Galileo-EGNOS award scheme innovative ideas and support for incubation 233/G/GROW/SAT/16/9288

Date de clôture : 19 oct. 2016  
APPEL À PROJET CLÔTURÉ

1. CONTEXT

1.1. BACKGROUND

The Galileo programme is Europe's initiative for a state-of-the-art GNSS (Global Navigation Satellite System) infrastructure, providing a highly accurate, guaranteed global positioning service specifically designed for civilian purposes. While providing autonomous navigation and positioning services, Galileo will assure interoperability with the Global Positioning System (GPS) - USA and Global Navigation Satellite System (GLONASS) - Russia, the two other already deployed global satellite navigation systems as well as with Beidou, the global Chinese GNSS system.

The fully deployed system established under the Galileo Programme will consist of 30 satellites and the associated ground infrastructure. Fourteen satellites have been launched, till now and initial operational services declaration by the end of 2016

Galileo will offer four Services to its users worldwide:

- an open service (OS), which is free of charge to the user and provides positioning and synchronisation information intended mainly for high-volume satellite navigation applications;

- a commercial service (CS) for the development of applications for professional or commercial use by means of improved performance and data with greater added value than those obtained through the open service;

- a public regulated service (PRS) restricted to government-authorised users, for sensitive applications which require a high level of service continuity;

- a search and rescue support service (SAR) contributing to the global COSPAS-SARSAT system by detecting distress signals transmitted by beacons and relaying messages to them.

In addition, Galileo will also contribute by means of its open service signals and/or in cooperation with other satellite navigation systems, to integrity-monitoring services aimed at users of safety- of-life applications in compliance with international standards.

The European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS) is the first pan-European satellite navigation system. It augments the Global Positioning System satellite navigation and it makes it suitable for safety critical applications such as flying aircraft or navigating ships through narrow channels. Consisting of three geostationary satellites and a network of ground stations, EGNOS achieves its aim by transmitting a signal containing information on the reliability and accuracy of the positioning signals sent out by GPS.

EGNOS is already operational and it is offering the following Services:

- an open service (OS), which is free of charge to the user, and provides positioning and synchronisation information intended mainly for high-volume satellite navigation applications in the area covered by the EGNOS system;

- a service for the dissemination of commercial data, namely the EGNOS Data Access Service (EDAS), to promote the development of applications for professional or commercial use by means of improved performance and data with greater added value than those obtained through its open service

- a safety-of-life service (SoL) aimed at users for whom safety is essential; this service, which is provided free of direct user charges, fulfils in particular the requirements of certain sectors, namely the civil aviation, for continuity, availability and accuracy and includes an integrity message alerting the user to any failure in, or out-of-tolerance signals from, systems augmented by the EGNOS system over the coverage area.In this frame, the European Union has engaged in promoting the development of downstream applications based on EU GNSS technology to maximize the spill-over benefits from building the EU GNSS infrastructure.

From experience on the GNSS as well as on other innovative technologies, the prize-winning concept is an effective tool to prompt generation of new ideas ready to spin-off and/or to go into market introduction, as well as to provide visibility and crucial seed financing to prize winners. EU funding may also play a key 'signalling' role in attracting further private financing to the innovative ventures.

This prize award shall also increase the visibility of the EU GNSS flagship programmes (GALILEO/EGNOS). The European Commission therefore wishes to award a grant to an organization, or a consortium, that takes the action to organise and operate an EGNOS/GALILEO award and incubation scheme.

This call is launched under Regulation (EU) 1285/2013 and in accordance with the "2016 Work programme and the financing for the implementation and exploitation of the European satellite navigation programmes".

2. OBJECTIVE OF THE CALL

The principal objective of the EU grant is to co-finance the operation of a prize awarding mechanism and incubation support for innovative applications developed by entrepreneurs and based on the EU Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) technologies (EGNOS/GALILEO). That mechanism aims to promote the industrial innovation and the uptake of high-technologies across Europe.

