Lead Partner Seminar Seminar for the projects approved in the seventh call for proposals JTS INTERREG IV A 2 Seas Lille, 1st July 2011

Reporting costs: Eligibility period, eligibility of expenditures, eligibility rules

Contents Basic requirements for eligibility Budget lines Eligible costs Ineligible costs Limits Eligibility rules Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? 3. Public procurement

Basic requirements for eligibility Costs are eligible if they fulfil the conditions below: Were previously identified in the approved application form Are paid out by the partners listed in the application form Are directly linked to the project implementation as described in the application form Are incurred and accounted in compliance with the Legal frameworks (EU, national and Programme) Are incurred within the eligibility period Are correctly reported under the budget lines Have been validated by the First level controllers on the basis of a sound documentation

Budget Lines Partner staff costs Administration costs (direct and indirect general costs) External consultants and suppliers Travel and accommodation Equipment Investment Validation of expenditure Detailed description of the costs to be budgeted/reported under each BL is given in Programme Manual

BL1 Partner staff costs (1) Eligible costs: Personnel costs : Staff employed by the partner organisation AND working on the project In kind contribution: Please, read carefully the Annex 5 of the Programme Manual Ineligible costs: Direct or indirect (overheads) administration costs (they are reported in BL2) Additional unjustified payments or voluntary remuneration

BL1 Partner staff costs (2) Eligibility rules: Be essential to the project Be based on a written agreement Calculation based on gross salary and payslips Use of timesheets when reporting the cost indicating the hours worked for the project (Timesheet template provided by the programme or others with similar contents) Please read carefully the Annex 6 of the Programme Manual

BL1 Partner staff costs (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Payslips Timesheets Employment/labour contracts Any other document that the first level controller might require for checking compliance with national legislation

BL2 Administration costs (1) Eligible costs: Direct general costs (direct billing to the project) All direct costs relevant to the project and related to the administration of the project can be included here; costs directly generated by the project Indirect general costs (overheads) All costs relevant and generated by the project but for which it is impossible to only have a direct bill for the project (but the overall organisation) Limits: BL2 is limited at 25% of BL1 (direct and indirect costs) both in the application form and in the reporting phase

BL2 Administration costs (2) Specific eligibility rules for direct costs: be essential to the project’s implementation would not have been incurred if the project had not been carried out be supported by invoices or other equivalent accounting documents directly attributable to the project or project staff Specific eligibility rules for indirect costs: Have to be calculated on the basis of the actual costs incurred by the whole organisation, by using a pro-rata calculation method to get to a share of indirect general cost attributable to the project Ratio: “total number of FTE employed for the project / total number of FTE employed by the organisation” (commitment in the letter of supports)

BL2 Administration costs (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? For the direct administration costs: Invoices or other equivalent accounting documents directly attributable to the project or project staff Any other document that the first level controller might require for checking compliance with national legislation For the indirect administration costs: Pro-rata calculation (supported by self-certification statements, overall supporting documents, etc...) List of the costs items that have been included in the calculation of the overheads

BL3 Consultants and suppliers (1) Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.3 Eligible costs: External consultants Suppliers of services and goods In-kind contribution Ineligible costs: Consultants/suppliers hired without tendering Contracting project partners for supplies of services or goods or expertise of any kind Contracting another unit (internal) of the same project partner organisation Advance payments which are not based on partial or full delivery of the purchased services/goods

BL3 Consultants and suppliers (2) Eligibility rules: Community and national public procurement rules are complied with prior to contracting and the basic principles of non-discrimination, transparency and objectivity have been respected Work is essential to the project Costs are reasonable according to the standard rates in the country where the contracting project partner is located In the case of consultants the daily fee cannot exceed 800 euro (excl. VAT) Limits: Consultants and experts maximum fee per day Partners cannot supply paying services/expertise to each other

BL3 Consultants and suppliers (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Evidence of compliance to public procurement rules at EU and national level Contracts for external services together with the proper documentation attesting that the public procurement rules have been complied with Invoices of the external consultants, experts, service/goods providers; Any other document that the first level controller might require for checking compliance with national legislation

BL4 Travel and accommodation (1) Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.4 Eligible costs: Travel (within programme area, in areas defined in the AF) Accommodation Subsistence allowances Ineligible costs: Costs for travels not foreseen in the Application Form which have not been approved by the JTS (If travels outside the area, request with justification should be given in advance to the JTS)

BL4 Travel and accommodation (2) Eligibility rules: Travels have to be directly related to and essential for the effective delivery of the project and covering economy class travel on public transport. As a general rule the most economic way of transport must be used Subsistence allowances for project staff occurring from project work related travel. The subsistence allowances must not exceed the usual subsistence allowances of the public authorities of the project partner country and must comply with the rules applicable in that country The total amount of accommodation and daily allowance costs cannot exceed the per diem rates set by the European Commission

