According to the Annex H.1 Indicative list of potential Applicants and Partners (per Priority) to the Guidelines for grant applicants, the potential applicants and partners for the Priority 4.1 – Support to the development of health services and access to health are:

-National /regional/local public administration and other public institutions

-National/regional/local/ institutions acting in the field of health and social policies;

-NGOs, universities and research institutes;

-Professional medical and other relevant associations.

-Please note that the cross border impact of the project must also be demonstrated within the Application Form and is going to be evaluated during Step 2 (technical and financial evaluation).

-Moreover, the project must address the Programme expected result, and bring clear and feasible contribution to the achievement of Programme Result and (common) Outputs indicators.

-For the complete framework of the eligibility requirements, please consult the sections 2.2 Applicants and Partners. Eligibility requirements, 2.3 Partnerships. Eligibility requirements, 2.4 Projects and Activities. Eligibility requirements, 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements of the guidelines for applicants.

An entity located outside the Romanian core regions of the Programme, other than Bucharest, is allowed to participate in the calls for proposals, according to the Section 2.2.1.1 Flexibility rule of the Guidelines for grant applicants ONLY if the following conditions are met:

-they do act as Partners in the project, not as Applicants (lead beneficiaries)

-their participation is required by the nature and by the project objectives, and is necessary for its effective implementation;

-they meet all the eligibility requirements listed at points b) to j) in the Section 2.2.1 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners;

-only a total of 10% of the project budget may be spent outside the core regions of the Programme.

According to Section 2.2.1.1.Flexibility rule of the Guidelines for grant applicants (SOFT projects), the Programme allows organizations from Romania or Ukraine registered outside the core regions of the Programme, ONLY if the following conditions are met:

-they do act as Partners in the project, not as Applicants (lead beneficiaries);

-their participation is required by the nature and by the project objectives, and is necessary for its effective implementation;

-they meet all the eligibility requirements listed at points b) to j) in the Section 2.2.1 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners;

-only a total of 10% of the project budget may be spent outside the core regions of the Programme.

Moreover, please note that according to Section 2.4.4 of the Guidelines for grant applicants, projects may be partially implemented outside the core regions of the Programme in exceptional cases, provided that the following conditions met:

a.They are necessary for achieving the Programme objectives;

b.They are in the benefit of the core regions of the Programme.

Information regarding your request can be found in section 2.2.1. Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners of the Guidelines for grant applicants.

Paragraph h) x. states one of the eligibility criteria:

“Not to have an unpaid debt to the Managing Authority for any project financed under the RO-UA-MD ENPI-CBC Programme 2007-2013 at the date of contract signature. If the Managing Authority established debts (in the Debtors Ledger of the entity hosting the Managing Authority) for the Applicant and/or the Partners, the grant contract may be signed only if and after the situation of the debt is tackled.”

Therefore, organizations that have unpaid debts for any project financed under the RO-UA-MD ENPI-CBC Programme 2007-2013 established by the Managing Authority in its Debtors Ledger and decide to participate in the call for proposals must be fully aware of the risk of jeopardizing the entire partnership considering that in case the project is selected for financing, the grant contract shall not be signed if the situation of the debt is not tackled.

In order to can participate to the call the applicants and/or partners must be legal entities registered and located in the core regions of the Programme, namely in the Romanian counties of Suceava, Botosani, Satu Mare, Maramureș, Tulcea or the Ukrainian oblasts of Zakarpattia, Ivano-Frankivsk, Odessa, Chernivtsi,

In case the interested organisations are located outside the core regions above mentioned, they may only participate in projects as partners (not leaders) in the conditions set in section 2.2.1.1 Flexibility rule of the Guidelines for grant applicants (SOFT projects), as follows:

”The Programme allows organizations from Romania or Ukraine registered outside the core regions of the Programme, -ONLY if the following conditions are met:

-they do act as Partners in the project, not as Applicants (lead beneficiaries);

-their participation is required by the nature and by the project objectives, and is necessary for its effective implementation;

-they meet all the eligibility requirements listed at points b) to j) in the Section 2.2.1 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners;

-only a total of 10% of the project budget may be spent outside the core regions of the Programme. “

Moreover, please note that according to Section 2.4.4 of the Guidelines for grant applicants, projects may be partially implemented outside the core regions of the Programme in exceptional cases, provided that the following conditions met:

a.They are necessary for achieving the Programme objectives;

b.They are in the benefit of the core regions of the Programme.

Please note that projects must address one of the priorities of the call for proposals as detailed in section 1.4 Focus of the 1st Call for proposals.

Please be informed that, in the interest of equal treatment of all the Applicants, the Managing Authority, the Joint Technical Secretariat or the branch offices of Joint Technical Secretariat cannot give prior opinions on the eligibility of the applicant or its Partners, of the project or of the specific activities.

For the potential applicants that are interested in participating in the ENI CBC Programme “Romania-Ukraine” and want to find an eligible partener the KEEP database is available at the following address: https://www.keep.eu/keep/partner. Besides the organizations/ institutions with a certain experience in the ETC Programmes, that could be found by using the KEEP database, you may also contact other organizations/ institutions of different types as presented in Annex H1 to the Guidelines for applicants “Indicative list of potential beneficiaries”.

Irrespective the call for proposals (SOFT or HARD) or the priority a beneficiary applies to, all the eligibility requirements for the applicant and partners, as detailed at Section 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners, must be met. Attention should be paid to the legal entity status required.
On the programme web page, at Calls for proposals, Annex J.1 to the Guidelines for grant applicants Checklist for administrative and eligibility verification (Step 1) should be checked, in order to help one determine if an institution meets the eligibility requirements of the call. The answers must be “yes” to all the questions in the checklist.

Irrespective the call for proposals (SOFT or HARD) or the priority a beneficiary applies to, all the eligibility requirements for the applicant and partners, as detailed at Section 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners, must be met. Attention should be paid to the legal entity status required.
On the programme web page, at http://www.ro-ua.net/en/about-the-programme/calls-for-proposals.html, Annex J.1 to the Guidelines for grant applicants Checklist for administrative and eligibility verification (Step 1) should be checked, in order to help one determine if an institution meets the eligibility requirements of the call. The answers must be “yes” to all the questions in the checklist.