The grant aims to contribute to the funding of an EU-wide prize-awarding scheme and incubation/acceleration support by public or private organizations that reward the development of specific space downstream applications (i.e. using GNSS as building component). The grant aims also to improve the quality of submitted ideas as well as the number of applications from EU Member states and other countries.

This prize-award scheme and incubation/acceleration support intends to foster the emergence of new applications based on GALILEO/EGNOS and also to support the EU industry developing downstream applications based on EU GNSS technologies & programmes (EGNOS/GALILEO). The awards should promote the visibility of the two flagship projects of the Union, and generate a

flow of viable projects to be further incubated and accelerated in view of actual commercial exploitation

The prize awarding mechanism and incubation support should involve participation from all EU Member States (MS) and European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) countries.

Participants & award winners shall be monitored to measure their long term performance, before and after taking part to the competition (e.g. on their financial/commercial performance)

2.1. Specific call objectives

1. Reward companies and/or entrepreneurs for their development of innovative GNSS applications, emphasizing the added-value of the use of EGNOS/Galileo and their synergies with Copernicus earth observation technology.

2. Encourage SMEs and innovative entrepreneurs/organizations to invest in EGNOS/Galileo based applications.

3. Make new GNSS-based ideas known, thus creating opportunities for SMEs to raise support not only at a local level but also at a broader scale.

4. Foster pan-European space downstream entrepreneurship.

5. Increase the quality of the competing ideas.

6. Lower the "cost of entry" for regional organizations or private sponsors willing to fund GNSS R&D, therefore creating an incentive to other sponsors to offer special prizes in application domains of particular interest.

7. Provide support to start-ups in GNSS downstream applications. The award shall be embedded into an integrated innovation support scheme and should represent an initial/intermediate step to access finance and or other support schemes, aimed at creating commercially viable new ventures.

8. Promote development of downstream applications using EU GNSS technologies and their synergies with Copernicus earth observation technology.

2.2. Type of actions eligible for funding

1. Organization and management of a yearly GALILEO/EGNOS prize-awarding competition covering all necessary tasks such as elaboration of a well-defined, fair and transparent prize awarding scheme, publication of calls for idea, evaluation by experts of submitted ideas, prize awarding event, dissemination 'inbound'( i.e. to increase the number and the quality of innovative ideas submitted to the GALILEO prize-awarding competition), dissemination 'outbound' (i.e. obtain adequate visibility within the Europe and worldwide GNSS industry - including academic and research - to promote the competition, its sponsors, participants and prize winners).

2. Prizes: co-financing of prizes for innovative ideas in GALILEO/EGNOS-enabled applications.

3. Incubation & acceleration: co-financing of market expert coaching and technical support to prize winners and top placed ideas in view of promoting actual commercialisation of new product and services.

 

2.3 Rules regarding the prize organisation

1. The beneficiaries of prizes and incubation & acceleration may be natural persons (e.g. scientist, entrepreneurs) or a group of natural persons, legal persons (incorporated or at start up stage), NGOs.

2. The minimum criteria to award prizes and incubation & acceleration support shall be the:

1. Innovative content of the proposal in relation to the state of the art in the industry.

2. Commercial potential of the proposed idea (i.e. market size addressed, competitive advantage shown, quality of the business plan).

3. Quality of the human resources involved (e.g. technical, management and commercial background of the persons relevant for the proposed idea).

3. The geographical coverage of the awards should cover all EU MS and ENP Countries

 

2.4 Reporting to be submitted by the beneficiary/ies:

1. Twice-yearly report on the GALILEO/EGNOS prize-awarding scheme, including quantitative and qualitative information on the applications, selection procedures and prize-awarding process (including reporting on the use of the grant with an outlook for the remaining period)
2. Evaluation reports of the prize awarding boards
3. Publicationanddisseminationofyearbookswithabstractsofallsubmittedideas
4. Report on the activity of the winning and incubated ideas, yearly evaluation reports on the prize winners' financial and commercial performance 

 

3. TIMETABLE

Scheduled start-up date for the action: December 2016 Maximum duration of action is: 36 months

The period of eligibility of costs will start at the earliest on the day the agreement is signed by the last of the parties. If a beneficiary can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, the expenditure may be eligible as from a date before the agreement is signed. Under no circumstances can the eligibility period start before the date of submission of the grant application.

