Contracting Authority: Central Finance and Contracts Unit

Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life Grant Scheme (SDW)

This Programme is co-funded by
the European Union and Republic of Turkey

Contracting Authority: Central Finance and Contracts Unit

Improving Social Dialogue in Working LifeGrant Scheme (SDW)

Guidelines
for Grant Applicants

Budget line:22.02.01

Reference: CFCU/TR2013/0119.03.01-02

EuropeAid/138322/ID/ACT/TR

Deadline for submission of concept note: 10.10.2016

NOTICE

This is a restricted call for proposals. In the first instance, only concept notes (Part A of the grant application form) must be submitted for evaluation. Thereafter, lead applicants who have been pre-selected will be invited to submit a full application. After the evaluation of the full applications, an eligibility check will be performed for those which have been provisionally selected. Eligibility will be checked on the basis of the supporting documents requested by the Contracting Authority and the signed ‘declaration by the lead applicant’ sent together with the full application.

Table of contents

1.Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life GRANT SCHEME (SDW)………….

1.1.Background

1.2.Objectives of the programme and priority issues

1.3.Financial allocation provided by the contracting authority

2.Rules FOR thIS Call for proposals………………………………………………………...

2.1.Eligibility criteria

2.1.1.Eligibility of applicants (i.e. Lead Applicant and co-applicant)

2.1.2.Affiliated entities

2.1.3.Associates and Contractors

2.1.4.Eligible actions: actions for which an application may be made

2.1.5.Eligibility of costs: costs that can be included

2.2.How to apply and the procedures to follow

2.2.1.Concept Note content

2.2.2.Where and how to send Concept Notes

2.2.3.Deadline for submission of Concept Notes

2.2.4.Further information about Concept Notes

2.2.5.Full Applications

2.2.6.Where and how to send Full Applications

2.2.7.Deadline for submission of Full Applications

2.2.8.Further information about Full Applications

2.3.Evaluation and selection of applications

2.4.Submission of supporting documents for provisionally selected applications

2.5.Notification of the Contracting Authority’s decision

2.5.1.Content of the decision

2.5.2.Indicative timetable

2.6.Conditions for implementation after the Contracting Authority’s decision to award a grant

3.LIST OF annexes…………………………………………………………………………………….

15 January 2016Page 1 of 29

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Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life Grant Scheme (SDW)

1.Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life GRANT SCHEME (SDW)

1.1.Background

The importance of social dialogue mechanisms and having a social dialogue culture that is adopted by all levels of society is increasing gradually with the pace of industrialization and democratisation of the country. The main aim of social dialogue is to promote consensus building and democratic involvement of the main stakeholders in the world of work. An effective social dialogue system is an essential element of labour relations and it provides and ensures labour peace as well.

The importance of trade union rights and freedoms for the EU can be seen in the Lisbon Treaty. The EU acknowledges freedom of association in its Charter of Fundamental Rights and with the ratification of the Lisbon Treaty, this Charter became one of the binding forces for all EU members; Article no. 12 of the Charter states that “everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and to freedom of association at all levels”; while Article no. 28 endorses the right of collective bargaining and collective action: “Workers and employers, or their respective organisations have the right to negotiate and conclude collective agreements at the appropriate levels and, in cases of conflicts of interest, to take collective action to defend their interests, including strike action.”

In the process of negotiations with the EU, trade union rights and freedoms have been important subjects of the Employment and Social Policy Chapter. Hence, one of the two benchmarks for the beginning of negotiations was set as compliance with the EU and International Labour standards in trade union rights and freedoms.

Turkey has a long tradition of social dialogue and trade unions have been playing an important role in industrial relations, particularly since the 1950s. In order to contribute to a better functioning social dialogue, with taking the opinions of the EU Commission into consideration, the requirements of the EU membership process, International Labour Organization (ILO) norms concerning association and collective bargaining, Law on Trade Unions and Collective Agreement was adopted in the Turkish General Assembly on 18.10.2012 and published in the Official Gazette on 07.11.2012.

However, practical implementation should be ensured while legal arrangements have to be further improved to be fully compliant with the EU requirements. Cooperation tradition can be further improved with the effective enforcement of existing mechanisms. Moreover, despite the existence of nationwide social dialogue mechanisms all around the country, social dialogue mechanisms at lower levels do not function efficiently. The main reasons stem from certain legal arrangements are lack of culture of cooperation between social partners, and capacity restrictions of social partners.

Within this framework, “Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life” Project was included in the 2013 Programming under the IPA. The Project in general aims to enhance social dialogue at branch and company levels and improve social dialogue mechanisms. The Project consists of Direct Grant and Grant Scheme components.

This guidelines for grant applicants describes the objectives, priorities and eligibility rules of this “Improving Social Dialogue in Working Life Grant Scheme”.

