)
and last but not least
Enjoy the common learning and exchange across Europe!
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Thank you for your attention