CALL FOR PROPOSALS Operating Grants for 2016 Open to EU

EUROPEAN COMMISSION
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion DG
Disability and social inclusion
Social inclusion
Promoting Non-discrimination and Equality
RIGHTS, EQUALITY AND CITIZENSHIP PROGRAMME
(2014-2020)
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
Operating Grants for 2016
Open to EU-level networks active in the area: rights of persons
with disabilities
having signed a Framework Partnership Agreement 2015-2017
under the Call JUST/2014/SPOB/OG/NETW
Period covered: 01.01.2016 – 31.12.2016
VP/2015/013
Questions should be sent by e-mail only to: EMPL-VP-2015-013@ec.europa.eu
To ensure a more rapid response it is helpful if applicants send their queries
in English, French or German.
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1.
INTRODUCTION
This call for proposals concerns the Regulation (EU) No 1381/2013 of the European
Parliament and of the Council of 17 December 2013 establishing a Rights, Equality and
Citizenship Programme for the period 2014 to 2020 ('REC Programme')1.
It implements the respective activities set out in the 2015 Annual Work Programme for
the REC Programme adopted on 30 March 2015, and aims to fund proposals with EU
added value.
Organisations interested in submitting applications are strongly advised to study the
detailed terms and conditions set out in this call for proposals and in the Financial
Guidelines for Applicants to Operating Grants published together with this call, and
constituting an integral part of the conditions of the call.
2.
PURPOSE OF THE CALL
This call for proposals aims to provide operating grants for 2016 under the Framework
Partnership Agreements concluded for the period 2015-2017 to provide for long term
cooperation between the European Commission and EU-level networks active in the
promotion of rights of persons with disabilities. The call will provide grants to fund
operating costs and those activities of the network which have EU added value and
contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the REC Programme.
The Framework Partnership Agreements were signed in 2015 following the call for
proposals JUST/2014/SPOB/OG/NETW. They set out the framework conditions
governing potential operating grants and encompass a triennial strategic action plan
proposed by the EU-level networks and accepted by the European Commission.
3.
POLICY CONTEXT AND PRIORITIES
One in six people in the European Union – around 80 million – have a disability that
ranges from mild to severe. These numbers are set to rise as the EU population grows
progressively older. Many people with disabilities are all too often prevented from fully
participating in society and the economy because of physical or other barriers, as well as
discrimination.
The European Commission promotes the active inclusion and full participation of
disabled people in society, and adopted in 2010 the European Disability Strategy 201020202. This Strategy identifies actions at EU level to complement and support national
efforts in eight priority areas: (1) Accessibility, (2) Participation, (3) Equality, (4)
Employment, (5) Education and Training, (6) Social protection, (7) Health, and (8)
External Action. It is underpinned by awareness-raising, financial support, statistics and
data collection.
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2
OJ L 354, 28.12.2013, p. 64
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1137&langId=en
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The Disability Strategy aims to support the full and effective implementation of the UN
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD) by the EU and its
Member States. The EU became a party to the UN Convention in 2011. The purpose of
the Convention is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all
human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities. The
Commission published the first report on the implementation of the Convention by the
EU in June 2014. In 2015 and for the very first time, a United Nations Committee is
reviewing how the EU has been implementing its obligations.
The activities of the networks should contribute to one or more of the following
priorities:

supporting the implementation of the priorities of the European Disability
Strategy 2010-2020;

contributing to the implementation of the UNCRPD and promoting the
involvement of the national member organisations in the implementation;

supporting the achievement of the Europe 2020 strategy targets on employment,
poverty and education;

supporting the development, implementation and monitoring of EU and national
policies and legislation in the area of disability;

contributing to mainstreaming different aspects of disability matters in the EU
and national policies, particularly in the areas of employment, education, social
inclusion, social protection, health, human rights, international cooperation and
development to make sure that the rights and needs of persons with disabilities
are properly addressed;

contributing to improving accessibility to goods and services;

contributing to the development of specific policies relevant to disabilities in the
area of independent living, in particular as regards the transition from institutional
to community-based care.
In particular, the networks should focus on the following activities:

equipping member organisations with the necessary skills and competences to
promote the interests and rights of people with disabilities, in particular to
enhance equality of opportunities for people with disabilities, namely in
employment, and combat discrimination on the basis of disability;

developing information tools (websites, publications or other means) to inform
about EU objectives, policies and actions in the disability field, increasing the
network capacity and raising public awareness;

supporting national member organisations in their involvement in the
implementation, at national level, of main political EU driven processes.
Finally, the networks are expected to contribute to a number of specific initiatives where
their role may have a clear added-value, such as:

Work Forum on the implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of
Persons with Disabilities in the EU and the Member States;
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
European Commission Conference on the European day of persons with
disabilities in December;