The institutional framework of the Grant Scheme includes the Ministry of Labour and Social Security (MoLSS) and the Central Finance and Contracts Unit (CFCU) of the Republic of Turkey. MoLSS, as the Beneficiary of the Project, will be responsible for the overall coordination of the Project according to the rules of the Operational Agreement signed with the CFCU and also will co-ordinate the monitoring of the grants awarded under the overall supervision of the Programme Authorizing Officer (PAO), who is the head of the CFCU. The CFCU, as the Contracting Authority for the Project, is responsible for the administrative and financial implementation of the Grant Scheme. The CFCU has ultimate responsibility for the correct use of grant funds and is responsible for tendering, contracting and payments and is referred to in this document as the Contracting Authority.

This Grant Scheme is co-financed by the EU and the Republic of Turkey within the National Programme for Turkey for the year 2013 under the IPA-I, “Transition Assistance and Institution Building” Component.

1.2.Objectives of the programme and priority issues

The global objective of this call for proposals is to promote social dialogue at all levels in Turkey.

The specific objective of this call for proposals is to increase the capacity of social partners and relevant stakeholders in terms of better functioning of social dialogue as well as raising awareness on social dialogue at all levels in Turkey.

All projects should respond to the specific objective of this call for proposals.

The proposed action (project) should fall in one or both of the below mentioned priority areas in the field of working life:

-Improving bipartite social dialogue at all levels,

-Increasing capacity for effective participation in social dialogue.

1.3.Financial allocation provided by the contracting authority

The overall indicative amount made available under this call for proposals is EUR 1.000.000.The Contracting Authority reserves the right not to award all available funds.

Size of grants

Any grant requested under this call for proposalsmust fall between the followingminimum and maximum amounts:

• minimum amount: EUR 20.000
• maximum amount: EUR 100.000

Any grant requested under this call for proposals must fall between the following minimum andmaximum percentages of total eligible costs of the action:

• Minimum percentage: 50% of the total eligible costs of the action.
• Maximum percentage: 90% of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.5).

The balance (i.e. the difference between the total cost of the action and the amount requested from the Contracting Authority) must be financed from sources other than the European Union Budget or the European Development Fund[1].

2.Rules FOR thIS Call for proposals

These guidelines set out the rules for the submission, selection and implementation of the actions financed under this call, in conformity with the Practical Guide, which is applicable to the present call (available on the Internet at this address

2.1.Eligibility criteria

There are three sets of eligibility criteria, relating to:

(1)the actors:

• The 'lead applicant', i.e. the entitysubmitting the application form (2.1.1),
• itsco-applicant(s) (where it is not specified otherwise the lead applicant and its co-applicant are hereinafter jointly referred as "applicants") (2.1.1),
• and, if any,affiliated entity(ies)to the lead applicant and/or to a co-applicant(s)(2.1.2);

(2)the actions:

Actions for which a grant may be awarded (2.1.4);

(3)the costs:

• types of cost that may be taken into account in setting the amount of the grant (2.1.5).
• Eligibility of applicants (i.e. lead applicant and co-applicant(s))

Lead applicant

(1)In order to be eligible for a grant, the lead applicant must:

• be a legal person,and
• be non-profit-making,and
• be established in[2] a Member State of the European Union or Turkey oran eligible country according to the IPA Regulation[3], and
• be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action with the co-applicant and affiliated entity, not acting as an intermediary, and
• be employee organisations (private and public sector employee trade unions/confederations, professional associations having the characteristics of public institution[4]),or
• be employer organisations (unions[5], confederations, chambers of commerce and/or industry, chambers of tradesman and craftsmen, organized industrial zones).

IMPORTANT NOTE 1
Political parties and their affiliated structures are not eligible under this call for proposals.
Individualor groups of commercial enterprises are not eligible applicants/co-applicant under this call for proposals. However, where relevant, they are encouraged to participate as associates.

(2)Potential applicantsmay not participate in calls for proposals or be awarded grants ifthey are in any of the situations listed in section 2.3.3 of the Practical Guide;

In Part A, section 3 of the grant application form (‘declaration by the lead applicant’), the lead applicant must declare that the lead applicant himself, the co-applicant(s) and affiliated entity(ies)are not in any of thesesituations.

The lead applicantmust act with co-applicant(s) as specified hereafter.

An applicant from EU Member States or an eligible country according to IPA Regulation must have at least one eligible co-applicant from Turkey.

If awarded the grant contract, the lead applicant will become thebeneficiary identified as the Coordinator in Annex G (Special Conditions). The Coordinator is the main interlocutor of the Contracting Authority. It represents and acts on behalf of any other co-beneficiary and coordinates the design and implementation of the action.

Co-applicant(s)

Co-applicants participate in designing and implementing the action, and the costs they incur are eligible in the same way as those incurred by the lead applicant.

Co-applicants must satisfy the eligibility criteria as applicable to the lead applicant himself.

