Post Application Stage

What happens once the application is submitted?

All applications received by the National Agencies or by the Executive Agency undergo an evaluation procedure.

The Evaluation Procedure

Project proposals are evaluated by the National or Executive Agency receiving the application, exclusively on the basis of the criteria described in this Guide.

The evaluation implies:

• perform a check to verify that the admissibility, eligibility, exclusion and selection criteria are respected;
• evaluate the extent to which the participating organisations meet the award criteria (except in the case of grant request under Volunteering Projects). Such quality assessment is in most cases carried out with the support of independent experts. In their assessment, experts could be supported by guidelines developed by the European Commission; where available, these guidelines will be made available on the websites of the European Commission and of the Agencies responsible for the management of projects;
• verify that the proposal does not present risks of double funding. If necessary, such verification is carried out in cooperation with other Agencies or other stakeholders.

The National or Executive Agency will appoint an evaluation committee to manage the whole selection process. On the basis of the assessment carried out by the evaluation committee – if needed with the support of experts – will select and establish a list of projects proposed for the grant award.

For all actions covered by this Guide, during the evaluation process, applicants may be asked to provide additional information or to clarify the supporting documents submitted in connection with the application, provided that such information or clarification does not substantially change the proposal. Additional information and clarifications are particularly justified in case of obvious clerical errors made by the applicant, or in those cases where – for projects funded through multi-beneficiary agreements – one or more mandates of the partners are missing.

Final Decision

At the end of the evaluation procedure, the National or Executive Agency decides on the projects to be granted on the basis of:

• the ranking list proposed by the evaluation committee (for Solidarity Projects and Volunteering Teams in High Priority Areas);
• the budget available for any given Action

 Notification of results

All applicants will be informed about the evaluation result through an evaluation result letter. This letter will contain further instructions about the next steps in the process towards the signature of the grant agreement.

 Contracting

Grant agreements may take the form of mono-beneficiary agreements, with the applicant being the single beneficiary, or multi-beneficiary agreements, where all partner organisations of the consortium become beneficiaries of the agreement. The multi-beneficiary agreement is signed by the coordinator which is the only contact point for the National or Executive Agency.

The grant agreements are sent to the selected projects, and these include the General Conditions.

• 2021 General Conditions

Payment to European Solidarity Corps Beneficiaries

Pre-financing Payment

The National Agency provides pre-financing payment to beneficiaries after the Grant Agreement is signed by both parties (the beneficiary and the National Agency). Pre-financing is intended to provide the beneficiary with a float. The first pre-financing payment may be split into two or more instalments, depending on the type of action that the project is addressing as well as the result of the risk assessment conducted by the Agency.

Interim and Final Payment

The interim and final payment will be disbursed by the National Agency on the basis of the analysis of reports and eligibility of payment requests submitted by the beneficiary, in accordance with the relative clauses of the Grant Agreement.

The beneficiary is advised to refer to the section ‘Payment Procedures’ in the European Solidarity Corps Programme Guide which is published annually by the European Commission for further details.

Means of Redress

How to make an appeal?

If you wish to appeal a decision made by the MT National Agency (European Union Programmes Agency – EUPA) in relation to your Erasmus+ or European Solidarity Corps application for funding or grant agreement, you must follow the appeals procedure below.

Please note that you may only appeal if you believe the EUPA has not followed the correct procedures as set out in the relevant Commission Call for Proposals or in the National Agency’s selection procedure.

What is an appeal?

An appeal is defined as ‘a request for a review of a decision taken by the EUPA that you feel has not followed procedures on the scoring and/or feedback of an unsuccessful application, or the calculation of a final grant amount’. To provide the means of redress, there is an appeals procedure for Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps applicants and beneficiaries where you are required to state the exact procedure(s) not followed.

When is an appeal actually a complaint?

If an appeal documents non-specific evidence, or notes dissatisfaction with the outcome of an application round or final report assessment, this will be treated as a complaint not as an appeal, and will be processed accordingly.

Who can appeal?

Applicants

For Erasmus+ and European Solidarity Corps applicants (the person or organisation/institution submitting a grant application to the EUPA), appeals may be considered where, for example, your application is unsuccessful. Please note that EUPA can only change the status of your application in the event of an administrative error on its part or where the below procedure was not followed:

“Selection of project’s applications submitted under the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps Programmes takes the following steps.

• Eligibility Check of Project Applications
• Qualitative Assessment of Grant Applications by Independent Experts
• Evaluation of Assessments by an independent Projects Evaluation Committee
• Grant Award Decision”

EUPA cannot consider information that was not included in the original application form.

 Beneficiaries

For Erasmus+ or European Solidarity Corps beneficiaries (the person or institution/organisation signing the grant agreement issued by the EUPA), appeals may be considered in relation to your grant where, for example, you believe that your final grant amount may have been miscalculated. Please note that EUPA can only reconsider our decision regarding your grant in the event of an administrative error or where the special conditions and annexes of the grant agreement have not been adhered to.

When to appeal?

You can only appeal once per application or project at each stage of the process i.e. application and final report. If your project has been on a reserve list post-application, the EUPA cannot give you a further opportunity to appeal.

How to appeal?

Appeals may be made in writing by downloading and completing the Erasmus+ / European Solidarity Corps Appeals Form. Your completed form should then be emailed to the EUPA as stated in the form. This should be done within the following timescales:

• For appeals relating to an Erasmus+ or European Solidarity Corps application – within 5 calendar days of the decision being communicated to you.
• For appeals relating to any other decision made by the EUPA – within 30 calendar days of the decision being communicated to you.

EUPA will always give you notification of the appeals timescale when communicating a decision. EUPA aims to acknowledge your appeal in writing within five working days. Appeals will be dealt with according to a process operating under a summary of principles informed by the European Commission’s Guide for National Agencies implementing the Erasmus+ and the European Solidarity Corps programmes.

Please ensure that you are using the correct version of the programme guide for the relevant Call year for the project or application under which you applied. The programme guide for the current Call can be found here.

EUPA aims to reply fully to you with the appeal decision, in writing, within 10 working days of the acknowledgement. Appeals that are more complex may take longer to deal with. In these cases EUPA will keep you updated on the progress of your appeal.