Information on programme indicators for each priority is available in Annex H.2 Programme indicators per priority to be found on the programme web page at http://www.ro-ua.net/en/about-the-programme/calls-for-proposals.html.

The project budget comprises the grant (to be provided from EU contribution) and the co-financing (to be provided by project partners from their own resources).
The Guidelines for grant applicants explain that:

• - the EU contribution (grant) for a project shall be of maximum 90% of the total eligible costs of the project;
  - the co-financing shall be of at least 10% of the total eligible costs of the project.

The minimum and maximum size of the grant for each call and for each priority can be found in the Guidelines for Grant Applicants (for HARD and SOFT projects) – Section 1.5 Financial allocations per priority.

Yes, according to section 2.1 Number of projects to be submitted of the Guidelines for Applicants for both Hard and Soft projects, “An organization may submit, as Applicant, only one project per Priority under the present Call for proposals (For the present Call for proposals, the same Applicant may submit no more than 3 projects, one for each Priority). No limitations are set for an organization to participate as Partner in several projects submitted under the present Call for proposals, provided the respective organization has the necessary operational and financial capacity to implement the selected projects.”

The Guidelines for Grant Applicants require, at section 2.6.6 (for hard projects) or section 2.6.5 (for soft projects) Supporting documents accompanying the Application Form to be submitted in Stage I that the "Profit and loss accounts, and the balance sheets or other relevant fiscal documents for the last year for which the accounts have been closed for the Applicant and each project Partner”.

It is recommended to consult the European database KEEP available at https://www.keep.eu/keep/partner which contains a wide array of organizations/institutions who already implemented cross-border cooperation projects. The Guidelines for grant applicants also provide an Indicative list of type of potential beneficiaries in Annex H1.

The Guidelines for grant applicants set all requirements regarding the participation in the calls for proposals. Information is available on the programme webpage at www.ro-ua.net 
Concerning the eligibility of the project partnership, check the Guidelines at Section 2.3.2 Eligibility requirements for the project partnership. Observe that:

• - A maximum of 4 partners (including the Applicant) participate in the project.
  - At least one partner in the project is registered in Romania and at least one partner is registered in Ukraine.
  - At least two out of the four cross-border cooperation criteria (see section 1.4.4 Cross border character of the projects), namely (3) Joint staffing and (4) Joint financing, are fulfilled by the partnership.
• Concerning other eligibility requirements, check sections 2.2 Applicants and Partners. Eligibility requirements, 2.3 Partnerships. Eligibility requirements, 2.4 Projects and Activities. Eligibility requirements, 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements of the guidelines.
  Note that the programme is looking for proposals that envisage clear cross border impact and support achievement of the programme’s expected results and outputs, fulfill clear quality criteria and demonstrate technical and financial viability.

Both calls for proposals have identical deadlines for submission as written in the Guidelines for HARD and SOFT projects at Section 2.6, respectively:

- May 3, 2018 (16:00 Romanian time) for the online submission of the project proposal;
- May 7, 2018 (16:00 Romanian time) for submitting the hard-copy version of the project proposals.

For HARD projects there is submission of the additional documents at a further stage of evaluation, as notified by the Project Selection Committee.
Check Guidelines for grant applicants at Section 2.6. How to apply and procedure to follow available on the programme webpage at http://www.ro-ua.net/en/about-the-programme/calls-for-proposals.html for more information.

There is no restriction set in the Guidelines for grant applicants regarding the eligibility of elaboration of technical documentation (e.g. Feasibility Study) as project activity.
Nevertheless, the applicant should pay attention that, in case a project foresees an infrastructure component of less than 1 M€ to be executed, the feasibility study must be provided within 6 months from the start date of implementation, but no later than submission of the interim payment request.
For more details, check section 4.2.1 Supplementary documents from the Guidelines for grant applicants, available at http://www.ro-ua.net/en/about-the-programme/calls-for-proposals.html.

- Budget template, Budget category 1, line 1.1 – Project team

• Is it allowed to add other lines to include more people forming the project team, according to the project application, besides the project manager and the financial manager (per each partner)? If the answer is no, where may they be included?

The budget template allows the applicant to add as many rows as he/she needs in order to include costs for the project teams.
There are no limitations with regard to the number of staff. A project manager and a financial manager are the minimum functions to be ensured by each partner with the purpose of project implementation, according to Section 1.4.4 Cross border character of the projects, point (3).

- Budget category 1, line 1.2 – Technical staff / specialists
Should they be employees of the applicant/partner or they could be persons that are part of the target group with important involvement in the project activities (transfer of knowledge / expertise useful to impact the cross-border collaboration)?
All the members of the project team, whether they are budgeted at chapter 1. Human Resources or not, must be employees of the applicant/partners organizations.
In case they are not members of the project team and/or not employed by the Applicant/partners, related costs can be foreseen at other budget headings (e.g. 5 Services, 6 Others) and a procurement procedure according to the national legislation must be followed.
According to both Applicants Guidelines, Staff means any person assigned to the project and for whom, on the basis of a labor contract, the organization pays a gross salary that includes social security charges and other remunerated-related costs (section 2.5.1 Eligible direct costs). In case of a person not working for the respective partner, but subcontracted to perform various project activities following procurement procedure, is not considered as “staff”.

- Budget category 2, line 2.2 Travels and subsistence refers only to the project staff (preparation and implementation), according to the explanations. Should these costs be related only to the travel and subsistence of the project staff employed? If the answer is yes, the next question is where the travel and subsistence costs for target group / other people who are clearly involved in the project activities should be included?
Costs at line 2.2 Travels and subsistence refer only to the members of the project team.
In case they are not members of the project team and/or not employed by the Applicant/partners, related costs can be foreseen at other budget headings (e.g. 5 Services, 6 Others) and a procurement procedure according to the national legislation must be followed.

