Amr Radwan Egypt RDIN focal point Negotiation phase Amr Radwan Egypt RDIN focal point

Important Terminology Your research plan is called "proposal" when it is not yet decided if it will be funded or not. It becomes "project" only after the signature of the contract. During the Negotiation phase, Part B of your proposal (the scientific part) is called "Description of Work". When the contract is signed, the Part B (scientific) is called "Annex I" to the contract or "Technical Annex". grant (contract) forms (the GPF – Grant Preparation Form). Consortium agreement (About 4 – 8 weeks. It is usually done in parallel with the completion of the GPF and the Description of Work) Grant Agreement Competitive Call

Important Terminology…..ESR “Your proposal was evaluated against the criteria published for the call. The attached evaluation summary report (ESR) records the views of the expert evaluators and the scores that your proposal achieved”. Common Examples of Poor comments This proposal fails to advance the state of the art in X or Y, it does not take Z into account The resources in Workpackages 4 and 6 are seriously underestimated given the complexity of the activity involved The consortium management plan is inadequate. It does not include clear overall responsibility for the demonstration activities; it omits a problem-solving mechanism in the event of disputes between partners Dissemination activities are not adequately discussed… The consortium lacks a sufficient SME participation… The proposal coordinator does not demonstrate in the proposal an adequate level of experience of work in this field Examples of Good Comments This proposal is good overall on this criterion. Its strengths are A, B and C. Its main weakness is D” Score 4 Success Rate: Agriculture, Fisheries and Biotechnology 14,7% (FP6: 16,4%) 838 Proposals have been submitted & evaluated, 123 have been funded

Who can take part at the negotiation meeting ? From the proposal's side: - the Coordinator of the proposal (mandatory); - colleagues, assistants of the Coordinator (not mandatory; only if the Coordinator wants to be assisted during the meeting by some of his colleagues, and the Project Officer accepts to meet them all). The Coordinator can be assisted during the negotiation meeting by some of the partners in the consortium and/or by officers in the central administration of his own institution (for instance, financial officer). From the Commission's side: - the Project Officer in charge with the project (mandatory); - a second Project Officer (not mandatory); - a legal and / or financial officer from the Commission (not mandatory); - external experts, possibly including those involved during the evaluation phase (not mandatory). Where the negotiation meeting takes place ? The Negotiation meeting always takes place in Brussels, at a time agreed in principle between the Project Officer and the Coordinator. Who pays for the travel to the negotiation meeting ? The participants to the meeting (Coordinator, etc) pay the costs of their travel, accommodation, daily allowance, etc. These costs will not be reimbursed by the Commission or by the EC grant requested by the proposal. If there are not too many changes required for your proposal, the Project Officer may agree with you, the Coordinator, not to organize a negotiation meeting at all.

Proposal Time Scale Proposal 3M Evaluation 6M Negotiation 3-5M Contract 12-48M Project Duration ~12M Final Payment max 5Y Audit The proposal evaluation lasts a day, but to due to the total number of proposals and the internal EC procedures, the final decision may take up to 6 months.

Time-frame, from our experience Call deadline 12- 01-2009 Official letter with evaluation result: 30-03-2009 not indicating any ranking! Official letter with negotiation invitation: 10-05-2009 Email with password to NEF-system: 10-05-2009 Deadline set for legal info filled out online: 20-05-2009 Deadline set for GPF submitted online: 15-07-2009 Deadline set for negotiation to be finished: 15-08-2009

Invitation to Negotiations Following the positive evaluation of a proposal and the decision of Commission’s maximum financial contribution, the coordinator is invited by letter to commence negotiations The invitation is accompanied by the “independent experts” advice: Evaluation Summary Report; and (if applicable) an Ethical Review Report Negotiation Mandate: This document is the guide for the expected changes The name and contact details of the Commission’s Project Officer(s) which will be indicated The letter of invitation shall also indicate the deadlines for the submission of the first draft of ANNEX 1 and for the conclusion of the negotiations The negotiation process comprises of 2 distinct procedures The Legal and Financial Negotiations The Technical Negotiations !

Negotiation Process (1) Step 1: Results of the Evaluation The coordinator receives the Evaluation Summary Report containing the comments of the evaluators and a list of recommendations for negotiation Step 2: Invitation to negotiate – Negotiation Mandate 1-2 months after the evaluation the project officer invites the coordinator for negotiations Step 3: First round of negotiations Based on the Negotiation Mandate the coordinator proceeds with amendments related to the technical and financial aspects of the project Step 4: Second round of negotiations Creation of the GPFs by the commission and the coordinator Step 5: Contract Awarded The Coordinator downloads the final version of the grant agreement and finalises it (signs it) along with the other beneficiaries

