DIRECTORATE-GENERAL
ENVIRONMENT
Directorate D – Natural Capital
Unit D.2 - Biodiversity
Call for proposals
PILOT PROJECT — MAPPING AND ASSESSING THE STATE OF ECOSYSTEMS AND THEIR SERVICES IN THE OUTERMOST REGIONS AND OVERSEAS COUNTRIES AND TERRITORIES: ESTABLISHING LINKS AND POOLING RESOURCES
Reference: ENV/2017/CFP/MAES-OR-OCT
Deadline for submission of proposals:
7thNovember 2017 – 17h00, Brussels local time
Contents
1.INTRODUCTION – Background
2.Objective
3.Timetable
4.Budget available
5.Admissibility Requirements
6.Eligibility Criteria
6.1.Eligible applicants
6.2.Eligible activities
6.3.Implementation period
7.Exclusion Criteria
7.1.Exclusion from participation
7.2.Remedial measures
7.3.Rejection from the call for proposals
7.4.Supporting documents
8.Selection criteria
8.1.Financial capacity
8.2.Operational capacity
9.Award criteria
9.1.Award criteria
9.2.Award decision
10.Legal commitments
11.Financial provisions
11.1.Eligible costs
11.1.1. Eligible direct costs
11.1.2. Eligible indirect costs (overheads)
11.2.Ineligible costs
11.3.Form of the grant
11.3.1.Reimbursement of costs actually incurred
11.4.Balanced budget
11.5.Calculation of the final grant amount
11.6.Reporting and payment arrangements
11.6.1.Payments and supporting documents
The beneficiary may request the following payments provided that the conditions of the grant agreement are fulfilled (e.g. payment deadlines, ceilings, etc.). The payment requests shall be accompanied by the documents provided below and detailed in the grant agreement:
11.6.2.Pre-financing guarantee
11.7.Other financial conditions
12.Publicity
12.1.By the beneficiaries
12.2.By the Commission
13.PROCESSING OF PERSONAL DATA
14.PROCEDURE FOR THE SUBMISSION OF PROPOSALS
15.How to complete the financial grant application form (Annex c + Financial Capacity Form)
16.Annexes
1.INTRODUCTION – Background
Legal basis: Pilot project within the meaning of Article 54.2(a) of the Financial Regulation
This open Call for Proposals implements the pilot project on mapping and assessing the state of ecosystems and their services in the outermost regions and overseas countries and territories: establishing links and pooling resources.
Action 5 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy[1]'Map and assess the state and economic value of ecosystems and their services in the entire EU territory; promote the recognition of their economic worth into accounting and reporting systems across Europe' is implemented through the MAES initiative[2] which is supported – inter alia – by the Joint research Centre (JRC)[3], the European Environment Agency (EEA)[4] and the co-ordination support action ESMERALDA[5](Enhancing ecoSysteMsERvicesmApping for poLicy and Decision mAking) funded under the Horizon2020. ESMERALDAaims to deliver a flexible methodology to provide the building blocks for pan-European and regional assessments. In the frame of the BEST initiative[6] regional ecosystem profiles[7] for the EU's Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories have been developed. NETBIOME[8]a partnership for research and sustainable management of (sub)tropical biodiversity in the European Outermost Regions (ORs) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs) has established, among other, a database of stakeholders involved in biodiversity management and research as well as case studies for biodiversity valuation in, or relevant to, the EU OR/OCTs, with links to the original studies.
2.Objective
The selected project shall:
a)Explore and test the feasibility for mapping and assessing ecosystems and the services they provide in the EU's Outermost Regions (ORs) and Overseas Countries and Territories (OCTs), i.e. producing a tangible contribution for the EU ‘Mapping and Assessing of Ecosystem Services’ (MAES) initiative, and demonstrate the feasibility and added value of a bottom-up approach, involving and empowering local actors. If successful, this project will allow testing and implementation of the MAES methodology in different regions of the world, providing methodologies and good practice guidelines and contributing to worldwide EU leadership in this area. As ORs and OCTs have important oceans areas, it is expected that the project will advance the mapping and assessing of marine ecosystems and their services. This includes open ocean, shelf, coastal waters and marine inlets and transitional waters.
b)Involve policymakers, researchers and civil society in the development of methodologies for mapping and assessing the state of ecosystems and their services in ORs and OCTs. A coordinated and synergistic approach is advocated so as to turn the geographical, political and knowledge base fragmentation of these entities into assets, pooling resources and building robust participatory tools.