- Budget category 5 Services, line 5.1 Printed / published materials.
Which type of materials may be included in this budget line? Do these printed materials refer to the materials that could be used as support for the events organisation – that can be found in this budget category? What is the difference between these materials and the visibility materials that will be inserted in the Budget category 7?
Printed/published materials may include any material supporting or resulting from a project activity.
Budget heading 7 shall include costs for the minimum mandatory communication, promotion, information materials (as detailed in Annex H 3 of the Guidelines for grant applicants) and shall be described in the Application Form at GA2 Information and communication Plan.

• - Budget category 9 Administrative costs
  Explanations given state that in this budget category, salaries for support personnel are eligible. Should these persons be employees of the Applicant / Partners or they may be other people with evident involvement in the project activities?
  All the costs included at the budget heading 9 are eligible costs which may not be identified as specific costs linked to the implementation of the project and may not be booked directly according to the eligibility requirements. The applicant should analyze the needs of his/her project in respect of this provision.
  Moreover, concerning the indirect costs, the applicant should check the provisions of Section 2.5.3 Eligible indirect costs (administrative costs) from the Applicants Guidelines. Indirect costs may include office costs (including rental), electricity, heating, phone, cleaning, salaries for the staff supporting project implementation (e.g. accountant, driver, secretary etc.), postal services, financial services, archiving, security services etc.

The Application Form template will not allow you to add more than 5 Groups of Activities or to eliminate those which are mandatory for the programme. Nevertheless, activities may be included as specific activities within GA 3.

The Application Form (including budget, logical framework) is available at http://ro-ua.net/en/about-the-programme/calls-for-proposals/453-2nd-call-for-proposals-soft-projects.html
The applicant has to download it from the website to his/her PC and open it, and also start to fill it in. The latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader is needed in order to properly view and use the file.
The applicant can also access the video tutorials prepared by the programme to support the filling in of the Application Form, available at https: http://ro-ua.net/en/communication-en/news/472-tutorials-for-filling-in-the-application-form.html

For this issue please refer to section 2.5.1 Eligible direct costs of the Guidelines for grant applicants. "When preparing the budget of the project, please take into account that taxes, including VAT, will only be accepted as eligible costs when the Applicant or its Partners can show they cannot reclaim them according to their national legislation. For Ukrainian entities: According to the Financing Agreement between the European Commission and the Government of Ukraine, Ukraine shall apply to grant contracts financed by the Union the most favoured tax and customs arrangements. Moreover, according to the Framework Agreement between the Government of Ukraine and the Commission of the European Communities ratified on 03.09.2008, the contracts financed by the Community shall not be subject to value added tax, registration duties or any charges having equivalent effect in Ukraine, whether such charges exist or are to be instituted. This provision applies to the whole value of the contract, which includes both the Community grant and co-financing provided by the beneficiaries. Moreover, any goods imported for the purpose of implementing projects financed by the Community shall not be subject to customs and import duties, taxes or any other charges having equivalent effect. In order to benefit from these facilities, the Ukrainian beneficiaries that will sign a grant contract shall register the project at the Ukrainian Ministry of Economy and Trade (see also Section 4.2. Project implementation).

On the Programme website, in the OPEN CALLS section, all of the documents are available for both HARD and SOFT calls for proposals. Under each call, the Application form and the Guidelines for Grant Applicants as well as Annexes to the Guidelines for Grant Applicants can be found. The applicants can find there Annex L. Partnership Agreement that is a template to be used for the projects under Romania-Ukraine 2014-2020 Joint Operational Programme.

The description of the Result Indicator RI411 (number of newly registered cases of illness) is: “The number of new cases of illnesses registered by physicians at the core eligible area. The indicator takes into account only newly discovered illnesses that were not registered before.”

The indicator „Decrease of ~ 20% of cases of illness” is explained in Annex IV of JOP Romania – Ukraine, which can be accessed using the following link: http://www.ro-ua-md.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Annex-IV-Report-on-indicators1.pdf. Indication on Measurement and substantiation for setting the baseline and target: The data is made available by each country’s national statistical institute/bureau which collect data on the health system at territorial level. The baseline value of 5550 thousands was set by using the 2013 data available at the time of the drafting of the territorial analysis. In the case of Romania, the national value was used in the calculation, which was correlated with the percent value of the population of the Romanian counties in the core eligible area out of the total population of Romania. In the case of Ukraine, the national value was used in the calculation, which was correlated with the percent value of the population of the Ukrainian oblasts in the core eligible area out of the total population of Ukraine. The target value of 4400 thousands (decrease of approximately 20%) was determined by taking into account the improvements brought on by the future development of the health system at the core eligible area level using public and private funding, as well as the improvements measured through COI 411 and OI 412 described above.

The quantification of the RI411 Result Indicator will be achieved in 2023 for the entire Programme area according to the formula set out in Annex IV of the Programme, by gathering the statistical data from the two countries participating in the Program with its ex-post evaluation.
The sources of information for this result indicator will be determined by the applicant/partners, depending on the specificity of the project.

Considering the JOP Romania-Ukraine, Chapter 3.3.2 Programme Indicators and as in Annex IV to the Programme, the reference year for the baseline value is 2013.

Considering a hospital that has several buildings in its administrative structure, but only one of these buildings is the subject of a financing request proposing the rehabilitation and the endowment (which has only certain medical specializations), the monitoring of the indicators will be done only for these specializations or will it extend to the whole activity of the hospital?

As mentioned above, please refer to the link http://ro-ua.net/images/Programme/Annex-IV-Report-on-indicators1.pdf.
The definition of the OI 412 indicator is „the number of medical service units that are improved/rehabilitated through programme support. Medical service unit: Includes all buildings and utilities of any health service institution whose use is directly linked to the provision of health services (eg. ambulatory center /laboratories). It will be monitored the achievement of the project’s output indicators and contribution to programme’s output indicators to the values declared in the Application Form.

