Call for proposals
BG02.02: Improved monitoring of marine waters
Programme: BG02 Integrated marine and inland water management
Programme outcome: Improved monitoring of marine waters
Document history
Date / Version / Action / Prepared / Approved04.09.2012 / 01 / Prepared generic draft / K. Gocheva
22.05.2013 / 02 / Updated generic draft / K. Gocheva
02 / Customized and reviewed / P.Glogov, P.Stoyanov, S.Velinova, A. Sotirov, N. Hranova,
M. Zaprianova
18-21.10.2013 / 03 / Reflected DPP comments; update of some contents to match the signed PA / K. Gocheva
25.11.-01.12.2013 / 04 / Added call specific information; reflected final DPP comments / K. Gocheva / C. Dimitrova
T. Hallingstad
12-31.05.2014 / 05 / Reflected modifications arising from the new organizational structure, procedures, CC comments / P. Glogov, K. Gocheva, A. Karailieva, N. Hranova, A. Sotirov, S. Angelova
18.07.2014 / 06 / Reflected final FMO comments / K. Gocheva, A. Sotirov / D. Onbashi
K. Iliev
02.09.2014 / 07 / Corrigendum 1 / N. Hranova, K. Gocheva / P. Glogov, K. Iliev
26-29.09.2014 / 08 / Corrigendum 2 / K. Gocheva, A. Sotirov, N.Hranova / P.Glogov
Contents
Call for proposals
I.Summary
1.General information
2.Structure of this document
2.1Who can apply?
2.2What activities can you apply for
2.3Project size, grant rate and payment scheme
II.Introduction
1.The programme
2.Legal background
3.Institutional framework
4.Forming a partnership
4.1 How to find a partner
4.2 Institutional and cultural differences explained
4.3 Useful general links
III.Eligibility of applicants, partners, partnerships and expenditure. Applicable state aid rules
1.General conditions for eligibility of expenditure incurred in a project
2.Eligibility in time
3.Eligible applicants and partners
3.1 Eligible applicants
4.Eligible partnerships
4.1Which partnership will be successful?
4.1.1Joint activities in project application and management
4.2.2The lead partner principle
5State aid compliance rules
6Eligible activities and costs
7Eligible indirect costs
8Bilateral funding and how to use it
9How to apply
1.Filling the application form
2.How to obtain clarifications
3.Submission mode and deadlines
10Project evaluation
1.Evaluation process and Selection Committee
2.Evaluation methodology and criteria
2.1.Administrative and eligibility criteria and checks
2.2.Award criteria
3.Raising objections
I.Summary
1.General information
The present call for proposals is launched under the programme BG02 More integrated management of marine and inland waterfinanced (85%) by the Financial Mechanism of the European Economic Area (EEA FM) and co-financed (15%) by the Bulgarian stateGeneral information about EEA FM is available at and programme specific information is available at and Please note that the programme’s dedicated website is being developed as of the publication of this call, and not all functionality will be available immediately. Initially, most of the information is to be made available on the MoEW website ( under the menu item European funds and programmes).
-The EEA Regulation available at
-The Programme agreement for this programme available at and
-The Guideline for strengthened bilateral relations available at
-The Communication and design manual available at
-The Project Implementation manual for project promoters and partners in the programme, available at
2.Structure of this document
The present chapter presents an overview of the call. It is designed to help you decide whether your organization would be interested to apply. If yes, please go to the respective sections below, as follows:
-Section II provides general information about the programme as a whole. Some specific information about conducting projects in Bulgaria is provided for organizations with no Bulgarian experience. Also, a short description is provided on the general principles projects are being usually managed in Bulgaria.
-Section III goes in detail into what will be financed in this call – eligible applicants, eligible partners, eligible activities, types of expenditure, period of eligibility and other specific requirements
-Section IV describes the application process (application form, modes of submission and deadlines)
-Section V describes the evaluation criteria and points to be awarded
A summary of the main call parameters as described in Section III is presented below.
2.1Who can apply?