European Full Participation Award (i.e. Access City Award).
The proposed 2016 work programme should be coherent with the action plan 2015-2017
presented in the Framework Partnership Agreement; it must develop it further and
describe its implementation in more detail. Minor adaptations due to changes in the
overall context or unforeseeable organisational developments are possible and should be
clearly indicated in the proposal, but the 2016 work programme cannot contradict the
2015-2017 action plan.
4.
BUDGET AVAILABLE
The total budget earmarked for the projects co-financing is estimated at 3,000,000.00€.
The Commission expects to fund a maximum of 8 proposals. The Commission reserves
the right not to distribute all the funds available.
The maximum rate of EU support under this call is 80% of the total eligible costs of the
work programme.
5.
5.1
EVALUATION PROCEDURE
Admissibility criteria
Applicants must comply with the following requirements:
a) The grant application must have been submitted no later than the deadline set out
under section 6 of this call for proposals.
b) The grant application should be submitted using the online application "SWIM" (see
section 7) and be accompanied by all the compulsory documents and annexes requested
in section 8.
Only applications which meet the above admissibility criteria will be further processed.
5.2
Eligibility criteria
5.2.1 Eligibility of applicants
To be eligible, applicants must fulfil the following criteria:
(a) Proposals can only be submitted by organisations having signed a Framework
Partnership Agreement with the European Commission following the 2014 Call for
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Proposals establishing three-year Framework Partnership Agreements for the period
2015-20173.
If a grant application is declared ineligible, it will not be considered for further
evaluation.
5.2.2 Eligibility of activities
Applicants should keep in mind that the countries participating to the REC Programme
are the following:

All EU Members States

Iceland

Liechtenstein
Activities taking place in other countries are therefore not eligible in this Call for
proposals. However, where the Beneficiary can adequately justify that such activities are
vital for the implementation of its annual work programme and maximise its European
added value, and where they contribute to achieving the objectives of the funding
programme, costs relating to participation in these activities could be accepted as eligible
provided that they are incurred in a REC programme country, and subject to prior explicit
approval by the Commission.
The following activities remain non eligible, and will not be funded by the European
Commission:

sponsorships/scholarships to individuals for their participation in workshops,
seminars, conferences, congresses, training courses etc.;

activities supporting individual political parties;

provision of financial support to third parties;