According to the Ukrainian legislation for the infrastructure as rehabilitation works for a part of the building to be performed it is foreseen to draw up the design and cost estimate documents, consisting of a feasibility study and an assessment of the environmental impact, required for the STAGE ІІ (clause 2.6.7. of the Guidelines for the hard projects), shall such the design and cost estimate documents for the STAGE ІІ upon the PSC’s request be acceptable?

According to the Section 2.5. of the Guidelines for grant applicants for HARD projects “costs related to studies and documentation related to infrastructure component e.g. Feasibility Study or equivalent, Environmental Impact Assessment, and other technical documentation may be incurred before the project implementation period, starting with the approval date of the Programme, respectively 17 December, 2015”.
These costs may be included in the budget and will be considerred in case the project will be selected.

Should the indicative budget breakdown for infrastructure be filled in for the soft projects with the infrastructure component before a submission of the Application Form and could the relevant template from the Annex A.1 for the hard projects be used for those purposes?

The indicative budget breakdown for infrastructure is not required to be submitted within the 2nd Call for proposals (SOFT projects). Please note that you are not allowed to use Annexes from different calls or programmes. This might conduct to the rejection of your project proposal.

Costs for staff employed by the project Partners, limited to travel and subsistence may be included in the project budget, irrespective if the persons will be further included in the project team or not., provided that the requirements set in Section 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements are met.

If the Applicant / Partner is represented by the executive body of the local administration, which has no statute, could such the document be of either a regulation on the executive body approved by the decision of the session of the local councils or the law regulating that executive body activities according to the item b) of the relevant clauses «Supporting documents accompanying the Application Form» for both the Guidelines?

For institutions/local administrations that don’t have a statute, other relevant documents might be submitted in Stage I.
According to the Guidelines for grant applicants, Section 2.6.6 point b), the following are required:
Statutes or other relevant documents for the Applicant and each project Partner – photocopies certified “According to the original”, stamped according to the relevant legal provisions in force and signed by the legal representatives, in national language and English translation.
However, The Applicant/ Partner must be sure that the submitted documents could lead to an objective assessment of the eligibility requirements as set within the Guidelines for grant applicants as set in section 2.2.1.

The Guidelines for grant applicants do not offer any template for the official mandate. The mandate could be different depending on the type of institution (NGO – internal decision certified by notaries, Local/regional public administraions and public institutions – official decisions, etc.).

Concerning the Annex В Declaration by the Applicant of both Guidelines, namely page 2 therein with regard to tick-mark one of the statements, if the Ukrainian applicants/partners tick-mark statement 4 (only for Ukrainian organisations), should they tick-mark any other statements stipulated above too?

In case you are reffering to the statement related to VAT, please follow the instruction [Tick-mark each statement if applicable, and delete those that are not applicable]. For Ukrainian applicants/ partners only the last statement regarding VAT applies. Once the grant contract is signed and before requesting the first pre-financing, the Applicant will seek for registration at the Ministry of Economy and Trade in Ukraine.

There is no provision in the Guidelines for grant applicants hindering NGOs to participate as applicants/partners in the calls for proposals launched by the Programme.
The Managing Authority, the Joint Technical Secretariat or the branch offices of Joint Technical Secretariat cannot give prior opinions on the eligibility of the applicant or its Partners (beyond the points listed in chapter 2.2.1), of the project or of the specific activities, this being a matter concerning the particular field of activity and statute of the institution, which can or not be entitled to develop the specific project activities that fall under each priority and may or may not have the capacity to reach the proposed Programme indicators (per priority). The legal capabilities of the Applicant and partners to act in the field of the project proposal will be assessed during Step 2 (technical and financial evaluation) where each partner have to demonstrate that it has the necessary competencies required in the field of project (please also check the Annex J3 – Evaluation Grid).

The Guidelines contains the following text: “Co-financing for the Romanian beneficiaries: For the Romanian beneficiaries, the Government Ordinance no. 29/2015 regarding the allocation of external grants and national public contribution, for the "European Territorial Cooperation" Objective, with subsequent amendments shall be applied”
Please clarify if this paragraph is referring to the value of the co-financing that will be funded from the national budget in case of Lead Beneficiaries/Beneficiaries registered in participating Member States (Romania). If so, what is the value of the maximum percentage of the total eligible costs of the Project that will be funded from the Romanian national budget?

The paragraph is referring to the value of the co-financing reimbursed by the national budget in case of Lead Beneficiaries/Beneficiaries registered in Romania.
The value of the co-financing will be calculated as a percentage of the share of the grant corresponding to the concerned Romanian beneficiary according to the provisions of the Government Ordinance no. 29/2015 with its subsequent amendments.
Please note that the co-financing from the state budget will be provided based on a separate contract signed with each Romanian beneficiary, partner in the project, subject to availability of funds and only after the final payment of the ENI grant was made to the project by the Managing Authority.

The Guidelines contains the following text: “An organisation may submit, as Applicant, only one project per Priority under the present Call for proposals”,while the linked footnote mentions that:  “For the present Call for proposals, the same Applicant may submit no more than 3 projects, one for each Priority”
As the number of priorities opened under this Call is of 7, and the Guidelines mentions maximum one project per Priority, please clarify if the limitation detailed in the footnote (of maximum 3 projects per Applicant) is an intended one or is due to a typing error.

As regards the 2nd Call for proposal (SOFT projects), the footnote indicated by you is subject to a typing error “For the present Call for proposals, the same Applicant may submit no more than 3 projects, one for each Priority” The correct form of the footnote was intended to be  “For the present Call for proposals, the same Applicant may submit no more than 7 projects, one for each Priority”. For this specific situation please follow the thresholds set within the Guidelines, Section 2.1 Number of projects to be submitted “An organisation may submit, as Applicant, only one project per Priority under the present Call for proposals”

The Guidelines contains the following text:
“A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its contribution to one of the Programme Results (specific for the Priority chosen) and the corresponding Result indicator.
A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its effective contribution to at least one Programme (common) Output (specific for the Priority chosen) and to at least one of the corresponding Output indicators.”
if the Programme’s results and output indicators assumed by the applicants in a project have to be reached until the end of the implementation period or also during a certain sustainability period? What is the length of the sustainability period?