A maximum extension of 12 months may be granted if requsted before the end date of the action.

 

Publication of the call

August 2016

 

 

Deadline for submitting applications

19/10/2016,12.00

 

 

Information to applicants

November 2016

 

 

Signature of grant agreement or notification of grant decision

December 2016

 

Starting date of the action/ work programme

December 2016

 

Maximum budget allocated for EU financing under this call: € 1.500.000 Breakdown by individual objectives:

Activity 2.2.1-management: €213.000

Management costs may include expenses such as the overall legal, financial and administrative management of the action;; other management activities foreseen in Annex I to the Grant Agreement.

Activity 2.2.2- prizes: €900.000

The prizes may consist of: • financial prizes

• in-kind support (through, for instance and not exclusively, the provision, at no cost for the prize winner, of services or material to the prize winner to further refine & develop his/her innovation (e.g. technical assistance, hours of independent researchers and technical staff)

Activity 2.2.3-incubation & acceleration support: €360.000

• Acquisition of support in specialised incubation centres (through, for instance and not exclusively, the provision, at no cost for the winner, of services or material to the winner to prototype and/or to bring to the commercial stage his/her innovation (e.g. hours of laboratory testing, technical assistance, hours of independent researchers and technical staff)

The budget may be transferred between the activities 2.2.2 and 2.2.3, if required, to ensure maximum use of the available budget, (e.g. if not enough ideas are found to be incubated/accelerated.)

Indicative number of projects: 1
Maximum EU financing rate of eligible costs:

- 70% for management costs with an annual ceiling of € 71.000

- 60% for prize costs with a ceiling of € 10 000 per prize

- 70% for incubation & acceleration support costs with a ceiling of € 43 000 per incubation & acceleration

Indicatively, 30 prizes and 3 ideas incubated/accelerated should be co-funded per year

Maximum EU financing amount: € 1.500.000 

Proposals with an EU co-financing beyond any of the above maxima will not be eligible.

The Commission reserves the right to award a grant of less than the amount requested by the applicant. In such a case, the applicant will be asked either to increase their co-financing, propose other co-financing means or to decrease the total costs without altering the substance of the proposal. Grants will not be awarded for more than the amount requested.

Publication of the call (on the Commission Internet site and/or in the Official Journal) does not guarantee the availability of funds for the above action.

4.1. GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF EU FUNDING

Non-cumulative award
Each action may give rise to the award of only one grant from the budget to any one beneficiary. In no circumstances shall the same costs be financed twice by the Union budget.

Applicants have to inform the Commission immediately of any multiple applications and multiple grants relating to the same action. The applicant shall inform about sources and amounts of EU funding received or applied for the same action or for part of the action. Applicants shall indicate if they receive EU funding for their functioning during the financial year in which the action takes place.

Non-retroactivity

No grant may be awarded retrospectively for actions already completed.

A grant may be awarded for an action which has already begun, provided the applicant can demonstrate the need to start the action before the grant agreement is signed. In such cases, costs eligible for financing may not have been incurred prior to the date of submission of the grant application.

Co-financing

Grants shall involve co-financing, which implies that the resources necessary to carry out the action or the work programme shall not be provided entirely by EU contribution. EU financing may not cover 100% of the total costs of the action.

Co-financing of the action or of the work programme may take the form of:

• −  the beneficiary's own resources,

• −  income generated by the action or work programme,

• −  financial contributions from third parties.

Non-profit rule

EU grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action of the work programme of the beneficiary.

Where a profit is made, the Commission is entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the EU contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred. For this purpose, profit shall be defined as a surplus of the receipts over the eligible costs incurred, when the request for payment of the balance is made.