The defintion of eligible applicants is provided in the EEA Regulation, Art. 6.2, further the definitions of the project promoters and partners is provided in the EEA Regulation, Art. 1.5.1 (x) and (w), respectively. Requirements to partnerships between these entities are detailed in Art. 6.8. In this document, the term “applicant” applies to entities applying on behalf of a partnership who will, in case of project approval, become project promoters.
The programme and this call are open for application to legal persons of the following types: national public authorities, municipalities, research and development institutions including universities, and NGOs. Applicants may apply alone or in partnership, and must have their seat in Bulgaria. For the purposes of applying the state aid legislation, all eligible applicants/project promoters and partners will be assessed, independently of their legal form, registration, or mode of financing, in order to determine whether they perform economic (commercial) activities[1], and whether they constitute an enterprise in the sense of the state aid legislation;
No matter whether the applicant applies by themselves or in a partnership, sufficient project management capacity has to be ensured by the applicant or where applicable, the partnership as a whole. For more information, see ection III of the present document.
Limitations to the participants are also detailed in Section III. The main restrictions derived from legislation in force, are:
-the level of funding indicated by any applicant within the scope of state aid legislation may be reduced during the evaluation of their proposal to comply with the applicable state aid rules
-procurement is to be conucted according to Art. 7.16 of the EEA Regulation and the requirements of the signed Programme agreement.
2.2What activities can you apply for
The activities specific for this call are describedin detail in Section III, part 6. They include development ofMSFD reporting andcoordination of the requirements of directives and policies, notably WFD, Birds and Habitats directives, marine spatial planning, BSC; purchase of monitoring equipment and monitoring activites, lab accreditation
Eligible expenditure types aredirect and indirect costs as described in the EEA Regulation, Art. 7.3. By way of exception from Article 7.3.1(c) of the Regulation, the entire purchase price of new equipment will be eligible if the equipment is an integral and necessary component for achieving the outcome of the project.. Project Promoters may also :
-apply for money from the programme’s bilateral funds to supplement their regular budgets according to the Bilateral cooperation support guide
-construct the application asintegrated project where funding from this programme may be combined with funds from the EU or other donors.
2.3Project size, grant rate and payment scheme
The total amount made available for the callis2800000 EUR. The minimum and maximum grant amount of a project shall be between170000 and 2400000 EUR.
Grants from the Programme will not exceed 85% of total eligible project costs. The following exceptions apply:
- Grants from the Programme to State Budget Institutions may cover up to 100% of total eligible project costs.
- Grants from the Programme to NGOs may cover up to 90% of total eligible project costs.
Any remaining costs of the project shall be provided or obtained by the project promoter.
Payments towards the beneficiaries will be: advance payments, interim payments which will in effect be advancing further amounts,and a final payment in the form of a reimbursement of incurred expenditure. Payments to projects are made on the basis of approved interim reports. Where securities arerequired for advanced amounts, the related expenses are eligible as direct costs as per Art. 7.3.1 (g) of the EEA Regulation.
The advance payment shall be requested by the Project Promoter in the application form and disbursed after signing of the Project Contract. The first advance payment may be up to 30% of the project`s total eligible costs.
The subsequent interim payments requested in the interim reports together with the advance payment cannot exceed 70%of the project`s total approvedgrant.
The advance and interim paymentsshall be offset against incurred, paidand verified expenditure reported in the interim reports.
The final payment representing up to30% of the project`s total approved grant will be disbursed after approval of the final report.
II.Introduction
1.The programme
During the programme preparation of Programme BG02 Integrated marine and inland water management, the following challenges and needs were identified:
- Creation and implementation of new strategies and methodologies. In particular:
- The Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD) was enacted via the Ordinance for the safeguarding the marine environment in 2010, aiming at achieving a good environmental status of the Black Sea and extending the network of protected marine territories. The MSFD requires a number of activities to be performed, including studies, the creation of a Marine strategy and Programme of measures, integration of marine data with the existing water management IT systems, international coordination to ensure a Black Sea integrated management. In these areas, due to scarcity of funding, progress is yet to be achieved.