A difference has to be made between the project contribution to the Programme (common) output indicators and the project contribution to the Programme result indicator.
During its lifetime (by the end of the implementation period), the project has to contribute to the (common) output indicators through its Specific Objectives and Results.
Project contribution to the Programme result indicator will be measured after the implementation period.
For methodological explanations on the system of indicators we recommend you to check Annex 4 to the Programme (http://www.ro-ua-md.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Annex-IV-Report-on-indicators1.pdf )
Each project has to demonstrate how it will ensure and/or strengthen sustainability of its outputs and expected results during and after the implementation period. Such measures will be evaluated during Step 2 of the Evaluation process – Technical and Financial evaluation.
Moreover, for projects with an infrastructure component (all HARD projects and SOFT project with an infrastructure component), if, within five years of the project closure, the project is subject to a substantial change affecting its nature, objectives or implementation conditions which would result in undermining its original objectives, the Lead Beneficiary shall repay to the MA the ENI grant.

The Guidelines contains the following text:
“A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its contribution to one of the Programme Results (specific for the Priority chosen) and the corresponding Result indicator.
A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its effective contribution to at least one Programme (common) Output (specific for the Priority chosen) and to at least one of the corresponding Output indicators.”
The phrase “A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its effective contribution to at least one Programme (common) Output (specific for the Priority chosen) and to at least one of the corresponding Output indicators” might be interpreted as establishing a mandatory condition, for each project, to address both Common Output Indicators (COI) and Output Indicators (OI). As the Priority 2.1 has only COI type indicators (please see Annex IV. Report on Indicators, on the JOP package), this condition would be impossible to be fulfilled. Please clarify.

The phrase “A project will only be selected if it demonstrates its effective contribution to at least one Programme (common) Output (specific for the Priority chosen) and to at least one of the corresponding Output indicators” has the meaning to address either a common output indicator or an output indicator. Brackets have been used for “common” in order to emphasize that both common output indicators and output indicators are to be treated the same in the meaning of the Programme.

The Guidelines contains the following text:
“When preparing the budget of the project, please take into account that taxes, including VAT, will only be accepted as eligible costs when the Applicant or its Partners can show they cannot reclaim them according to their national legislation”
How and when an Applicant must “show” that the VAT cannot be reclaimed? Is this justification to be submitted together with the application form or is a document to be submitted during the reporting process? The Romanian applicants will prepare a self-declaration in English stating that the VAT is non-recoverable or they must submit an official document, issued by the Romanian authorities?

Each partner involved in the project, including the applicant has to answer the following question “Is your organisation entitled to recover VAT based on national legislation for the activities implemented in the project?” within part B.1 Project beneficiaries of the Application Form. For the VAT registered partners, the VAT number has to be provided.
Annex B - Declaration by the Applicant and Annex C - Partnership Statement, that will be submitted together with the Application Form include also a Section where the applicant/ partner has to state under signature the status of VAT registration.
However, please take into account that according to the Guidelines of grant beneficiaries “before signing the contracts, other documents may be requested by the JTS/MA (e.g. proof that there are no debts to the consolidated budgets or to the Programme budget, proof that the VAT is non-recoverable from other sources etc.) and on-the-spot visits shall also take place.”

The Guidelines contains the following text:
“Where implementation of the project requires the Beneficiaries to award procurement contracts, the rules foreseen by Articles 52 to 56 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no. 897/2014, supplemented by the provisions of the grant contract, shall be applied.”
For what concerns the Romanian beneficiaries, the Article 52, paragraph 1 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no. 897/2014 establish two possible categories:
- one category referring to the entities that are contracting authorities or contracting entities within the meaning of the Union legislation, and
- the second category, entities that do not fall in the first category (for example NGOs, churches, regional and local associations of enterprises and professional organisations etc.)
It is understandable that the beneficiaries falling under the first category will have to use the national public procurement regulation when awarding the contracts, while the beneficiaries falling under the second category will not use the national public procurement regulation, but will have to implement procurement procedures fulfilling the mandatory conditions covered by the Articles 52 (paragraph 2), 53, 54, 55 and 56.
Is JTS intending to develop a set of simplified procurement procedures for the beneficiaries falling under the second category or this will be the responsibility of the beneficiary during implementation?

As it is stated at Section 4.2.2 Public procurements, page 45 of the Guidelines for grant applicants (SOFT projects), “Where implementation of the project requires the Beneficiaries to award procurement contracts, the rules foreseen by Articles 52 to 56 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no 897/2014, supplemented by the provisions of the grant contract, shall be applied.”
Annex K – Grant contract (draft) offers more details on the procedure to be applied by the Lead Beneficiaries / Beneficiaries which are not contracting authorities or contracting entities within the meaning of the Union legislation applicable to procurement procedures, established in Romania. According to Art. 9.3 “..shall apply the provisions of the Procurement and grants for European Union external actions (PRAG), including templates and details related to each type of procedures (mainly PRAG chapters 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8), in force at the moment of the launch of the call for proposals, available at http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/  and http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/annexes.do, respectively ”.

The Guidelines contains the following text:
“Where implementation of the project requires the Beneficiaries to award procurement contracts, the rules foreseen by Articles 52 to 56 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no 897/2014, supplemented by the provisions of the grant contract, shall be applied.”
For what concerns the Romanian beneficiaries, the Article 52, paragraph 1 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no 897/2014 establishes two possible categories:
- one category referring to the entities that are contracting authorities or contracting entities within the meaning of the Union legislation, and
- the second category, entities that do not fall in the first category (for example NGOs, churches, regional and local associations of enterprises and professional organisations etc.)
It is understood that the beneficiaries falling under the first category will have to use the national public procurement regulation when awarding the contracts, while the beneficiaries falling under the second category will not use the national public procurement regulation, but will have to implement procurement procedures fulfilling the mandatory conditions covered by the Articles 52 (paragraph 2), 53, 54, 55 and 56.
As the provisions of the Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) no. 897/2014 refer to the provisions of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) no. 1268/2012, are the provisions of the articles 265-277 of the Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) no. 1268/2012 to be applied for awarding services, supply and works contracts (thresholds and procedures).