legal actions before national or international courts regardless of their grounds or
objectives.
5.3
Award criteria
Proposals will be evaluated by an evaluation committee composed of Commission staff.
The committee may be assisted by external experts. The submitted proposals will be
evaluated solely on the basis of the award criteria outlined below.
The award criteria aim to ensure the selection of proposals of high quality and which
contribute as much as possible to the priorities of this call in a cost-effective manner.
Synergies and complementarities with other EU instruments and programmes shall be
sought and overlaps and duplications with existing activities avoided.
Applications will be assessed against the following criteria:
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http://ec.europa.eu/justice/grants1/calls/just_2014_spob_og_netw_en.htm
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(a) Relevance and coherence (20 points): extent to which the activities and objectives
of the proposed 2016 annual work programme address the priorities announced by the
Commission and are coherent with the organisation's Action plan 2015-2017 annexed to
the Framework Partnership Agreement;
(b) Quality of the proposed activities (40 points): quality in terms of the proposed
methodology for implementing the annual work programme; the roles and
responsibilities and the division of tasks within the team; the arrangements taken for the
evaluation and monitoring of the action; the identification of risks and the measures to
mitigate them; the use of results and their appropriateness to the network's objectives for
the 2016 work programme, including a clear, targeted and appropriate dissemination
strategy;
(c) European added value (20 points): the European added value of the activities shall
be assessed in the light of criteria such as their contribution to the consistent and coherent
implementation of Union law and policies and to wide public awareness about the rights
deriving from it, their potential to develop mutual trust among Member States and to
improve cross-border cooperation, their transnational impact, their contribution to the
elaboration and dissemination of best practices or their potential to create practical tools
and solutions that address cross-border or Union-wide challenges;
(d) Cost-effectiveness (20 points): financial feasibility of the proposed activities by
means of a clear, detailed, realistic and reasonable budget, coherent with the 2016 annual
work programme of the applicant. Appropriateness of the amount requested in relation to
the scale and type of the activities, to the expected results and to the size of the network.
As a result of the evaluation carried out against the above award criteria the proposals
will be ranked according to the points attained. The list of awarded proposals will be
established based on the amount of budget available.
Proposals not attaining an overall score of at least 70 points will not be considered
for the award of a grant even if the available budget is not consumed fully.
6.
TIMETABLE
Stages
Date or indicative period
a)
Publication of the call
August 2015
b)
Deadline for submitting applications
Friday 16 October 2015
c)
Evaluation period
October-November 2015
d)
Information to applicants
November 2015
e)
Signature of grant agreements
December 2015
f)
Starting date of the action/ work programme
1 January 2016
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7.
7.1
HOW TO SUBMIT AN APPLICATION
Application form
Applications must be submitted using the compulsory electronic application form
available on the Internet Web System SWIM at the following address:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim
This system allows the introduction, editing, validation, printing and submission of the
application form. Once the application is submitted electronically, a copy must be printed
out and signed by the legal representative of the organisation submitting the proposal,
and must be sent to the Commission as explained below. Once the application has been
submitted electronically, no changes are possible.
For more information on how to use the SWIM application, you can consult the user's
manual: http://ec.europa.eu/employment_social/calls/pdf/swim_manual_en.pdf
7.2
Submission formalities
All the required documents listed in the check-list (section 8) must be submitted via
the SWIM application:
https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/swim/external/displayWelcome.do
Please send your cover letter of application together with all originals of the required
supporting documents to the address below by Friday 16th October 2015 (their
submission date will be taken as the date of dispatch, as evidenced by the postmark or the
express courier receipt date):
a) by post to the following postal address:
European Commission
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (Unit D-4)
Call for Proposals VP/2015/013
EMPL-CAD Service
B-1049 Brussels
Belgium
b) or by express courier service to the following delivery address:
European Commission
DG Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (Unit D-4)
Call for proposals VP/2015/013
Central Courier Service
Avenue du Bourget, 1
B-1140 Brussels
Belgium
Proposals may also be delivered personally against a signed and dated receipt to
address (b) above, at the latest by 16:00, on Friday 16th October 2015.
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The reference of the call for proposals must be indicated on the envelope.
In case of hand-delivery, please keep the receipt signed and dated by the official in the
Commission's central mail department who took delivery as proof of submission. This
department is open from 08:00 to 17:00 from Monday to Thursday and from 08:00 to
16:00 on Friday. It is closed on Saturdays, Sundays and on Commission holidays.
Failure to submit the application by post and via SWIM application by the
submission deadline to the Commission will render the application inadmissible.
Complementary documents sent by fax or e-mail will not be considered for evaluation
unless requested by the European Commission. Any document sent after the deadline
will not be accepted unless requested by the European Commission.
The applicant's attention is drawn to the fact that incomplete or unsigned forms, handwritten forms and those sent by fax or e-mail will not be taken into consideration.
7.3
Questions related to the call
All questions concerning this Call for proposals shall be addressed exclusively to the
following mail-box: EMPL-VP-2015-013@ec.europa.eu
Questions may be sent to the above address no later than 10 days before the deadline for
the submission of proposals. The Contracting Authority has no obligation to provide
clarifications to questions received after this date. Replies will be given no later than 5
days before the deadline for submission of proposals. All questions together with the
answers and other important notices in the course of the evaluation procedure, will be
published on the Europa website:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=629&langId=en.
It is therefore advisable to consult the abovementioned website regularly in order to be
informed of the questions and answers.
Technical questions regarding the SWIM application should be sent to: empl-swimsupport@ec.europa.eu
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8.
CHECK-LIST OF REQUIRED SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS
After submission of the application electronically via SWIM, please number the
documents as shown in the table below and send them in duplicate (original + one copy
or two copies where original is not required) before the submission deadline, as
explained in point 8.2.
Order
Document
1
Original cover letter formally submitting the application for NO
funding (please quote the call VP/2015/013) duly signed and
dated by the legal representative of the applicant organisation.
Print-out of the duly completed and submitted on-line YES
application form – dated and signed by the legal representative.
2
Template to
downloaded
SWIM
Note: The on-line form must be electronically submitted before
printing. After the electronic submission no further changes to
the application are possible.
Original of the document "Annual work programme 2016" by YES
using the mandatory template.
The legal representative must sign and date the form.
REC indicators following the template provided.
YES
3
4
Original signed letter of commitment from the applicant stating YES
its financial contribution to the work programme following the
template provided.
Where applicable4, the original of the document "Contracts for YES
implementing the action" following the template provided.
For grant applications where the costs to be financed exceeds NO
EUR 100.000, an external audit report certifying the accounts
for the last financial year available.
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9.
Annex I
Annex II
Annex III
Annex IV
indicators)
ANNEXES TO THE CALL
Financial Guidelines
Model Grant Agreement
Final Technical Report template
Final technical report template annex: Quantitative Reporting (REC
All Annexes are available on the Call's webpage,
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?langId=en&catId=629
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be
in
accessible
through:
Implementing contracts for subcontracting which exceed the threshold of 5000€.
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