Balanced budget

The estimated budget of the action or work programme is to be attached to the application form. It must have revenue and expenditure in balance.

The budget must be drawn up in euros.

Applicants, who foresee that costs will not be incurred in euros, are invited to use the exchange rate published [in the Official Journal of the European Union] [on the Infor-euro website available at http://ec.europa.eu/budget/contracts_grants/info_contracts/inforeuro/inforeuro_en.cfm.] 

 

4.2. ELIGIBLE COSTS

In order be eligible for funding, costs should be actually incurred by the beneficiary and meet the following criteria:

• −  they are incurred during the duration of the action or work programme, as indicated in the grant agreement, with the exception of costs relating to the request for payment of the balance and the corresponding supporting documents (audit certificates);

• −  they are indicated in the estimated budget of the action or work programme;

• −  they are necessary for the implementation of the action or of the work programme, in

  accordance with the description of the action, attached to the grant agreement;

• −  they are identifiable and verifiable, in particular being recorded in the accounting records of the beneficiary and determined according to the applicable accounting standards of the country where the beneficiary is established and according to the usual cost accounting practices of the beneficiary;

• −  they comply with the requirements of applicable tax and social legislation;

• −  they are reasonable, justified, and comply with the principle of sound financial management, in particular regarding economy and efficiency.

The beneficiary's internal accounting and auditing procedures must permit direct reconciliation of the costs and revenue declared in respect of the action/project with the corresponding accounting statements and supporting documents.

The costs made by affiliated entities can be eligible, provided that:

• −  the entities concerned are identified in the grant agreement;

• −  the entities concerned abide by the rules applicable to the beneficiary under the grant agreement with regard to eligibility of costs and rights of checks and audits by the Commission, OLAF and the Court of Auditors.

4.2.1. Eligible direct costs

Direct costs of the action are those specific costs which are directly linked to the implementation of the action and can therefore be attributed directly to it. They shall not include any eligible indirect costs.

The following categories of costs can be considered as eligible direct costs: 

• −  the costs of personnel working under an employment contract with the beneficiary or an equivalent appointing act and assigned to the action, comprising actual salaries plus social security contributions and other statutory costs included in the remuneration, provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary's usual policy on remuneration. Those costs may also include additional remunerations, including payments on the basis of supplementary contracts regardless of the nature of those contracts, provided that they are paid in a consistent manner whenever the same kind of work or expertise is required, independently from the source of funding used.

• −  costs of travel and related subsistence allowances, provided that these costs are in line with the beneficiary's usual practices on travel;

• −  the depreciation costs of equipment or other assets (new or second-hand) as recorded in the accounting statements of the beneficiary, provided that the asset has been purchased in accordance with the conditions applicable to implementation contracts and that it is written off in accordance with the international accounting standards and the usual accounting practices of the beneficiary

• −  costs of consumables and supplies, provided that they are purchased in accordance with the conditions applicable to implementation contracts;

• −  costs arising directly from requirements imposed by the grant agreement (dissemination of information, specific evaluation of the action, audits, translations, reproduction), including the costs of requested financial guarantees, provided that the corresponding services are purchased in accordance with the conditions applicable to implementation contracts;

• −  costs entailed by subcontracts, concluded for the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action or workproramme as described in the proposal, provided that the conditions with the conditions applicable to implementation contracts are met;

• −  costs of financial support to third parties, in accordance with the conditions set by the

grant agreement for such financing;

• −  duties, taxes and charges paid by the beneficiary, provided that they are included in eligible direct costs, and unless specified otherwise in the Agreement.

• −  costs relating to a pre-financing guarantee lodged by the beneficiary of the grant, where that guarantee is a condition for the payment of a pre-financing; 

 

1. 4.2.2. Eligible indirect costs

   A flat-rate amount of 7% of the total eligible direct costs of the action is eligible under indirect costs, representing the beneficiary's general administrative costs which can be regarded as chargeable to the action/project.