Lead Beneficiaries/Beneficiaries which are not contracting authorities or contracting entities within the meaning of the Union legislation applicable to procurement procedures, established in Romania shall apply the rules foreseen by Articles 52 to 56 of the ENI Implementing Regulation no. 897/2014, supplemented by the provisions of the grant contract.

The Annex mentions for Priority 2.1 the following result and output indicators:
- Programme expected result “Restored cultural and historical sites that enhance the cross – border touristic potential of the eligible area”;
- RI “Number of overnight stays in the eligible area”;
- COI “Number of institutions using programme support for promoting local culture and preserving historical heritage”, and
- COI “Number of improved cultural and historical sites”.
Please let us know if the Programme expected result, “Restored cultural and historical sites that enhance the cross – border touristic potential of the eligible area”, calls for a specific indicator for itself, or this programme result is to be measured by the indicator RI 211, “Number of overnight stays in the eligible area”?

The Programme expected result, “Restored cultural and historical sites that enhance the cross – border touristic potential of the eligible area” is to be measured by the indicator RI 211, “Number of overnight stays in the eligible area”.
For methodological explanations on the system of indicators we recommend you to check Annex 4 to the JOP:
http://www.ro-ua-md.net/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/Annex-IV-Report-on-indicators1.pdf 

The integrated social intervention is used as an example of specific public medical service infrastructure. The applicants/partners with specific expertise in the health service area are to be the ones responsible for identifying the specific type of public medical service to whom their projects should address.

If an organisation was registered in outside the core eligible area two years ago, but it has an office in eligible area, can it be a partner or applicable organisation (not as in a flexible rule 2.2.1.1) or it is mandatory to create a representation office in Ivano-Frankivsk and be applicable organisation ?
For how long an organisation needs to be set up to be able to apply and is it possible to register the representation office from the eligible area of the program to be an eligibile organisation?

Organisations located outside the core eligible area may participate in a project only under the provisions of the Flexibility rule set at Section 2.2.1.1. of the Guidelines for grant applicants.
An organisation registered and located in the eligible area may be applicant or partner in a project by meeting all the requirements set at Section 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicants and partners.
There is no provision in the Guidelines for grant applicants hindering new registered NGOs to participate as applicants in the calls for proposals launched by the programme.
However, Section 2.2 Quality of the project partnership, included in the Annex J.3 - Evaluation Grid - Step 2, sets additional scoring for partners that have functioned for at least 3 years before the year of submission of the project proposal. “Except for public authorities, all Partners have functioned for at least 3 years before the year of submission of the proposal.”

The persons from the Annex Justifications of costs - Project team (line 1.1) and Specialists/Technical staff (line 1.2) are already employed by the organisation or who may be hired specifically for the purpose of implementing the project and on its duration. If „project staff” includes both „project team” and „specialists”, can the travel expenses for Specialists be included in the heading 2 of the budget (Annex Justifications of costs)?

According to both Guidelines for grant applicants, “Staff means any person assigned to the project and for whom, on the basis of a labour contract, the organization pays a gross salary that includes social security charges and other remunerated-related costs (section 2.5.1 Eligible direct costs). Persons not employed by the organization, but subcontracted to perform various project activities following a procurement procedure, are not considered as “staff”. 

Taking into consderation the question about the heading 2. Travels and subsistance, the answer is yes, only if the specialists or technical staff are employed.

Instructors for the training sessions proposed to be carried out in the project will be hired under a service contract. Under these conditions, the contract that appears as a cost in the heading 5 from the Annex Justifications of costs, can also include costs related to accommodation, meals and transport of these instructors?

Organization of events of any type can be budgeted at Line 5.4, and may include all the costs related to the respective event(s), e.g. accommodation, meals and travel expenses for the participants, including trainers. Nevertheless, composition of the respective cost must be described in Annex Justification of costs to be attached to the Application Form.
Concerning the eligibility requirements please consult Section 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements of the guidelines.

In the completed job descriptions (that have to be attached to the application as supporting documents), must the name of the prospective occupant and the name of the person who approves, as well as their signatures appear? Or future employees can be established, if necessary, during the pre-contracting period?

Job descriptions following the template provided by Annex E of the Guidelines for grant applicants must show the main responsibilities and activities to be performed by the job holder and don’t have to bear any signatures or names at the submission of the application package.

The list of indicative potential beneficiaries for Priority 4.1 - Support to the development of health services can be found in Annex H1 to both guidelines (for hard and soft projects) - Indicative list of type of potential beneficiaries.
For the complete framework of the eligibility requirements, please consult the sections 2.2 Applicants and Partners. Eligibility requirements, 2.3 Partnerships. Eligibility requirements, 2.4 Projects and Activities. Eligibility requirements, 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements of the guidelines for applicants.
The Managing Authority, the Joint Technical Secretariat or the branch offices of Joint Technical Secretariat cannot express prior opinions on the eligibility of the applicant or its Partners (beyond the points listed in chapter 2.2.1), of the project or of the specific activities this being a matter concerning the particular field of activity and statute of the institution, which can or not be entitled to develop the specific project activities that fall under each priority and may or may not have the capacity to reach the proposed Programme indicators (per priority). The legal capabilities of the Applicant and partners to act in the field of the project proposal will be assessed during Step 2 (technical and financial evaluation) where each partner have to demonstrate that it has the necessary competencies required in the field of project (please also check the Annex J3-Evaluation Grid).Answers to questions only offer clarification to the guidelines for applicants and they may, on no account, give an appreciation on the eligibility or quality of a proposal or activities foreseen. Individual assessments have to be made by every potential applicant and its partners in each particular case prior to submission of the application.
Regarding the number of projects to be submitted, according to Guidelines for Applicants for both Hard and Soft projects section 2.1 Number of projects to be submitted of the “An organization may submit, as Applicant, only one project per Priority under the present Call for proposals. No limitations are set for an organization to participate as Partner in several projects submitted under the present Call for proposals, provided the respective organization has the necessary operational and financial capacity to implement the selected projects.”
Two calls for proposals are opened within the Joint Operational Programme Romania-Ukraine 2014-2020, namely:
- 1st Call for proposals for HARD projects
- 2nd Call for proposals for SOFT projects

