A (Quality of life and management of living resources), страница 4

Proposals submitted under a Call shall be subject to a selection process presented in section III.4.

Certain Accompanying Measures may however be based on spontaneous applications or on a call for tender, and shall therefore be subject to a different process¹⁵.

III.2.2. Submission

Participants should complete the appropriate Proposal Submission Form corresponding to the type of action involved, preferably using the software tool that the Commission supplies: The Proposal Preparation Tool or ‘ProTool’, available at the following address: http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/protool.

Proposals must be completed in full as detailed in the Guide for Proposers Part 2.

In addition, experience in previous Calls shows that a number of general recommendations, provided in box 9, may be helpful. Participants have the choice to submit proposals either electronically or on paper.

Submission takes place in the following steps, which are detailed in Part 2 of this Guide.

The co-ordinator may request a pre-proposal check from the Commission, if this service is offered for the call concerned.

The proposer may be required in the Call for Proposals to submit a request for a proposal number. This form (Notification of Intention to Propose) is sent to the Commission services via fax or electronic mail.
The requested proposal number is sent back to the proposer by fax or electronic mail from the Commission.
The proposal is prepared either in electronic or paper form, preferably using ProTool.
The co-ordinator checks the proposal against the key recommendations (Box 9)
Electronic submission The submitting partner in the consortium seeks certification for the Programme.	Paper submission The proposal is sent to the Commission in the form of five bound paper copies and one unbound original.
The proposal is submitted electronically following the instructions given with ProTool.

III.3. Proposal evaluation

III.3.1. General principles

The evaluation of proposals will be based on the fundamental principles of transparency and equality of treatment. The entire selection process and the description of the criteria by which the proposals will be evaluated are presented in the Evaluation Manual (see also box 5 and Appendix 6 of Part 2 of this Guide).

In general, and in order to help the Commission, panels of independent, external experts¹⁶ will be constituted covering a wide range of relevant expertise, without linguistic or geographic bias. Proposers’ confidentiality will be fully respected, both to avoid conflicts of interest and to preserve the impartiality of the independent experts.

III.3.2. Conformity check and eligibility

On receipt, all proposals will be subject to a validation process, to ensure they conform to the requirements of the Call, of the submission procedure and of the rules for participation.

Only proposals that conform to these requirements will be subject to evaluation.

III.3.3. Evaluation

Proposals will be evaluated according to criteria grouped into five categories, as laid down in the Work Programme applicable to the relevant call. The content and the respective weighting of the criteria are described in the Evaluation Manual. Programme specific information on evaluation may also be explained, if appropriate, in Part 2 of this Guide. Ethical aspects and safety aspects have to be taken into account in the process.

The experts examine proposals individually, then meet as a panel to agree a ranking. At this stage, they may recommend that certain proposals should be combined into larger projects or linked together as clusters (see section I.3.3).

Following the evaluation, and according to the interest of Community, the Commission will establish a list of proposals in order of priority. This list will take into account the budget available (which has been set out in the call for proposals) plus, if necessary, a percentage of the call budget to allow for withdrawal of proposals and/or savings to be made during contract finalisation. Late or ineligible proposals, those of inadequate quality or for which there is not adequate budget will be subject to a “non-retained” decision by the Commission. This information, with the main reason for non-retention, will be communicated to the proposers concerned.

III.4. Proposal selection

The co-ordinators of proposals, which have been retained, will be notified in writing. This notification however does not ultimately commit the Commission to fund the project concerned.

A brief report on the evaluation prepared by the Commission will be sent to the proposers via the proposal co-ordinator. Further administrative and financial information will be required to assess the viability of the proposed project.

Hence, participants will have to demonstrate that they have all the necessary resources¹⁷ needed for carrying out the project. The Commission will check these, and may seek to safeguard its interest by asking for a bank guarantee or by other measures.

The Commission may also propose modifications to the original proposal based on the result of the evaluation, or in terms of grouping or combination with others.

On successful conclusion of these negotiations, the Commission will then offer contracts for the commencement of work, based on a timetable determined by the needs of the Specific Programme concerned.

Any proposal, which is finally not taken up, due to a lack of available funding for example, will be subject to a “non-retained” decision by the Commission. This information, with the main reason for non-retention, will be communicated to the proposers concerned.

III.5. The contract

Contracts are issued to proposals successful in the procedure of selection.

III.5.1. The various types of contracts

Research contracts from the Commission fall into five main groups. They each have their own detailed conditions, appropriate to the types of action and the activities to which they refer. (see boxes 6, 7 and 8).

III.5.2. The subject of the contract

The main obligation of the participants is to carry out the project to completion in a pre-arranged period, and to make use of or disseminate its results.

In return, the Commission undertakes to contribute financially to the realisation of the project, normally by reimbursing a certain percentage of the project costs¹⁸.