 

The beneficiary may opt for declaring indirect costs on a real cost basis. On condition that the beneficiary has a cost accounting system enabling him to determine the overheads charged to activities of the action in question, by means of distribution keys, these costs can be reported based on actual costs incurred. In such case, indirect costs are to be identified and substantiated in the accounts.

Indirect costs may not include costs entered under another budget heading.

Indirect costs are not eligible for beneficiaries that receive an operating grant from the European Commission.

4.2.3. Non-eligible costs

In addition to any other costs which do not fulfill the conditions set out in Article II.19.1, the following costs shall not be considered eligible:

• −  return on capital;

• −  debt and debt service charges;

• −  provisions for losses or debts;

• −  interest owed;

• −  doubtful debts;

• −  exchange losses;

• −  costs of transfers from the Commission charged by the bank of a beneficiary;

• −  costs declared by the beneficiary in the framework of another action receiving a grant

  financed from the Union budget (including grants awarded by a Member State and financed from the Union budget and grants awarded by other bodies than the Commission for the purpose of implementing the Union budget);

• −  in particular, indirect costs shall not be eligible under a grant for an action awarded to a beneficiary which already receives an operating grant financed from the Union budget during the period in question;

• −  contributions in kind from third parties;

• −  excessive or reckless expenditure;

• −  deductible VAT.

• −  participation by any staff of the institutions in actions receiving grants

• −  any other costs which have been specified as ineligible in the call for proposal 

In addition to the above, the Commission can refuse to finance certain costs included in the proposal. The beneficiary can decide to maintain and finance these costs out of his own resources, but they will not be taken into account as eligible costs.

 

4.3. CO-FINANCING AND JOINT AND SEVERAL RESPONSIBILITY

The beneficiary has to supply evidence of the co-financing provided. It can be provided either by way of own resources, or in the form of financial transfers from third parties,

In case of a joint application, all partners shall agree upon appropriate arrangements between themselves for the proper performance of the action. In particular, they shall accept joint and several responsibility up to the value of the contribution that the beneficiary held liable is entitled to receive, as stipulated in the General Conditions of the draft grant agreement 

 

The final grant agreement shall be signed by each applicant. Alternatively it shall be signed by the appointed co-ordinator, provided that a power of attorney has been conferred to this entity (Annex IV of the draft grant agreement).

4.4. IMPLEMENTATION CONTRACTS/SUBCONTRACTING

Where the implementation of the action or the work programme requires the use of contracts (implementation contracts), the beneficiary must ensure that the contract is awarded to the bid offering best value for money or the lowest price (as appropriate), avoiding conflicts of interests and retain the documentation for the event of an audit.

Entities acting in their capacity of contracting authorities shall abide by the applicable national public procurement rules, in the meaning of Directive 2014/24/EU on the coordination of procedures for the award of public work contracts, public supply contracts and public service contracts or contracting entities in the meaning of Directive 2014/25/EU coordinating the procurement procedures of entities operating in the water, energy, transport and postal services sectors.

Sub-contracting for the purpose of the action

Sub-contracting refers to contracts concluded for the externalisation of specific tasks or activities which form part of the action or work programme as described in the proposal. Such contracts must satisfy the conditions applicable to any implementation contract and, in addition, the following conditions:

− Subcontracting may only cover the implementation of alimited part of the action
− It must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation;

− The proposal should clearly identify the subcontracted activities

Subcontracting does not in any way limit the responsibility of beneficiaries for the implementation of the action. Please note that the beneficiary(ies) should have the necessary capacity to perform the project. Only tasks that are not core business can be sub-contracted to consultants.

It is not necessary to have already selected subcontractors at the time the proposal is submitted. However, cost of contractors not selected in accordance with the applicable rules for procurement will not be eligible. 

 

4.5. FINANCIAL SUPPORT TO THIRD PARTIES

The applications may envisage provision of financial support to third parties.