The list of indicative potential beneficiaries for Priority 1.1 - Institutional cooperation in the educational field for increasing access to education and quality of education can be found in Annex H1 to the guidelines for soft projects - Indicative list of type of potential beneficiaries.
For the complete framework of the eligibility requirements, please consult the sections 2.2 Applicants and Partners. Eligibility requirements, 2.3 Partnerships. Eligibility requirements, 2.4 Projects and Activities. Eligibility requirements, 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements of the guidelines for applicants.
The Managing Authority, the Joint Technical Secretariat or the branch offices of Joint Technical Secretariat cannot express prior opinions on the eligibility of the applicant or its Partners (beyond the points listed in chapter 2.2.1), of the project or of the specific activities this being a matter concerning the particular field of activity and statute of the institution, which can or not be entitled to develop the specific project activities that fall under each priority and may or may not have the capacity to reach the proposed Programme indicators (per priority). The legal capabilities of the Applicant and partners to act in the field of the project proposal will be assessed during Step 2 (technical and financial evaluation) where each partner have to demonstrate that it has the necessary competencies required in the field of project (please also check the Annex J3-Evaluation Grid).Answers to questions only offer clarification to the guidelines for applicants and they may, on no account, give an appreciation on the eligibility or quality of a proposal or activities foreseen. Individual assessments have to be made by every potential applicant and its partners in each particular case prior to submission of the application.
Regarding the number of projects to be submitted, according to the Guidelines for Applicants for Soft projects, section 2.1 Number of projects to be submitted of, “An organization may submit, as Applicant, only one project per Priority under the present Call for proposals. No limitations are set for an organization to participate as Partner in several projects submitted under the present Call for proposals, provided the respective organization has the necessary operational and financial capacity to implement the selected projects.”

The Guidelines for grant applicants has not set any limitations in what regards the number of employees of an organization or the number of years from when an organization has been established. Nevertheless, pay attention to the evaluation criteria comprised in the Evaluation Grid, especially in the section referring to the Quality of the project partnership. Notice that the quality of the project partnership, including financial capacity, is going to be evaluated during Step 2 (technical and financial evaluation).
Moreover, at least two out of the four cross border cooperation criteria need to be demonstrated by the project, namely Joint staffing and Joint financing. According to Section 2.3.2 - Eligibility requirements for the project partnership, point c) “At least two out of the four cross-border cooperation criteria (see section 1.4.4), namely (3) Joint staffing and (4) Joint financing, are fulfilled by the partnership. This means that it will be checked whether each partner foresaw at least one project manager (responsible) and one financial manager (responsible) as staff dedicated to project implementation (case in which the respective job descriptions must be attached to the Application Form), and a budget is allocated for their share of project activities comprising both grant and co-financing.”

An entity registered and located outside the core regions of the Programme, is allowed to participate in the calls for proposals, according to:
1. the Section 2.2.1.1 Flexibility rule of the Guidelines for grant applicants, ONLY if all the following conditions are met:
- they do act as Partners in the project, not as Applicants (lead beneficiaries)
- their participation is required by the nature and by the project objectives, and is necessary for its effective implementation;
- they meet all the eligibility requirements listed at points b) to j) in the Section 2.2.1 Eligibility requirements for the Applicant and partners;
- only a total of 10% of the project budget may be spent outside the core regions of the Programme.
However, if the branch located in the Programme area has its own legal personality, it may apply on its own without falling under the Flexibity rule.

According to Section 2.3.2 Eligibility requirements for the project partnership of the Guidelines for grant applicants point b) "At least one partner in the project is registered in Romania and at least one partner is registered in Ukraine."
For the complete framework of the eligibility requirements, please consult the following sections of the guidelines for grant applicants:
2.2 Applicants and Partners. Eligibility requirements, 2.3 Partnerships. Eligibility requirements, 2.4 Projects and Activities. Eligibility requirements, 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements
In the interest of equal treatment of all the Applicants, the Managing Authority, the Joint Technical Secretariat or the branch offices of Joint Technical Secretariat cannot give prior opinions regarding on the eligibility of the applicant or its Partners, of the project or regarding of the specific activities.

According to the Guidelines for grant applicants, Section 4.1, point g) as evidence of ownership by the Applicant and/or Partners and access to the land, the following documents have to be provided:
- legal acts stating the rights over each location (land/building/space) where the infrastructure is foreseen to be executed AND/OR equipment over EUR 60,000 is to be installed/ used, valid at least until 2032 (ownership, long term rent, concession, administration, etc.) – in national language and English translation, as photocopies certified “According to the original”, signed and stamped by the legal representatives, AND
- documents showing registration in the relevant public registers of the land/building/space where the infrastructure is foreseen to be executed AND/OR equipment over EUR 60,000 is to be installed/ used – in national language and English translation, as photocopies certified “According to the original”, signed and stamped by the legal representatives, AND
- statements that each land/building/space where the infrastructure is foreseen to be executed AND/OR equipment over EUR 60,000 is to be installed/ used is free of any encumbrances, is not the object of a pending litigation, is not the object of a claim according to the relevant national legislation – in national language and English translation, as photocopies certified “According to the original”, signed and stamped by the legal representatives.
Exemption from registration in a public register is allowed only when “Locations where infrastructure under EUR 60,000 EUR is foreseen to be executed are exempted from the obligation to provide documents showing the registration of the location in the relevant public registries.” (footnote no. 13 at Section 4.1, point g) of the Guidelines).
In case the respective Partner(s) is not the owner of the land and/or building, the agreement of the land and/or building/space owner, stating that the infrastructure may be executed and/or equipment over EUR 60,000 may be installed/used – in national language and English translation, as photocopies certified “According to the original”, signed and stamped by the legal representative.
The list of documents presented above is cumulative and all the documents must be submitted without the posibility of any of the documents to substitute each other.
Therefore, registration in a public register cannot replace the documents proving the ownership over the location where the infrastructure is to be executed (land/building/space).

