1. ESSnet Culture Statistics KO Meeting P. Jacques
ESSnet KO Culture

2. A network of several ESS organisations aimed at providing results that will be beneficial to the whole ESS
ESSnet criteria
Several partners. Results to non-participating countries
Issues of European interest
Compatible with the 5 Year Programme
Cost-effective (avoid duplication)
Knowledge sharing, innovation, harmonisation
Sustainability
ESS organisations mainly involved
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ESSnet KO Culture 2

3. Methodological activities.
ESSnet objectives
Methodological activities.
development of tools for a specific phase of statistical production
drafting of guidelines
establishment of standards
improving data quality
testing new methods of gathering or producing information
Etc..
Provided that there is substantial methodological and development work
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ESSnet KO Culture 3

4. General implementation
Duration: 2 years – Starting 1/9/09
Total cost: ,57 – Funding (90%)
Organisation
Ministry of culture (LU)
Ministry of culture and communication (FR)
Czech Statistical Office (CZ)
Statistics Estonia (ES)
Ministry of education, culture and science (NL)
Timing of tasks (Gantt chart) ??
Tasks/Work Packages (How the work is split and results)
Management (Project, relation with Eurostat)
Dissemination towards the ESS (How are results transferred?)
Adequacy to specific ESSnet criteria 5, 6 and 7
Contribution to knowledge sharing, innovation and harmonisation and plans for the use and dissemination to the ESS (What is the added value for the ESS)
Sustainability (What happens next?)
ESS partnership (Sub-contracts?)
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ESSnet KO Culture 4

5. WP Management (Project, relation with Eurostat)
The management task should include sub-tasks linked to the organisation and coordination of the partners:
organisation of the meetings;
producing contractual deliverables;
monitoring the different tasks;
identification of problems and ways to overcome them;
gathering cost statements;
transmission of deliverables;
continuous contacts with Eurostat;
quality assurance/risk management;
governance: steering group, user groups, etc.
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ESSnet KO Culture 5

6. WP Dissemination towards the ESS (How are results transferred?)
Disseminate and exploitation of results in interest of the ESS.
Training activities for the participants and the ESS should be planned directly related to the action.
Examples of dissemination task
Publications (books and articles in journals, policy briefs)
Presentations to committees (ESSC, DIME, etc.)
Participation and organisation of conferences, workshops
Luxembourg (Nov July 2011)
Handbooks or manuals for implementation
Guidelines, training, wiki…
Project website ?? linked to ESTAT portal and ESTAT wiki
Support to other projects
Development of tools made available as open source
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ESSnet KO Culture 6

7. Follow-up of ESSnets
Depending on the importance and duration of the project
Steering group:
Eurostat staff members from the interested units + one member of the ESSnet (preferably the coordinator) at least one member of the ESS not participating in the project (+ eventually, external experts)
For continuous monitoring + mid-term and final evaluation.
To assure knowledge transfer and dissemination
A responsible staff member from Eurostat unit in charge to be designated for follow-up and good execution of the project.
Continuous information and involvement of the network of methodologists for validation/support/advice and transfer of results to other domains/areas.
Report to Directors Group, and ESSC on proposals retained, agreements signed and results (preliminary/final)
Final review
Quarterly, mid-term and final reports plus key deliverables.
Intermediate (31/8/ template available) and final report (draft)
Quarterly reports ?? (template)
Cost statement
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ESSnet KO Culture 7

8. Role of the coordinator (1)
There is only one coordinator
The coordinator has full responsibility to
ensure that the project is implemented according to the grant agreement.
the technical and financial management of the action, except where specifically stated otherwise in the grant agreement;
All communication between the co-partners and the awarding authority is done through the coordinator.
Be responsible for supplying all documents and information to the Commission which may be required under the agreement, in particular in relation to the requests for payment.
The co-ordinator shall not delegate any part of this task to the co-beneficiaries or to any other party
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ESSnet KO Culture 8