The applications may envisage provision of financial support to third parties. In such case the applications must include:

− an exhaustive list of the types of activities for which a third party may receive financial support. The types of activities for which third party financing may be envisaged are the following:

− prizes

− incubation and acceleration support

• −  the definition of the persons or categories of persons which may receive financial support,

• −  the criteria for awarding financial support,

• −  the maximum amount to be granted to each third party and the criteria for determining it.

  The amount of financial support per third party must not exceed the amounts set out in the section 4. 

4.6. FINAL GRANT AND PAYMENT ARRANGEMENTS

The draft grant agreement annexed to this call for proposals specifies the calculation of the final grant and the payment arrangements.

Your attention is in particular drawn to the General Conditions of the grant agreement, where the eligibility of costs is described. Detailed explanations and a description how costs should be budgeted and reported can be found in the Guide for Applicants.

In case of grants of at least 750.000 €, when the cumulative amounts of request for payment is at least 325.000 €, a certificate by a registered auditor on the financial statements and underlying accounts (“certificate on the financial statements”) has to be submitted to certify that the costs reported are real, accurate and in accordance with the grant agreement.

EU grant may not have the purpose or effect of producing a profit within the framework of the action of the work programme of the beneficiary. Where a profit is made, the Commission is entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the EU contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred. For this purpose, profit is defined as a surplus of the receipts over the eligible costs incurred by the beneficiary, when the request is made for payment of the balance. Where such a surplus occurs, the Commission is entitled to recover the percentage of the profit corresponding to the EU contribution to the eligible costs actually incurred by the beneficiary.

The Commission may require the beneficiary to lodge a guarantee for grants exceeding € 60 000, based on a risk analysis.

In the event that the applicant's financial capacity is not satisfactory, a pre-financing guarantee for up to the same amount as the pre-financing may be requested in order to limit the financial risks linked to the pre-financing payment.

The financial guarantee, in euro, shall be provided by an approved bank or financial institution established in one of the Member State of the European Union. When the beneficiary is established in a third country, the authorising officer responsible may agree that a bank or financial institution established in that third country may provide the guarantee if he considers that the bank or financial institution offers equivalent security and characteristics as those offered by a bank or financial institution established in a Member State. Amounts blocked in bank accounts shall not be accepted as financial guarantees.

The guarantee may be replaced by a joint and several guarantee by a third party or by a joint guarantee of the beneficiaries of an action who are parties to the same grant agreement.

5. ELIGIBILITY

APPLICATIONS MUST COMPLY WITH ALL OF THE ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA SET OUT IN THIS SECTION.

5.1. ELIGIBLE APPLICANTS

Applications from legal entities established in one of the following countries are eligible: − EUMemberStates
− Switzerland,Norway

Several applicants, submitting a joint proposal should choose within their midst a lead organisation, referred to as the coordinator.

The coordinator and other applicants must satisfy the same eligibility criteria. All applicants must satisfy the same eligibility criteria

• −  Applications must be submitted by a legal person

• −  Applicants must correspond to the definition, of the following target organisations

  1. (1)  Companies;

  2. (2)  Non-profit organization;

  3. (3)  Association of companies and local/regional authorities;

  4. (4)  Association of companies, local/regional authorities and non-profit organization;

• −  Corporate bodies must be properly constituted and registered under the law. If a body or organisation is not constituted under the law, a physical person must be designated to provide the legal responsibility.

• −  Legal entities having a legal or capital link with applicants, which is neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation, may take part in the action as affiliated entities, and may declare eligible costs. For that purpose, applicants shall identify such affiliated entities in the application form. The affiliated entities will have to comply with the eligibility and exclusion criteria.

• −  Several entities that form together one entity, whether or not this entity is established for the purpose of implementing the action, may apply as a sole beneficiary. The entities will be considered as affiliated entities, which each will have to comply with eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria. 