- The ICZM needs to be enacted in a single strategic document to institutionalize the cooperation between the single sectors. This involves a number of activities, including
- developing a national indicator system for integrated coastal zones management (ICZM) and/or maritime spatial planning (MSP); development of strategic and planning documents for ICM and MSP
- Updating existing information systems by developingGIS layers on natural risk factors, land and spatial use as per the legislation in force
- involving the civil organisations on every stage of decision-making
- further development of international relations and improving access to diverse funding sources
- Climate change adaptation is another important aspect that Bulgaria still lags behind in. While the country’s greenhouse gas (GHG) emission is below the EU and EFTA average[2] , Bulgaria suffers of the negative impacts of climate change on its marine environment and biodiversity in general, and action is needed in assessing the effects on the different economic sectors and creating strategies for their mitigation. This effort must be coordinated with the EU adaptation strategy
- Оther studies, such as:studies that explore and assess the water/energy/food nexus in Bulgaria with a focus on assessing the combined effects of HPP on the ecosystems and the ecological status of rivers, pilot integrated assessment of the pressure and impact and planning of measures in selected areas / water bodies and an estimate of the effect of measures,studies ontransboundary ground water bodies,rating and recommendations for the use or removal of existing facilities in inland rivers that have lost their original purpose,performance of investigative monitoring to close gaps in the understanding of pressures and impacts (with focus on pollution) in the RBMP.
- Monitoring and data collection. This is a cross-cutting priority that affects the proper implementation of a number of EU norms, including Directives 2000/60/EC, 2008/105/ЕC, 91/271/ЕЕС, 91/676/ЕЕС, 2006/118/ЕC, 2006/11/ЕС, 2007/60/EC, 2008/56/EC, 2007/2/EC, and the ISZM Recommendation. Monitoring is a costly activity performed by many authorities that has to be addressed with sufficient capacity, coordination and a strategic view. In Bulgaria, national water monitoring is in the legal mandate of the Executive Environmental Agency (ExEA). Some elements of water monitoring have been created as part of the National environmental monitoring system. Other elements are delegated, inter alia, to the Institute for Oceanology and National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology at the BulgarianAcademy of Sciences, or they are in the mandate of the Executive Agency for Marine Administration. Functions on analysis of the results are given to the above mentions authorities and to the Basin Directorates, the legal authority responsible for the management of the waters on the principle of river basins. A number of equipment and surveying needs have not been met so far. Specific areas need addressing, including:
- creation of a monitoring system of substances such as quicksilver, coordinated between the competent bodies, and collecting a body of information, inventories etc. from sediments and wildlife about these substances’ deposit, enabling the processing of data for trends analysis and other decision-making/reporting needs.
- monitoring programmes under MSFD based on the monitoring fact sheets currently jointly developed by the European Commission, Bulgaria and Romania for the Black Sea.
- improving the monitoring activity through a full range of monitoring, prognostic analysis of natural processes (incl. in the context of climate change), development of the eco-infrastructure
- integrated pollution and pressures measurement and management programmes, including:
- shipping and ADR platforms pollution, fuel and oils spills[3],
- past mining pollution,
- implementation of the Anti-fouling convention,
- sustainable use of alluvial deposits, underwater noises in marine waters,
- update of Programmes of Measures (POM) under the Water Framework Directive (WFD) with regard to hydropower plants (HPPs),
- anthropogenic load on the marine environment – complex monitoring and loaded regions parameter observations, sediments – water column interaction, sedimentation, mineralisation, resuspension, eutrophication conditions and marine environment components accumulation capacity
- Data systematization and processing on national level. Currently, great amounts of data relevant to the water management are not available in digital form, or are stored in incompatible, legacy information systems existing at many different bodies. Insufficiently systematic account has been held on the results of projects performed in the programme’s area, often focusing mainly on avoiding double financing rather than avoiding incompatible or redundant outputs. As a result, action is still needed on national and international level to:
- ensure collecting of relevant informationand present it for reporting in EU’s WISE information system (incl. on marine issues), and the INSPIRE directive in the field of water management according to the requirements of the relevant Directive and official recommendations given to the Member-States.