9. Role of the coordinator (2)
The coordinator shall
inform the co-partners of any event which could be affect the implementation of the action;
inform the awarding authority of transfers between items of eligible costs;
establish the payment requests on behalf of the partners, detailing the exact share and amount assigned to each partner;
ensure that all the appropriate payments are made to the co-partners without unjustified delay
shall inform the awarding authority of the distribution of the EU financial contribution among co-partners and of the date of transfer of funds to its associates
The coordinator is responsible, in the event of audits, checks or evaluations, for providing all the necessary documents, including the accounts of the co-partners, originals or certified copies of the original accounting documents and certified and signed copies of sub-contracts.
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ESSnet KO Culture 9

10. Role of co-partner/co-beneficiaries
The co-partners shall
participate in the project to which they contribute financially;
shall agree upon appropriate arrangements between themselves for the proper performance of the action.
The partners are encouraged to conclude an internal co-operation agreement regarding their internal operation, financial responsibilities and co-ordination.
forward to the co-ordinator the data needed to draw up the reports, financial statements and other documents provided for in the agreement including its annexes;
ensure that all information is provided to the awarding authorities via the co-ordinator, except where the agreement specifically stipulates otherwise;
inform the co-ordinator immediately of any event liable to substantially affect or delay the implementation of the action;
inform the co-ordinator of transfers between items of eligible costs;
provide the co-ordinator with all the necessary documents in the event of audits, checks or evaluations.
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ESSnet KO Culture 10

11. Eligible Costs Criteria
incurred during the duration of the action, with the exception of costs relating to final reports and certificates on the action’s financial statements and underlying accounts
connected with the subject of the grant agreement and they are indicated in the estimated overall budget of the action;
necessary for the performance of the action covered by the agreement;
identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the partner and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the partner is established and according to the usual cost-accounting practices of the partner;
Ex: Costs of meetings in Prague must be paid by Lux partner
Id. for subcontractor CZ
comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;
are reasonable, justified, and comply with the requirements of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency
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ESSnet KO Culture

12. Eligible costs categories (1)
staff assigned to the action
permanent or temporary staff employed by the partners
provided that this does not exceed the average rates corresponding to the partner's usual policy on remuneration
An effective time-recording system (a system which certifies the reality of the hours worked) is a requisite for the eligibility of the costs - Working time to be charged must be recorded throughout the duration of the action (contemporary registration needed) by any reasonable means (e.g. timesheets).
indication of number of working days per year
Number of days in the year 365
Weekends
Annual holidays -25
Legal holidays
Illness/other
Workable days in a year 210
the salary costs of personnel of national administrations are eligible to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned were not undertaken
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ESSnet KO Culture

13. Eligible costs categories (2)
Travel and subsistence costs
directly linked to the project
clearly identifiable and pertaining to the implementation of the action
based on the real costs incurred
Travels outside EU should have prior agreement of the Commission unless refered to in the technical proposal
In case the partner has no usual practices on travel costs, the travel and subsistence allowances for staff taking part in the action shall not exceed the scales approved annually by the Commission
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ESSnet KO Culture

14. Eligible costs categories (3)
Purchase cost of equipment
Only the portion of the equipment's depreciation corresponding to the duration of the action and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action may be taken into account by the Commission.
Partners shall inform the Commission about their internal rules on depreciation of equipment
partner must detail in the "application form" the price of purchasing of the equipment, the rule of depreciation and the rate of actual use for the purposes of the action
equipment expenses = (A / B) x C x D
A = duration in months during which the equipment has been used within the framework of the project
B = depreciation period
C = real cost of the material excluding VAT
D = percentage of use of the equipment on the project
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ESSnet KO Culture