BL4 Travel and accommodation (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Agenda List of participants (template provided by the programme) Mission orders (if existing) Travel report or equivalent memo (template provided by the programme) Original tickets and all other original documentary evidence for the travel (i.e. boarding pass, invoices/other equivalent documents for accommodation, in the case of e-tickets without a standard flight ticket an e-mail with the booking number serves as a proof etc.) Any other document that the first level controller might require for checking compliance with national legislation

BL5 Equipment (1) Eligible costs: Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.5 Eligible costs: Non-exhaustive list of items in the Programme Manual Depreciation allowances if the lifetime of the item is longer than the project Full cost of the item if its lifetime is shorter than the project Cost not already included in another budget line Item not purchased from another project partner within the same project Cost incurred during the eligible project duration Expenditure respecting the relevant public procurement rules Ineligible costs: Rent of equipment: leased equipment supported by regular invoices should be reported under budget line 3 ”External consultants and suppliers”, as a service supplied Equipment in the form of in-kind contribution Equipment already paid through other international, national, regional and EU funds

BL5 Equipment (2) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Evidence of compliance to public procurement rules at EU and national level in the case of purchase of equipment Evidence of the sinking plan (depreciation plan) adopted for each item In the case of equipment only partially used by the project: the calculation method to attribute share of the depreciation allowance to the project For second hand equipment: the documentation listed above under the paragraph “Second-hand equipment” Any other document that the first level controller might require for checking compliance with national legislation

BL6 Investments (1) Investment is: Purchase of land Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.6 Investment is: Purchase of land Purchase of real estate Infrastructure work a combination of the above elements Limits: At project level, the cost of the land cannot be higher than 10% of the project’s total eligible expenditure unless the target is on environmental conservation

BL6 Investments (2) Eligibility rules: Investments are eligible if there is a direct link to the purpose of the project and the planned activities Every purchased item under this budget line must not have been contributed to by other financial instruments in the past (EU, international, national, regional) Investment has to be listed in the Application Form For contribution in kind under this Budget Line, please refer to the Annex 5 in the Programme Manual Public procurement rules must be complied with The price must be in line with the market value

BL6 Investments (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Evidence of compliance with public procurement rules at EU and national level In the case of building works, documents specifying the ownership of land and/or buildings where the works will be carried out may be required as well as proof of commitment to establish and maintain an inventory of all fixed assets acquired, built or improved under the ERDF grant Documents pertaining to the investment may be required such as feasibility studies, Environmental Impact Assessment, planning permission, and further information on the tender procedure

BL6 Investments (4) In the case of land and real estate purchase or provision, it may be required to provide either: a document explaining the direct link between the purchase and the objectives of the co-financed operation or a certificate from an independent qualified evaluator or duly authorised official body confirming that the purchase price or the provision value does not exceed the market value Any other document that the first level controller might require

BL7 Validation of expenditures Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.7 All costs for project first level controls are eligible costs Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? In the case of decentralised first level control system: Evidence of compliance to public procurement rules at EU and national level Service contract Invoice released by the first level controller of a decentralised system In the case of a centralised first level control system: Invoice/note or other equivalent probative document provided by the first level controllers to support the expenditure

Revenue (1) Cf. Programme Manual, 4.3.8 Revenue: To be listed only if there is profit (net revenue!) generated by selling items/by provision of services The generated net revenue must be declared and will be deducted from eligible costs in full or pro-rata depending on whether it was generated entirely or only partly by the co-financed operation The ERDF funding will be calculated on the basis of the total cost after deduction of the revenue If net revenues are generated up to 5 years after the project closure, these revenues have to be communicated to the JTS; as a consequence some ERDF will have to be reimbursed to the Certifying Authority.

Revenue (2) Example: Profit Generated No profit Eligible costs 100.000 € Profit 10.000 € 0 € Claimed costs (100.000-10.000)= 90 000 € ERDF 50% 45.000 € 50.000 €

Revenue (3) Which documents must be provided to the first level controller? Any accounting document attesting the revenue that has been generated by the project partner (receipts, invoices, other equivalent probative document) Forecast of future revenues after project end (if existing) and consequent action plan

Public procurement (1) Why public procurement rules? Cf. Programme Manual, Annex 8 Why public procurement rules? The purchase of goods and of services, as well as the order for public works, by public services or other public bodies is subject to Community and national rules The procurement rules aim at securing transparent and fair conditions for competition in the common market Since you apply for public funding you have to comply with these rules All project partners and lead partners (despite of their status!) must comply with public tender/procurement regulations whenever they intend to contract an external organisation for supplying goods or services, including expertise

Public procurement (2) Implication for projects? Only costs complying with public procurement rules shall be considered eligible for funding These rules must be applied by all the organisations listed as project partners in the application form For public procurement procedures, you shall refer to: EU public procurement rules National public procurement rules Programme Manual

Public procurement (3) Public service contract The value is higher than the threshold set by European Commission? No Yes European Public procurement rules apply Check the National/regional rules for public procurement and threshold at national level The amount is below national thresholds? “Three quotations rule” apply National rules for launching the tender apply