Negotiation Process (2) 1st round 2nd round Technical Negotiations Update of Annex 1 (DoW) Validation of new Annex 1 Signature of Grant Agreement Negotiation Meeting Negotiation Meeting Consortium Agreement NEF Financial & Legal Negotiations Validation of Legal Status Budget The Technical Negotiations take place with the Scientific Project Officer through emails and phone calls. The Legal Negotiations take place with the Legal & Financial officer mainly using the NEF tool. A signed consortium agreement is mandatory before the signature of the GA, unless specifically excluded by the terms of the call for proposals (e.g. INCO)

Legal & Financial Negotiations Legal negotiations include the analysis and review of the legal status of the applicants and the final composition of the consortium Financial Negotiations focus mainly on budgetary matters(Total Budget for full duration of project, Breakdown, Subcontracting, pre finance, Timing ) During this part :it was agreed on total costs, eligible costs, max contribution, methodology to calculate, budget breakdown table, prefinancing 160% of average funding period, , start data and duration, any planned competitive calls, report timing, subcontracting Both Legal and Financial negotiations are performed by the LEAR: Every organisation appoints a so-called LEAR – Legal Entity Appointed Representative who is the correspondent towards the Commission on all issues related to the legal status of the entity, providing up-to-date legal and financial data (including supporting documents, where necessary) and commits to maintain the information up-to-date, enabling future use for grants between the entity and the Commission research (and other) programmes.

Legal Negotiations The main aspects to be resolved during this session are: Issues Coordinator Project Officer Change of Coordinator/partner Request a written approval by all the beneficiaries Approve and validate the requested changes Change of the Legal Status of a partner Communicate to the LEAR the changes that need to be done Verification and Validation by the Central Validation Team. Coordinator assessment Demonstrate management skills, capabilities & experience. Approval of coordinator Method for calculation of indirect cost Check with partners and if wrong inform LEAR and Validation Unit Validation Consortium Agreement (CA) Prepare and conclude the CA Checking that a CA is in place Start Date/duration, Timing of Reporting periods Negotiate start date Reach an agreement Inclusion of special clauses Agree on the inclusion of special terms (e.g. on ethical issues) Partner Signatures Collect signatures on A2 forms & Signature of GA (initials on every page) Validation of A2 forms& preparation of GA

Grant Agreement Preparation Forms GPFs The Grant Agreement Preparation Forms (GPFs) (similar to the proposal A2 forms) help identify the beneficiaries who will sign the Grant Agreement and to determine the eligible costs and EC contribution The GPFs are available in electronic format through an online tool, called NEF, and should be completed by the coordinators on behalf of all applicants (this is not applicable for the Legal Status and the Organisational Status which are performed by the LEAR and the Validation Unit).

Grant Preparation Forms (GPF) - overview A1 – Project summary A2.1 – Who we are: Legal name, PIC, address, contact for legal info A2.2 – Who we are: type of organisation A2.3 – Authorised representatives A2.4 – How to contact us A2.5 – Our commitment A2.6 – Data protection & coordination role A3.1 – What it costs - Budget per partner A3.2 – What it costs - Overall budget A4 – Bank account: details of coordinating institution A5 – Reporting periods: Budget per reporting period Coordinator All partners Coordinator All partners Automatic Coordinator Coordinator

NEF process

NEF process

NEF process

Points to be taken into considerations Time Pressure- Lack of urgency EC may neggotiate thousand of contracts at the same time and a Project Officer (PO) may be in charge of up to thirty contracts. During this time the PO, is under considerable pressure and sets strict deadlines One of the most important task of the coordinator is to create a sense of urgency through two different ways: Deadline setting Be specific and clear with well documented requests Dissatisfied Partners Partners may complain about the lack of communication during the negotiation phase Every time a significant change is performed send an email to all partners

Best practices for partners Check the different versions of Annex I thoroughly and make sure that your share of work and budget share are correct Submit any requested information and documentation to the coordinator within the specified time-frame and in good quality Make sure that your role in the consortium is clear and adequate – if not, clarify with the coordinator and other partners concerned Set up an internal budget plan covering the whole project period, possibly with the help of your finance department Make yourself familiar with the rules of participation – ask the coordinator for help/advice, if anything is unclear

Final report on distribution of community financial contribution Good to go! Final report on distribution of community financial contribution GA into force Prefinancing Periodic report I Periodic report II Final report 45d P1 P2 P3 60d 105d 60d 105d 60d 105d 30d Interim Payment Interim Payment Start date project End date project Final Payment Project duration + 2 years: Upon request, COM has to be informed about foreground of project Reporting and Payments: Timeline Project duration + 5 years: Financial, technical audits as well as ethics audits can be arranged by the COM Confidential information has to be kept confidential Data for review, impact assessments and evaluations can be requested by COM Page 28 28

I need help! Need Help? Coordinators and participants looking for technical help with NEF can ask the FP7 Help Desk by sending an e-mail to EC-FP7-IT-HELPDESK@ec.europa.eu.