III.5.3. Rights and obligations of participants

These may vary according to the nature of the action or the category of participant:

• For Research and Technological Development (R&D) projects, Demonstration projects and Combined projects, a participant who has a wide-ranging role in the project throughout its lifetime is normally a principal contractor. A participant whose role is largely in support of one or several of these principal contractors is termed an assistant contractor. Principal contractors are distinguished from assistant contractors in two main ways:

• all the principal contractors are collectively responsible to the Commission for the execution of the project and shall use reasonable endeavours to obtain the expected results;

• principal contractors have rights of access to the results of the project and any pre-existing know how. Assistant contractors have limited rights. (see Box 8)

• For support for access to research infrastructure, the host infrastructure is a principal contractor¹⁹, who is responsible for the implementation of the action.

• For SME co-operative research projects, SMEs benefiting from the project are principal contractors. Organisations performing the research, named RTD performers, are subcontractors and, as such, are not considered to be "participants"²⁰.

• For Exploratory awards, SMEs are principal contractors.

For both SME Co-operative research projects and SME Exploratory awards, principal contractors share responsibility and have the same access to intellectual property rights. It should be noted that RTD performers, although they are not considered to be "participants", can have access to the know-how necessary to perform the research, and, in specific cases, to the knowledge resulting from the projects (see Box 8).

• Concerted Actions, Research Training Networks and Thematic Networks distinguish between the principal contractor(s)²¹ who lead the action, and the members who are associated with them. Principal contractor(s)²² sign a membership contract with their members, with the prior agreement of the Commission and in conformity to their own Commission contract, and share with them joint and several responsibility, in relation to the carrying out of the project.. This distinction does not affect intellectual property rights.

• For Accompanying Measures, the participants role shall vary according to the nature of the action (see Box 6). Principal contractors share joint and several responsibility. In Accompanying Measures specific to technology take-up members can participate.

• For Fellowships, the Commission’s contract is normally offered to the host institution, which then signs an agreement with the Fellow, conforming to the terms of the Commission’s contract. Exceptionally, in the case of bursaries for Community Researchers (INCO 2), the Commission contract may be with the individual personally. In general, intellectual property rights shall be addressed in the agreement signed with the individual and according to the national legislation of the host institution.

Participants in an action may conclude between themselves any agreements necessary to the completion of the work, provided these do not infringe on their obligations as stated in the contract they sign with the Commission.

III.5.4. The co-ordination of the project

Within a consortium, participants shall designate one of the principal contractors to carry out the co-ordination function²³.

The co-ordinator is the liaison between the participants and the Commission, responsible for collecting, integrating and submitting project deliverables, and for distributing the funds received from the Commission.

The costs incurred by the co-ordinator in the fulfilment of his responsibilities can be claimed as direct or indirect costs (see boxes 6 and 7).

It should be noted that the successful management of the project is a joint commitment of all the participants. They may however agree amongst themselves to confer upon the co-ordinator additional responsibilities, provided this does not infringe on their obligations as stated in the contract they sign with the Commission.

III.5.5. Subcontractors

Sub-contractors are not participants in a project. Their function is only as service providers to a principal contractor, an assistant contractor or a member, who fully funds their activity. The costs are then reimbursable by the Commission according to the rules of the contract in force.

Sub-contractors make no financial investment in the project, and they therefore do not benefit from any intellectual property rights arising from its achievements (see boxes 6 and 7).

III.6. Project follow-up

In order for the Commission to verify the execution of the contract, participants are required to submit, via the co-ordinator interim and final reports as well as reports of costs incurred.

These reports will be analysed by Commission services in the light of the criteria, which led to the original selection of the proposal This will ensure the project conforms to the conditions associated with the Community financial contribution, and that the progress foreseen actually takes place. The reports are also used to assess whether and in what manner the project should continue to be supported.

In addition, and conforming to objectives stated in the Fifth Framework Programme decision concerning the use and dissemination of results, the Commission will follow-up the implementation of the results of the project. Therefore participants are in general required to produce a “Technology Implementation Plan” indicating how the knowledge gained will be used. The Commission will ensure, where necessary, the confidentiality of these data.

III.7. Financial contribution of the Community

The Commission undertakes a financial contribution to the work.

With the exception of those cases where the Commission's contribution takes the form of a lump sum payment, the Commission reimburses eligible costs incurred by participants as the project progresses. Payment is made in instalments at regular intervals.

III.7.1. Incurred eligible costs

Participants are required to identify and declare their eligible costs by the submission of interim and final cost statements based on the actual costs incurred for the execution of the project. Participants must retain supporting documents, which justify these costs, for at least 5 years from the end of each payment, to permit auditing by Commission services or other institutions, e.g. the European Court of Auditors.