- Coordination of the requirements of directives incl. monitoring parameters of the Marine Environment (WFD, BSC, Birds & Habitats Directive, MSFD, MSP) to achieve economic efficiency and comparability of results through an integrated monitoring programme.
- improve communication efficiency between stakeholders and access to information, incl. for monitoring data
Projects submitted under this Call for Proposals shall address the goals and outcomes by:
•Directly contributing to the implementation of the MSFD and WFD in Bulgaria
•Directly contributing to the setup of ICM strategies
•by establishing/enhancing cooperation between Bulgarian and Donor state partners for joint implementation of activities, exchange of good practices, transfer of donor expertise and know-how.
As a result of this analysis, the programme was designed to contribute towards the fulfillment of the following three outcomes as defined by the EEA donor:
Outcome 1: More integrated management of marine and inland water resources
Outcome 2: Improved monitoring of marine waters
Outcome 3: Increased capacity for assessing and predicting environmental status in marine and inland waters
To achieve these outcomes, the programme aims at performing the following outputs:
Outcome / Output / Output indicator / Indicator valueMore integrated management of marine and inland water resources / 1. Upgraded integrated information system for water management / Number of upgraded information systems / Baseline / Target
0 / 1
2. New and improved management tools or structures / Number of new and improved management tools or structures / Baseline / Target
0 / 6
3. Improved interaction between management stakeholders / Number of national and international interaction improvements / Baseline / Target
0 / 2
4. Main plans and strategies / Number of strategic and planning documents/studies / 0 / 4
Number of identified and investigated areas / 0 / 8
Number of elaborated plans / 0 / 2
2 Improved monitoring of marine waters / 1. Environmental monitoring in the sea water / Complex monitoring parameter observations / 1% of the needs (about 300 p.a.) / 14%
Loaded regions parameter observations / 1% of the needs (about 60 p.a.) / 27%
Improved monitoring programs for marine water / 0 / 2
2.Real time monitoring / Stationary sensor stations and real-time/in situ sensor devices / 5 / 8
3. Increased capacity for assessing and predicting environmental status in marine and inland waters / 1. Increased capacity for assessment and predicting / Number of tools/models assessing and predicting environmental status / 0 / 2
Referent parameter tables and assessment methodology / 0 / 2
2. Increased information exchange between stakeholders / Replace this indicator
Stakeholders informed about social and economic assessment of the marine environment and justification of programmes of measures (PoM)
Number of public discussions of key environmental problems / 0 / 1
0 / 3
The current call addresses Outcome 2 Improved monitoring of marine waters. See Section III, Chapter X for details of eligible activities.
2.Legal background
The programme is to be implemented according to:
–EEA Memorandum of understanding between Iceland, Liechtenstein and Norway and Bulgaria: read inEnglishorBulgarian
–EEA Regulation and applicable guidelines (in particular, guidelines for publicity, bilateral funds, etc.)
–The approved programme (summary at
–Applicable EU and national law, including the legislation related to public procurement, tax, labor, social insurance and retirement legislation, public finances, state aid, sectoral legislation related to the call’s subject etc.
Foreign partners implement their respective national legislation and the EEA Regulation. The applicable law for any matters unsolved, or legal disputes with the Programme operator, is the law of Republic of Bulgaria.
3.Institutional framework
According to the Memorandum of Understanding, the following institutions are involved in the management of EEA grants in Bulgaria:
-Council of Ministers appointed as National Focal Point (NFP), the Heads of the Certifying authority (Director of National Fund) and the Audit authority (the Director of Executive Agency Audit of EU Funds)
-Line ministries and other entities appointed as programme operators for the single programme areas. For programme area Integrated marine and inland water management, the programme operator is the Ministry of Environment and Water, Coordination on EU Affairs and International Cooperation Directorate.
The national institutions and their responsibilities are presented below: