Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 The Grant Contract Key Aspects of the Contract and some common misconceptions

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union A reminder of the characteristics of a ‘grant’ A payment of a non-commercial nature by the Contracting Authority to a specific beneficiary to implement an action intended to help achieve an objective forming part of a European Union policy But it is not a gift!!! Funds support activities of the beneficiary Funds cover only eligible incurred costs All the conditionality of the grant award is set out in the Grant Contract Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Thus, we need to have a clear understanding of the Grant Contract and of ‘PRAG’, the guidelines which determine the way in which EU funds are spent outside of the EU Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union What is PRAG ? The Practical Guidelines for contractual/procurement procedures involving EU funds for external assistance is commonly known as PRAG. PRAG guides how we can spend EU funds and how we need to be accountable, transparent & fair, and get the ‘best value’. Therefore, it’s a key tool in project implementation. The essential parts of PRAG that relate to procurement under grant contracts are often summarised in Grant Implementation Manuals Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Why PRAG can be a challenge for CSOs CSOs are not generally structured to manage Public Funds and often have weak capacity for managing finances The language of PRAG is not always easy to understand As PRAG offers ‘guidelines’ rather than ‘rules’, different stakeholders may interpret aspects of the guidelines in different ways BUT, these challenges must be overcome, otherwise CSOs may be in danger of not having all their grant-project costs recovered Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Parts of the Grant Contract Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Special Conditions Annex I :Description of the Action Annex II :General Conditions Annex III :Budget for the Action Annex IV :Contract-award Procedures Annex V:Standard Request for Payment, Financial Identification Form Annex VI :Template for Reports Annex VII:Expenditure Verification Report

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Annex I : Description of the Action Description of the action contains the description of the grant beneficiaries project. May need revisions on application form No major changes to the application Check translation

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Annex II : General Conditions General conditions specify the general obligations and financial provisions under the contract. Reporting Liability of Parties Visibility of Projects Ownership of the Equipments Evaluation/Monitoring Contract Ammendments Eligible costs Extension, Suspension, Termination of Projects Payment Methods And other legal issues

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Annex III : Budget Budget is a breakdown of all eligible project related costs. It is important to have a clear, and easy to understand budget attached to the contract as it directly impacts smooth implementation of the project. Estimate Only!!! Final disbursement will depend upon project outputs

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Annex IV: Contract Award Procedures Simplified procedures of service, works and supply tenders, for more information PRAG. Annex V: Standard Request for Payment and FIF BEST PRACTICE: Encourage grant beneficiary to submit this annex ASAP and manage this process efficiently Annex VI: Template for Reports Annex VII: Expenditure Verification

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Managing the Contract Managing the grant contract should be an integrated part of the overall project management Pay special attention to: Making any changes to the contract Procurement of any goods/services above 10,000 euros Keeping records & reporting Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Modifying the Contract Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010  Minor Changes Changes in activities or budget that do not affect the basic purpose of the project Transfer between budget headings involving a variation of 15% or less Changes of address or phone number Changes of bank account Change of project manager or key experts Changes to HR unit rates  Major Changes – Significant changes in activities affecting the basic purpose and indicators of the project – Transfer amongst budget headings outside the limits of minor modification (15%) – Addition of a new budget line or spending zero against a budget line – Change of Project partners – Extension of Contract – Changes in grant beneficiary status or name

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Making major changes to the contract should be handled carefully, and, if possible, avoided! Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Procurement All stakeholders engaged in an EU-funded project take on the responsibility of managing Public Funds. To help fulfil these responsibilities, the EC provides PRAG. Thus, Grant Beneficiaries MUST: Use the models published on the Commission’s web site, relating to external actions Ensure time-limits for receipt of tenders and requests to participate must be long enough to allow reasonable and appropriate period to prepare and submit tenders Allow requests to participate and tenders declared as satisfying the requirements to be evaluated and ranked by an Evaluation Committee Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Procurement: Be aware of what PRAG says about Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Rule of Origin Country of Origin Derogation Grounds for Exclusion Conflicts of Interest Retroactivity Fair competition

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Service ContractsSupply ContractsWorks Contracts Contracts of € or more International open tender procedure Contracts of € of more International open tender procedure Contracts of € or more International restricted tender procedure Contracts between € and € Local open tender procedure Contracts between € and € Local open tender procedure Contracts under € but more than € Framework contracts Competitive negotiated procedure (Beneficiary consults at least 3 service providers) Contracts under € but more than € Competitive negotiated procedure (Beneficiary consults at least 3 service providers) Contracts under € but more than € Competitive negotiated procedure (Beneficiary consults at least 3 contractors) Contracts with a value of € or less Single tender Contracts with a value of € or less Single tender Contracts with a value of € or less Single tender Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Good practice in Project Management is to draft a Procurement Plan along side the overall Project Work Plan and Budget Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Keeping Records & Reporting During the implementation period Grant Beneficiaries need to a)Manage their own internal monitoring and administration of the project b)Facilitate external monitoring of the project and provide obligatory reports to the Contracting Authority Thus, systems must be in place to ensure that there is compliance to the Contract and PRAG, And management of data to help show progress (or otherwise) towards the project’s objectives Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Below is a list of some of the questions that an external project monitor may want answers to: Were the correct procedures used for the tender value? Are the equipment/supplies there? Is it being used for the purpose it was intended? Do the serial numbers match the invoice? Is the EU being given appropriate visibility? What will happen at the end of the project? Check for a list of equipment. Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Keeping Records & Reporting

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 Keeping Records & Reporting Obligatory Technical Reports (Interim & Final) Information on progress of activities; Information on Project/Programme results; Information on programme/ project impact; Follows the structure of the reporting template. Description of Activities; If any modifications have occurred should be well documented and justified! Detailed description of projects achieved; Level of achievement of the project stated objectives; May include annexes.

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Keeping Records & Reporting: Obligatory Financial Reports (usually ‘Final’ only) Financial Reports include: Project costs In table format which are standardised; Copies of supporting documents are requested; Copies of Time-sheets. Checking of financial reports against the contract and the supporting documentation: Eligible expenditure Consistent with application Correct exchange rates being used Appropriate supporting documentation VAT is not included Significant deviance from planned expenditure Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010  For Human Resources Term of reference/job profile Timesheets Copies of the outputs Activities reports  For Travel Tickets (paper tickets and boarding passes) Any other proofs  For Trainings A detailed description of the training – training modules, training hours per subject, methods, etc. Training schedule List of participants /Attendance sheets List of trainers / lecturers Feed-back questionnaires Training evaluation report  For Surveys /studies Detailed description of the methodology Reports  For Publications – Copies of publications – Distribution lists  For Seminars, working meetings – Programme – List of presentations / conference reports – Handouts – List of participants – List of speakers – Minutes (if applicable) – Press clippings – Feed-back questionnaires (if applicable)  For Supplies/Works – Invitation to tender (all documentation) – All offers received – Tender Opening Report – Administrative Compliance Grid – Technical Evaluation Grid – Evaluation Report – Shipping bills Keeping Records & Reporting: Supporting Documents

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Monitoring-Evaluation-Audit Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010

Technical Assistance for Civil Society Organisations Regional Office This project is funded by the European Union Approaches to Monitoring & Evaluation Regional Training on 'Development & Management of EU-funded Projects', Istanbul March 2010 The Spectrum of Approaches TechnocraticPluralist Scientific approachMixed perspectives ObjectivityNon-neutral StandardisationNon-standard Judgemental / ManagerialFacilitates learning & further dialogue