Tasks:
The project will assess the state of the art of the ‘Mapping and Assessing of Ecosystem Services’ (MAES) within the participating overseas entities, and inventory and substantiate the human and material capacities present in each of the participating entities. Considering the specificities of ORs and OCTs it is expected that the work will capitalise as much as possible on existing methodologies including for example the IUCN RED List of Ecosystems methodology[9].
It will build on the work carried out in the frame of NETBIOME and ESMERALDA networks and the BEST initiative and it may consider the initial OR OCT MAES experience carried out under the project BEST RUP.
It will then choose as case studies at least 4 specific regions and a particular contribution on which to focus the work of dedicated teams of local experts, policymakers and civil society members pooled from across the OR and OCTs.The teams will map the ecosystems and the services they provide and assess the ecosystem condition in the selected areas capitalising on the different methodologies.
3.Timetable
The final deadline for the submission of proposals is the 7thNovember2017 (date of post stamp).
Stages / Date and time orindicative period
a) / Publication of the call / July 2017
b) / Deadline for submitting proposals / 7 November 2017
(07/11/2017 – 17:00 hour Brussel's time)
c) / Evaluation period / November 2017
d) / Information to applicants / December 2017
e) / Signature of grant agreement / First trimester 2018
f) / Starting date of the action / First/second trimester 2018
4.Budget available
The total budget earmarked for the co-financing of one (1) project is estimated atEUR 1.000.000.
The maximum EU funding rate under this Call for Proposals is 95%of eligible costs per proposal based on the project budget. The balance must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Union budget.
The Commission expects to fund up to one (1) proposal.
The Commission reserves the right not to distribute all the funds available.
5.Admissibility Requirements
The following formal requirements must be complied with in order for the proposal to proceed to the evaluation stage:
Applications must be sent no later than the deadline for submitting applications referred to in section 3 (date of post stamp).
Applications must be submitted in writing (see section 14), using the application forms available at:
Applications must be drafted in one of the EU official languages.
Failure to comply with those requirements will lead to the rejection of the application.
In order to facilitate assessment by the evaluators, applicants are encouraged to provide a summary of their proposal in English or French, for any proposal written in another EU official language.
6.Eligibility Criteria
The eligibility criteria are used to determine whether an applicant is allowed to participate in the call for proposals and to submit a proposal for an action. They apply to both applicants and co-applicants, including entities where applicable, and to the activities for which a grant is applied for.
6.1.Eligible applicants
The following types of entities are eligible, in accordance with the relevant basic act and the objectives to be achieved:
Applicants and their partners (in case of a consortium), could be public and private bodies, NGOs, universities, and research institutes. Examples:
non-profit organisation (private or public);
public authorities (national, regional, local);
universities or educational institutions;
research centres;
profit making entities;
international organisations.
Only applications from legal entities established in the following countries are eligible:
EU Member States;
EU's Outermost Regions and Overseas Countries and Territories;
Third Countries.
In order to assess the applicants' eligibility, the following supporting documents are requested:
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, decision or other official document attesting the establishing the public-law entity. A copy of the articles of association/founding act/statutes or equivalent;
entities without legal personality: documents providing evidence that their representative(s) have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf;
consortium: in the event of an application grouping several applicants (multi-beneficiary agreement), the above supporting documents shall apply to each applicant. The consortium members will have to sign a mandate between the main applicant (coordinator) and each consortium member(partner/co-beneficiary) that will participate in the project.