In the application form (for soft projects) that is presented at the web-site
(http://www.ro-ua.ro-ua-md.net/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/2-A_Application-form_budget_logical-framework.rar)
we found one problem:
In section C.2 Project focus for expected result "3.1.2 Improved integrated ICT tools to support the cross-border connections" we can choose only one programme result indicator "3.1.1.1 Cross border traffic volume (by rail, road)". But this indicator not related to ICT (information and communication technologies). In this scope it is very difficult to fill fields like "Detail on the contribution that the project general objective will bring to the programme result indicator selected(max. 5000 characters)".
Could you help us with this issue? Probably by fixing the Application form?

According to the Guidelines for grant applicants “The Programme is looking to select projects which envisage clear cross border impact and contribute both to the Programme expected result specific for the priority chosen, and the corresponding Programme result indicator. This contribution will be assessed during evaluation”.
In case of Priority 3.1 - Development of cross border transport infrastructure and ICT tools, the Programme envisage for both Programme results only one Result indicator, namely RI 311 - Cross border traffic volume (by rail, road).
As such, irrespective the specific of your project, contribution to the above mentioned programme Result should be demonstrated in a clear manner.
Please see the definitions and explanations of the indicators which can be found in Annex IV Indicators from the approved Joint Operational Programme Romania – Ukraine 2014-2020.

According to Section 2.6.5 of the Guidelines for Soft projects/Section 2.6.6 of the Guidelines for Hard projects,
“Where documents are in the national language, an English translation of the relevant parts reflecting the main content and proving the eligibility of the Applicant and his partners is required.”

The Programme does not provide any templates for the Certificates mentioned at Section 2.6.5 of the Guidelines for Soft projects / Section 2.6.6 of the Guidelines for Hard projects.
These documents are to be provided according to current national legislation in force. Each relevant national institution issues the certificates using its own template.

The Application Form is available at http://www.ro-ua.ro-ua-md.net/2nd-call-for-proposals-soft-projects/ .
You can download it from here to your PC, open and start to fill it in.
When you finalize the Application Form, you must upload it into EMS-ENI together with all the supporting documents required by the call, using your EMS-ENI account.
Pay attention that after submission, the Application Form cannot be changed, unless you delete and upload a new Application Form.
For proper use of the Application Form format, you need the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Reader.
For further and more detailed instructions about how to use the Application From provided by EMS-ENI, video tutorials prepared by the Programme are available at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SgGR3qpUwlU&list=PLUIaXS6OEV0zoMLtcuB9S2-yYUMqf17cp
Also, during the training events to be organized by the programme, you will have more in-depth information on how to develop your project applications and how to submit it to the programme by the end of the call for proposals. You may consult the timetable of program events at
http://www.ro-ua.ro-ua-md.net/information-sessions-for-calls-for-proposals/ 

It is possible to consider the acquisition of an ambulance as part of the infrastructure? [Both, works at the emergency area of the hospital and equipment (including ambulance – as medical endowment) will be included in the feasibility study.]

According to the Guidelines for grant applicants, „Infrastructure means permanent works and equipment which contribute to at least one Programme (common) outputs that is specifically addressed by the project. Infrastructure must be entirely described in the Feasibility studies.”
Due to its importance, the programme considers issuing of a Corrigendum to the Guidelines for grant applicants for both HARD and SOFT projects in order to better explain the meaning of infrastructure to the potential applicants.

According to section 2.5 Costs. Eligibility requirements from the Guidelines for grant applicants, costs are eligible if „they are incurred during the implementation period of the project” and „paid before the submission of the final reports”, with the exceptions specified in the Guidelines.

Please clarify why is the result indicator only targeting tertiary education, given that eligible activities do not refer to this educational level?  (Priority 1.1 Institutional cooperation in the educational field for increasing access to education and quality of education- „RI 111: Percent of tertiary education students from eligible area from total no. of students RI 112: Employment rate in the eligible area.”). Moreover, after-school programms, exemplified in the eligible activities, are addressed to primary and eventually gymnasium.

Countries participating in the Joint Operational Programme Romania – Ukraine 2014-2020 have commonly decided on the indicators to be achieved by the end of programme implementation, be it indicators related to programme results or programme (common) output. Moreover, the European Commission has approved the programme, including the related programme indicators.
In case of Priority 1.1 - Institutional cooperation in the educational field for increasing access to education and quality of education, the Result indicators envisaged are RI 111 - Percent of tertiary education students from eligible area from total number of students and RI 112 Employment rate in the eligible area.
Please see the definitions and explanations of the indicators which can be found in Annex IV Indicators from the approved Joint Operational Programme Romania – Ukraine 2014-2020. As it is written in the annex mentioned above, the percentage of tertiary education students enrolled in the educational institutions based in the eligible area from total number of students of the eligible area. Students: persons that are formally enrolled in primary, secondary or tertiary education programs
As such, irrespective its specifics, the project must contribute to at least one of the above mentioned programme Results, and the respective contribution should be indicated and demonstrated in a clear manner.

In order to receive financing under the present call for proposals, the project must ensure the execution of the entire infrastructure objective comprised in the general investment estimate in order to ensure the delivery of the output and result indicators as presented in Annex H.2 – Programme indicators per priority. As such, project contribution to the Programme (common) outputs and results must be clear, effective, quantifiable and verifiable.
In this respect, the Programme shall not finance a project that includes only a part of an investment objective presented as an overall in a feasibility study and a subsequent general investment estimate.
Therefore, irrespective of possible alternative sources of funding necessary to ensure the partners’ financial contribution for execution of the entire infrastructure objective as described by the feasibility study (other EU/national/international programmes, etc.), these must be included in the project budget and the total partners' financial contribution as defined by the Guidelines for Applicants and annexes.
Also, please be aware that Programme shall not finance projects whose activities have already been financed (totally or partially) by other programmes/ financial instruments.