 

Supporting documents

Subject to the eligibility criteria indicated above, the applicants should provide the following supporting documents to establish their eligibility:

 

 

• −  private entity: extract from the official journal, copy of articles of association, extract of trade or association register, certificate of liability to VAT (if, as in certain countries, the trade register number and VAT number are identical, only one of these documents is required);

• −  public entity: copy of the resolution or decision establishing the public company, or other official document establishing the public-law entity;

• −  consortium: in addition to the supporting documents referring to their legal status, consortium members will submit letters confirming their participation to the project,

• −  natural persons: photocopy of identity card and/or passport;

• −  entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf.

5.2. ADMISSIBLE AND ELIGIBLE PROPOSALS

Applications must comply with the following conditions in order to be eligible for a grant:

 

• −  Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 9.

• −  Applications must be submitted in writing, using the application form and the electronic submission system, as indicated in the Guide for Applicants.

• −  Applications must be drafted in one of the EU official Languages. If your proposal is not in English, a translation of the full proposal would be of assistance to the evaluators. An English translation of an abstract may be included in the proposal (see Guide for Applicants).

• −  Proposals must be submitted in conformity with the call specifications; 17

• −  Only projects that are strictly non-profit-making and/or whose immediate objective is non- commercial shall be eligible.

• −  Applications must respect the maximum rate for EU co-financing.

• −  Applications must respect the maximum amount for EU co-financing.

• −  Applications must respect the maximum duration of projects.

• −  Applications may not include contributions in kind as part of their co-financing.

In this context, will be rejected any project directly or indirectly contrary to EU policy or against public health, human rights, citizen’s security or freedom of expression. 

 

6. EXCLUSION CRITERIA

6.1. EXCLUSION FROM PARTICIPATION

An entity will be excluded from participating in the call for proposals procedure if:

(a) it is bankrupt, subject to insolvency or winding-up procedures, where its assets are being administered by a liquidator or by a court, where it is in an arrangement with creditors, where its business activities are suspended, or where it is in any analogous situation arising from a similar procedure provided for under national laws or regulations;

(b) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the entity is in breach of its obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions in accordance with the law of the country in which it is established, with those of the country in which the contracting authority is located or those of the country of the performance of the contract;

(c) it has been established by a final judgment or a final administrative decision that the entity is guilty of grave professional misconduct by having violated applicable laws or regulations or ethical standards of the profession to which the applicant belongs, or by having engaged in any wrongful conduct which has an impact on its professional credibility where such conduct denotes wrongful intent or gross negligence, including, in particular, any of the following:

(i) fraudulently or negligently misrepresenting information required for the verification of the absence of grounds for exclusion or the fulfilment of selection criteria or in the performance of a contract;

(ii) entering into agreement with other entity with the aim of distorting competition; (iii) violating intellectual property rights;

(iv) attempting to influence the decision-making process of the contracting authority during the award procedure;

(v) attempting to obtain confidential information that may confer upon it undue advantages in the award procedure;

(d) it has been established by a final judgment that the entity is guilty of any of the following:

(i) fraud, within the meaning of Article 1 of the Convention on the protection of the European Communities' financial interests, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 July 1995;

(ii) corruption, as defined in Article 3 of the Convention on the fight against corruption involving officials of the European Communities or officials of Member States of the European Union, drawn up by the Council Act of 26 May 1997, and in Article 2(1) of Council Framework Decision 2003/568/JHA, as well as corruption as defined in the law of the country where the contracting authority is located, the country in which the applicant is established or the country of the performance of the contract;

(iii) participation in a criminal organisation, as defined in Article 2 of Council Framework Decision 2008/841/JHA;

(iv) money laundering or terrorist financing, as defined in Article 1 of Directive 2005/60/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(v) terrorist-related offences or offences linked to terrorist activities, as defined in Articles 1 and 3 of Council Framework Decision 2002/475/JHA, respectively, or inciting, aiding, abetting or attempting to commit such offences, as referred to in Article 4 of that Decision;

(vi) child labour or other forms of trafficking in human beings as defined in Article 2 of Directive 2011/36/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council;

