Q 1 Partner identification support
A To identify partners, we recommend that you consult the dedicated page of the programme https://ro-ua.net/en/partner-search . Entities who want to find partners can register there and/or can be easily found by other potential partners.
Q 2 What is the list of documents that must accompany the application form at the time of submission?
A The list of documents to be submitted with the application has been simplified compared to previous programmes. However, a number of essential aspects related to the eligibility of the project, that are verified at this stage, remain. Among these, we mention those that demonstrate the competences of the partners in managing the project, the financial capacity, the rights to the land or the infrastructure on which the project will intervene. The complete list is presented in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, section 2.6.4 Supporting documents accompanying the Application Form.
Q 3 Do partners have to be from both countries?
A Yes, the mandatory partnership consists of at least one partner from the programme area of each country. Please refer to the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, section 2.2.1, section 2.2.1.1 and section 2.3.2.
Q 4 Should the documents accompanying the application form be submitted in the national language or in English?
A According to the guidelines, section 2.6.4:
The documents must be submitted in English. For some of the documents indicated at section 2.6.4 it should be provided also the document in national language, besides the English translation.
Q 5 When submitting the application form, is it mandatory to submit also the technical documentation (feasibility study, technical project etc) or they can be submitted later on?
A According to the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, section 2.6.4 Supporting documents accompanying the Application Form, in the case of an infrastructure project (works), either Basic technical information of infrastructure and cost estimation (Template in Annex F), or Feasibility Study (main content presented in Annex E) or equivalent, if the latter are available, can be submitted.
At the same time, in order to correlate the information, we recommend that you go through section 4.2.4 Additional documents to be submitted after contract signature from the Guidelines as well as Annex L Grant Contract, especially the section Other art. 4.16.
Q 6 Should all partners register in JEMS or only the Lead Partner?
A You have two options:
a. only the lead partner uploads the documents of all partners in JEMS;
b. each partner uploads its own documents. Everyone has their own account, but the lead partner sets their rights for the account (possibility of editing – respectively uploading, deleting, etc.; only possibility of viewing – the partner can see, cannot change anything).
For clarification regarding the IT system, please also access the Jems Manual developed by Interact: https://jems.interact-eu.net/manual/
Q 7 How can we determine the eligibility of an applicant organization?
A Please see section 2.2. Lead partner and partners. Eligibility requirements, as well as section 2.6.4 Supporting documents accompanying the Application Form, letter k). Also, in order to have a clear picture of the criteria underlying the evaluation, you can consult the evaluation grids, annexes K1, K2 and K3.
Q 8 How can we determine the eligibility of certain activities for the project?
A Please consult section 2.4 Project and activities. Eligibility requirements, with emphasis on sections 2.4.5 Project activities/ 2.4.6 Indicative eligible activities – for each specific Priority and Objective separately.
We recommend that you corroborate these provisions with Annex I Guidelines for indicators, as well as with the provisions of national legislation in the respective field. Please take into account that the activities should be corroborated also with the intervention fields corresponding to each specific objective. that can be found into the Programme document (https://ro-ua.net/en/programme/documents ).
Q 9 Are activities related to infrastructure for tertiary education eligible?
A Only infrastructure related to primary, secondary education, as well as infrastructure for vocational and training and adult learning are eligible. Please see bellow the intervention fields foreseen by the Programme document for the Specific Objective 2.1 concerning education:
122 Infrastructure for primary and secondary education
124 Infrastructure for vocational education and training and adult learning
145 Support for the development of digital skills
149 Support for primary to secondary education (excluding infrastructure)
150 Support for tertiary education (excluding infrastructure)
151 Support for adult education (excluding infrastructure)
Q 10 Please clarify the calculation method for Indicators RCO 67 and RCR 71.
A RCO 67 Classroom capacity refers to the maximum number of seats or places in the educational facility, (taking into account the national legal framework concerning the educational units).
RCR 71 Annual users – refers to unique annual users. There are various situations here. A first example can be that of a school/high school classroom. When the students learn in one shift during the whole year, the number of annual users/unique users may be equal than the number of seats in the classroom. In this case, values of RCR 71 and RCO 67 might be equal.
If the students are learning in two shifts (morning class and afternoon class), using the same classroom, then the annual users/unique number of students will be equal with the total number of the students learning in the two shifts in the concerned classroom.
In case of a laboratory/library/gym, etc., used by all or part of the students of the respective facility, the number of annual users is equal to the actual number of students from grades 0-8 or 9-12 who take courses during a year in the respective laboratory/gym, or are enrolled to the library etc. Each time we are talking about unique users. That is, a student is counted only once, even if he enters the laboratory/gym/canteen/library, etc. twice a week or more often, respectively.