6.2.Eligible activities
The following types of activities are eligible under this call for proposals.Examples:
cooperation projects;
conferences, seminars;
training activities;
awareness and dissemination actions;
actions aiming at the creation and improvement of networks, exchanges of good practices;
studies, analyses, mapping projects;
research activities.
6.3.Implementation period
The envisaged implementation period of activities may indicatively be between 24 and 36 calendar months.
The period of eligibility of costs will start as specified in the grant. If a beneficiary can demonstrate the need to start the action before the agreement is signed, expenditure may be authorised before the grant is awarded. Under no circumstances can the eligibility period start before the date of submission of the grant application (see section 11.7).
7.Exclusion Criteria
9.1
9.2
9.3
9.4
9.5
9.6
7.1.Exclusion from participation
The authorising officer shall exclude an applicant from participating in call for proposals procedures where:
(a) the applicant 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 applicant 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 authorising officer 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 applicant 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, a grant agreement or a grant decision;
(ii)entering into agreement with other applicants with the aim of distorting competition;
(iii)violating intellectual property rights;
(iv)attempting to influence the decision-making process of the Commissionduring 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 applicant 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 applicant has shown significant deficiencies in complying with main obligations in the performance of a contract,a grant agreement or a grant decision financed by the Union's 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 applicant 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.
7.2.Remedial measures
If an applicant declares one of the situations of exclusion listed above (see section 7.4), it should indicate the measures it has taken to remedy the exclusion situation, thus demonstrating its reliability. This may include e.g. technical, organisational and personnel measures to prevent further occurrence, compensation of damage or payment of fines. The relevant documentary evidence which illustrates the remedial measures taken must be provided in annex to the declaration. This does not apply for situations referred in point (d) of section 7.1.
7.3.Rejection from the call for proposals
The authorising officer shall not award a grant to an applicant who:
- is in an exclusion situation established in accordance with section 7.1[10];
- has misrepresented the information required as a condition for participating in the procedure or has failed to supply that information;
- was previously involved in the preparation of calls for proposal documents where this entails a distortion of competition that cannot be remedied otherwise.
Administrative and financial penalties may be imposed on applicants, who are guilty of misrepresentation.
7.4.Supporting documents[11]
Applicants must provide a declaration on their honour certifying that they are not in one of the situations referred to in articles 106(1) and 107 FR, by filling in the relevant form attached to the application form accompanying the call for proposals and available at
This obligation may be fulfilled in one of the following ways:
for mono beneficiary grants,the applicant signs a declaration in its name;
for multi beneficiaries grants,the coordinator of a consortium signs a declaration on behalf of all applicants. The consortium members will have to sign a mandate between the main applicant (coordinator) and each consortium member (partner/co-beneficiary) that will participate in the project.
8.Selection criteria[12]
8.1.Financial capacity[13]
Applicants must have stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain their activity throughout the duration of the grant 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:
a)Grants ≥ EUR 60 000:
a declaration on their honour and
EITHER
the profit and loss account as well as the balance sheet for the last financial year for which the accounts were closed;
for newly created entities: the business plan might replace the above documents;
OR
theFinancial Capacity Form in excel format, filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures, in order to calculate the ratios as detailed in the form.
b)Grants for an action ≥ EUR 750 000:
the information and supporting documents mentionedin point a) above
AND
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 thresholds apply to each applicant.
On the basis of the documents submitted, if the Representative Authorising Officer (RAO) considers that financial capacity is weak, s/he may:
request further information;
decide not to give pre-financing;
decide to give pre-financing paid in instalments;
decide to give pre-financing covered by a bank guarantee (see section 11.4 below);
where applicable, require the joint and several financial liability of all the co-beneficiaries.
If the RAO considered that the financial capacity is insufficient s/he will reject the application.
8.2.Operational capacity[14]
Applicants must have the professional competencies as well as appropriate qualifications necessary to complete the proposed action. In this respect, applicants have to submit a declaration on their honour, and the following supporting documents:
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);