(e) the entity has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the performance of a contract financed by the budget, which has led to its early termination or to the application of liquidated damages or other contractual penalties, or which has been discovered following checks, audits or investigations by an authorising officer, OLAF or the Court of Auditors;

(f) it has been established by a final judgment or final administrative decision that the entity has committed an irregularity within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) No 2988/95.

g) for the situations of grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, other criminal offences, significant deficiencies in the performance of the contract or irregularity, the applicant is subject to:

(i.) facts established in the context of audits or investigations carried out by the Court of Auditors, OLAF or internal audit, or any other check, audit or control performed under the responsibility of an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body;

(ii.) non-final administrative decisions which may include disciplinary measures taken by the competent supervisory body responsible for the verification of the application of standards of professional ethics;

(iii) decisions of the ECB, the EIB, the European Investment Fund or international organisations;

(iv) decisions of the Commission relating to the infringement of the Union's competition rules or of a national competent authority relating to the infringement of Union or national competition law.

(v) decisions of exclusion by an authorising officer of an EU institution, of a European office or of an EU agency or body.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities

6.2. EXCLUSION FROM AWARD

Grants will not be awarded to applicant who, in the course of the grant award procedure is: (a) is in a situation of exclusion established in accordance with Article 106 FR

(b) has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the grant award procedure or has failed to supply that information;

(c) was previously involved in the preparation of procurement documents where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.

The same exclusion criteria apply to affiliated entities

6.3. SUPPORTING DOCUMENTS

Applicants must sign a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to by filling in the “Exclusion Criteria Form” (form B4)

Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, or affiliated entities where applicable, who are guilty of misrepresentation.

By using the “Exclusion Criteria Form” applicants shall declare on their honour that they are not in one of the situations referred to in Articles 106 and 107 of the Regulation (EC, Euratom) n° 966/2012 on the financial rules applicable to the general budget of the Union (Financial Regulation, as amended).

Please note that administrative and financial penalties may be imposed by the Commission on applicants who are excluded in relation to points a) to g) of the form in question.

For grants with a value exceeding € 60 000, the Commission may require further evidence, as indicated in article 143 Rules of Application.

7. SELECTION

7.1. FINANCIAL CAPACITY

Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the period during which the action is being carried out or the year for which the grant is awarded and to participate in its funding. The applicants' financial capacity will be assessed on the basis of the following supporting documents to be submitted with the application:

For grants of a total value < EUR 60 000: 

− a declaration on honour
For grants of a total value ≥ EUR 60 000, in addition:

• −  a declaration on honour and,

−  form B/5 provided for in the submission set, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures.
Other documents may be submitted if needed (see IV.4 Guide to applicants)

For grants for an action ≥ EUR 750 000 or operating grants ≥ EUR 100 000, in addition:

− an audit report produced by an approved external auditor certifying the accounts for the last financial year available.

In the event of an application grouping several applicants (consortium), the above threshold regarding audit reports applies per applicant.

In the case of affiliated entities forming together one sole applicant, the above requirements apply to each of the affiliated entity.

 

7.2. OPERATIONAL CAPACITY

Applicants must show they have the operational (technical and management) capacity to complete the operation to be supported and must demonstrate their capacity to manage scale activity corresponding to the size of the project for which the grant is requested. In particular, the team responsible for the project/operation must have adequate professional qualifications and experience.

The applicants will need to demonstrate extensive successful past experiences in running similar hi tech prize awarding and incubation contexts in Europe, and in the field of GNSS downstream applications.

In this respect, applicants have to submit: a declaration on their honour,

- the following supporting documents:

Examples:

• −  curriculum vitae or description of the profile of the people primarily responsible for managing and implementing the operation (accompanied where appropriate, like in the field of research and education, by a list of relevant publications);

• −  the organisations’ activity reports;

• −  an exhaustive lists of previous projects and activities performed and connected to the policy field of a given call or to the actions to be carried out; 

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