Q 11 Expenditure incurred before the submission of the application is eligible?
A To be eligible, costs must be incurred during the project implementation period. However, according to chapter 2.5. letter j), the costs regarding studies and documentation related to the infrastructure component, such as the Feasibility Study or equivalent, the Environmental Impact Assessment, the technical project, the building permit and other technical documents may be incurred before the project implementation period, starting from January 1, 2021; all the requirements mentioned in points b) to i) of chapter 2.5, remain still valid. For reimbursement to be possible, all other eligibility criteria must be met.
Q12 Can the project team be budgeted in line 1 Staff costs and in line 4 External expertise and services?
A Costs with the project team represent simplified costs (flat rate). The estimation of costs for the project team is carried out taking into account the fact that staff costs represent the gross employment costs of staff. The expenses that shall be considered when estimating the budgetary allocation for this line are limited to the following:
(a)salary payments related to the activities which the entity would not carry out if the operation concerned was not undertaken, provided for in an employment document, either in the form of an employment or work contract or an appointment decision, or by law, and relating to responsibilities specified in the job description of the staff member concerned;
(b) any other costs directly linked to salary payments incurred and paid by the employer, such as employment taxes and social security including pensions as covered by Regulation (EC) No 883/2004 of the European Parliament and of the Council(20), on condition that they are: provided for in an employment document or by law, in accordance with the legislation referred to in the employment document and with standard practices in the country or the organisation where the individual staff member is actually working, or both and not recoverable by the employer.
Payments to natural persons working for the Interreg partner under a contract other than an employment or work contract may be assimilated to salary payments and such a contract shall be considered to be an employment document.
However, if the project partners do not have adequate professionals to carry out certain tasks and/or project activities, external experts may be contracted, in compliance with public procurement rules mentioned in chapter 4.2.1, and the related costs will be included under budget line 4 "Expertise and external services".
Q 13 Are costs for technical documentation reimbursed as flat rates?
A No. The costs for the technical documentation will be included in the budget line 4 External expertise and services, which is part of the real costs category, and will be reimbursed following the verification of the related documentation (service procurement procedures, service contract, receipts proving payment, etc.) submitted together with the reimbursement request. The budget will include a maximum of 10% of the infrastructure costs as technical documentation costs, this being the maximum value considered eligible at the level of the programme.
Q 14 Are all beneficiaries required to participate in the co-financing of the project?
A Yes. Each partner will ensure a minimum of 10% of the eligible costs of its own activities.
Q 15 Do associated organisations have to sign the partnership agreement? Can their expenses be included in another partner's budget?
A No. Associated organisations do not have to sign the partnership agreement, but they have to be mentioned in the application form and they need to sign a cooperation agreement (an indicative template is provided on the website). Associated organizations are entities that do not receive funding from the programme but can play a role in the project (eg professional associations, Euroregions, other organizations that can support the project). Associated organizations do not have to meet the eligibility criteria and do not have to sign the Project Partner Statement and the Project Statement, they will not have their own budget and therefore will not receive funding.
Q 16 Can the national procurement procedures or PRAG be used before the grant contracts are signed?
A PRAG procedures are not used in this program.
Before and after the signing of the grant contracts, the Romanian partners that are Contracting authorities in the meaning of the law, will use the national legislation on public procurement.
Before and after signing the grant contracts, the partners from Ukraine as well as the Romanian entities that are not contracting authorities in the meaning of Romanian law, have to use the provisions of Annex P to the Guidelines for Grant Applicants, which is Annex II to the Financing Agreement between the European Commission, Ukraine and Romania.
Q 17 Is the value of budget line 1, Staff cost, fixed and represents 20% of direct costs? Is it distributed equally to all partners?
A The 20% value of budget line 1 Staff costs is the maximum allowed, representing a percentage of direct costs other than staff. Each partner establishes its own funding needs for this line, depending on the number of employees it has in the project staff, without exceeding the limit of 20% at the level of each partner.
Q18 If one partner is not ready to submit the reimbursement request report by the 4-month term of the contract, can the other partners submit the reports?
A Yes, under the conditions set out in Annex L Grant draft contract, to the Guidelines for Applicants, in Article 5 Obligation to present information and reports, in point 5.5:
“The reports shall be submitted not later than every 4 months of the implementation period, in maximum 45 days after the respective 4 months have elapsed. In case the Lead Partner does not receive from one or more Partners the individual payment request(s) accompanied by the corresponding control report(s), it may nevertheless submit the interim payment request provided that there is proper justification analyzed and approved ex-ante by the MA”.