RES-H Policy Project administration, contractual and financial issues 1. Project Meeting Freiburg, 21 October 2008 Veit Bürger (v.buerger@oeko.de) Liv Becker (l.becker@oeko.de)
Project administration - overview Contract, mandates, start of work Communication Reports and deliverables
Contract, mandates, start of work Contract was signed in September 2008 (Project starting: 1 Oct 2008, duration 30 months) Start of work in Oct 2008 With submission of the mandates all partners are bound to the contract – please read the contract carefully! Any proposal for contract amendments must be submittedvia Oeko to the EACI in good time before it is due to take effect and in any case one month before the closing date of the action (change of address, budget transfers,…)
Communication (1/3) Email-distribution list: res-h-policy@oeko.de contains all project partners list administrated by Liv please take this address for emails to the whole team and keep Liv informed about changes in your staff Responsibilities: Every work package has a WP-leader who is responsible for process and outcomes of respective WP, Oeko as project coordinator is responsible for success of the whole project
Communication (2/3) Communication with EACI: Communication between beneficiaries and EACI should be first addressed to Oeko as project coordination. Oeko is the main communication point Contacts at EACI: EACI technical officer: Silvia Vivarelli EACI financial officer: Sonja Lenotte
Communication (3/3) In total 6 project meetings Budget for project meetings is allocated to WP1, WP2, WP3, WP4, WP5 and WP6 and should therefore be hosted by the respective WP-leaders Proposed dates and suggestion for venues: 21/23 Oct 2008 (Freiburg), 02/2009 (Exeter/London), 06/2009 (Vienna), 11/2009 (Warsaw), 05-06/2010 (Kaunas), 10/2010 (Athens) Next project meeting, first meeting of Advisory Committee: to be agreed today all others: www.doodle.ch
Reports (1/4) Publishing All publications (incl. invitations workshops, website) shall indicate that the project has received funding by the EU: Most deliverables will be published as pdf-files (project website: www.res-h-policy.org, res-h-policy.eu) WP-deliverables Every WP includes reports and documents as outcomes of the work in the respective WP Oeko will circulate a template for the WP-reports Supported by
Reports (2/4) - Deliverables Comprehensive list of deliverables (please see the list of deliverables at the end of each WP-description and the overview on p. 42-46 in Annex I) Type of deliverable could be Publication (working paper/report/article/slides) event (conference/workshop) website etc. Public deliverables must be made available for download via the project website Several deliverables must be produced in English and national language (budget for translation)
Reports (3/4) - Administrative reports Three types of reports have to be submitted to the EACI: One technical progress report Interim technical implementation report with interim financial statement Final technical implementation report with final financial statement For details see Grant Agreement p. 6 and Annex III EACI will provide report templates (Final report has no template because it has to be a publishable result-orientated report)
Reports - Administrative reports (4/4) Reports schedule Technical progress report Reporting period 10/2008-06/2009 Due within July 2009 Interim technical implementation report Reporting period 10/2008 to 03/2010 Due within April 2010 Final technical implementation report Reporting period 10/2008 to 03/2011 (30 months project duration) Due within May 2011 Summary slides and project fact sheet due by 17 October 2008
Financial issues- overview General requirements Co-Financing Payments Financial statements Subcontracts
General requirements All partners must have daily records of all hours spent via time sheets EACI provides a timesheet template which can be used (http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/implementation/financial_en.htm) Important: Timesheets must account for all time worked by an employee not only the time worked on RES-H Policy all hours must be allocated to WP VAT is not eligible, except the beneficiary provides a declaration from the relevant national tax authorities that it is not recoverable Exchange rate: All statements to be submitted in home currency
Co-Financing EU financial contribution: max. 75% of the eligible costs (based on a flat rate indirect cost rate of 60%) Each partner needs to cover the missing budget by co-financing (either from external or internal sources) All partners have guaranteed to cover missing budget from own resources in case no third party co-financing will be found (see P. 48/49 of Annex I) What is the current status of your co-financing?
Payments (1/2) First Pre-Financing all beneficiaries receive a first pre-financing 45 days after signing the contract; it is an equivalent to 30% of the EU contribution to the budget of each partner none of the partners is required to submit a bank guarantee Second Pre-Financing is due after the approval of the interim report and interim financial statements (provided that 100% of the first pre-financing has been used up) expected in summer 2010 The aggregate amount of the first two payments shall represent 60% of the maximum amount of the whole project budget
Payments (2/2) Payment of the Balance the final payment represents the balance of payments to the whole amount of the EU contribution it is due after the approval of the final report and final financial statements expected in summer 2011 For further specifications concerning the payment arrangments see Grant Agreement article I.5 (p. 5/6)
Financial statements Each beneficiary has to provide an interim and a final financial statement. Due with the interim report (month 19) and final report (month 32) Financial statements should present the eligible costs actually incurred, following the structure of the estimated budget Form see Annex III p. 2 and (http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/implementation/financial_en.htm) Visiting the EACI-website: RES-H Policy is a ‘Type1’-project; call 2006; project no.: IEE/07/692/…. No external audit report required Detailed information will follow in time
Subcontracts Notice Article II.9 – Award of contracts “If the beneficiary have to conclude contracts …, they shall award the contract to the bid offering the best value for money; in doing so they shall take care to avoid any conflict of interest.” When awarding sub-contracts (e.g. for translations) please make sure to meet the formal requirements
Finally… Please check Financial Guidelines provided by the EACI (http://ec.europa.eu/energy/intelligent/implementation/doc/iee2_financial_guidelines.pdf) All partners should clarify with their financial departments how all administrative requirements could be met within the deadlines Oeko as project coordinator always tries to communicate all formal/administrative/financial requirements clear and in time. For any questions and comments please do not hesitate to contact: Project Assistant Liv Becker (l.becker@oeko.de) Project coordinator Veit Bürger (v.buerger@oeko.de)