15. Eligible costs categories (4)
Costs of consumables and supplies
provided that they are identifiable and assigned to the action
cost of consumables and supplies supported by the co-ordinator for to the management of the project or dissemination costs are eligible if they can be identified
Costs entailed by other implementation contracts
costs of subcontracting or provision of services as part of the action (consultancy fees, provision of external staff, hire of material or specific equipment, production of documents, studies, etc.).
Core elements of the project cannot be subcontracted
The partner must, at least, be in a position to demonstrate that he has chosen the subcontractor offering the best value for money in compliance with the principles of transparency and equal treatment of potential contractors and taking care to avoid any conflict of interests . National public bodies have to follow their national public procurement rules
Extensive explanations are necessary when the value of the subcontract exceeds 20% of the total estimated value of the action (in 2010: value per partner!)
external experts or consultants who work on the action and are fully paid by the partner on the basis of an invoice shall be considered as a subcontracting cost
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ESSnet KO Culture

16. Eligible costs categories (5)
Any other direct costs
dissemination of information, specific evaluation of the action, audits, translations, reproduction, cost of events organised by partners in the context of the action
costs for participation of National Statistical Institutes not participating in the ESSnet project to conferences or training events organised by the ESSnet partners and costs for participation to events organised by third parties, etc.) subject to the prior written approval of the Commission
specific costs incurred by the co-ordinator for fulfilling his responsibilities in his capacity of body responsible for the overall management of the action and the coordination of the co-partners
Costs relating to the preparation of final technical and financial reports and costs relating to audit certificates but not later then the date required for submitting the final report as determined in the grant agreement
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ESSnet KO Culture

17. Commission grant
Maximum amount of any grant is the total amount of actual eligible costs
Co-financing is obligatory
Co-financing is 10%
The minimum requirement co-financing applies only at the project level. Similarly, the budget must be balanced at the project level, not at the level of each individual partner.
Estimate of costs and income
All costs must be given in euro and should exclude value-added tax (VAT), unless the applicant can show that he is unable to recover it according to the applicable national legislation
The pro rata rule requires that, where actual allowable expenditure is less than the estimate of action costs, the Commission grant will be limited to the percentage indicated in the agreement.
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ESSnet KO Culture

18. Payments Pre-financing Final Payment
Will not normally be made for Community contributions of less than EUR 100 000.
where applicable, 40% of the amount of the grant awarded.
Automatic after signature of the contract.
Final Payment
A copy of the final situation of the income and expenditure for the action, certified as being true and correct by a duly authorised representative of the co-ordinator, is to be submitted within the deadline laid down in the agreement (normally 45 days).
Actual expenditure and income shown in the financial statements in national currency are converted into Euros at the exchange rate established by the Commission and published in the Official Journal of the European Union applicable on the first working day of the month following the end of the action
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ESSnet KO Culture

19. ESTAT-B2 Facilitation Function
Phases
Tasks
Information/ awareness raising/ promotion
Helpdesk
Coordination
Reporting
PREPARATION
Preparation of ESSnet
Programme
Promotion in WGs
Promotional material
ESS Website (Insite)
Eurostat website
Internal awareness sessions
Meetings with internal sectoral responsibles
Advice on eligible ESSnet projects
Collection of proposals from statistical domains
Organising of internal ESSnet group
Preparation of ESSnet plan in Yearly WP
Preparation of report to ESSC in May n-1
Written consultation with WG programming and coordination
Prepare ESSnet and evaluate proposals
ESSnet manual of procedure
Helpdesk for proposals
Report on proposals finally retained and agreements signed
Survey of implementation one year after finalisation of project
IMPLEMENTATION
Execution of projects
Technical and financial helpdesk
Support to the project steering group
Early warning on incidence in execution
Evaluation of results
Discussion with Network of Methodologists
Report on ESSnet achievements
Dissemination of results
ESSnet Website
Specific external awareness sessions
Provide support for sectoral promotional actions
Set up of user groups when needed.
Report on dissemination of ESSnet results
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ESSnet KO Culture

20.
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ESSnet KO Culture