In addition to the categories referred to in section 2.1.1, the following are however also eligible as employer organisations:

•Municipalities,

•Public Institutions.

Co-applicants must sign the mandate in Part B section 4 of the grant application form.

If awarded the grant contract, the co-applicant(s) will become beneficiaries in the action (together with the Coordinator).

IMPORTANTNOTE 2
Lead applicants from anEU Member Stateor an eligible country according to IPA Regulation must have at least one eligible co-applicant from Turkey; otherwise, such applications will be rejected immediately and will not be evaluated further!
*** *** ***
If all applicants (the lead applicant or co-applicant) are established in Turkey:
The lead applicant that is an employee organisation must have at least one co-applicant that is an employer organisation and vice versa;otherwise, such applications will be rejected immediately and will not be evaluated further!

It is highly recommended to have tools signed between lead applicants and co-applicants (such as agreements, protocols etc.) to sustain the partnership.

There is no maximum number of co-applicants but careful consideration should be given during the identification of co-applicant(s) to ensure that each co-applicant has a clearly defined role in the project and has seen the submitted application as well as the budget for a smooth implementation of the project if awarded grant.

2.1.2.Affiliated entities

The lead applicant and its co-applicant may act with affiliated entity(ies).

Only the following entities may be considered as affiliated entities to the lead applicantand/or to co-applicant(s):

Only entities having a structural link with the applicants (i.e. the lead applicant or a co-applicant), in particular a legal or capital link.

This structural link encompasses mainly two notions:

(i) Control, as defined in Directive 2013/34/EU on the annual financial statements, consolidated financial statements and related reports of certain types of undertakings:

Entities affiliated to an applicant may hence be:

-Entities directly or indirectly controlled by the applicant (daughter companies or first-tier subsidiaries). They may also be entities controlled by an entity controlled by the applicant (granddaughter companies or second-tier subsidiaries) and the same applies to further tiers of control;

-Entities directly or indirectly controlling the applicant(parent companies). Likewise, they may be entities controlling an entity controlling the applicant;

-Entities under the same direct or indirect control as the applicant (sister companies).

(ii) Membership, i.e. the applicant is legally defined as a e.g. network, federation, association in which the proposed affiliated entities also participate or the applicant participates in the same entity (e.g. network, federation, association) as the proposed affiliated entities.

The structural link shall as a general rule be neither limited to the action nor established for the sole purpose of its implementation. This means that the link would exist independently of the award of the grant; it should exist before the call for proposals and remain valid after the end of the action.

By way of exception, an entity may be considered as affiliated to an applicant even if it has a structural link specifically established for the sole purpose of the implementation of the action in the case of so-called “sole applicants” or “sole beneficiaries”. A sole applicant or a sole beneficiary is a legal entity formed by several entities (a group of entities) which together comply with the criteria for being awarded the grant. For example, an association is formed by its members.

What is not an affiliated entity?

The following are not considered entities affiliated to an applicant:

-Entities that have entered into a (procurement) contract or subcontract with an applicant, act as concessionaires or delegatees for public services for an applicant,

-Entities that receive financial support from the applicant,

-Entities that cooperate on a regular basis with an applicant on the basis of a memorandum of understanding or share some assets,

-Entities that have signed a consortium agreement under the grant contract (unless this consortium agreement leads to the creation of a "sole applicant" as described above).

How to verify the existence of the required link with an applicant?

The affiliation resulting from control may in particular be proved on the basis of the consolidated accounts of the group of entities the applicant and its proposed affiliates belong to.

The affiliation resulting from membership may in particular be proved on the basis of the statutes or equivalent act establishing the entity (network, federation, association) which the applicant constitutes or in which the applicant participates.

If the applicants are awarded a grant contract, their affiliated entity(ies) will not become beneficiary(ies) of the action and signatory(ies) of the grant contract. However, they will participate in the design and in the implementation of the action and the costs they incur (including those incurred for implementation contracts and financial support to third parties) may be accepted as eligible costs, provided they comply with all the relevant rules already applicable to the beneficiaries under the grant contract.

Affiliated entity(ies) must satisfy the same eligibility criteria as the lead applicant and the co-applicant(s). They must sign the affiliated entity(ies)’sstatement in Part B section 5 of the grant application form.

2.1.3.Associates and Contractors

The following entities are not applicants nor affiliated entities and do not have to sign the "mandate for co-applicant" or "affiliated entities' statement":

• Associates

Other organisations or individuals may be involved in the action. Such associates play a real role in the action but may not receive funding from the grant, with the exception of per diem or travel costs. Associates do not have to meet the eligibility criteria referred to in section 2.1.1. Associates must be mentioned in Part B section 6 — ‘Associates participating in the action’ — of the grant application form.

• Contractors

The beneficiaries and their affiliated entities are permitted to award contracts. Associates or affiliated entity cannot be also contractors in the project. Contractors are subject to the procurement rules set out in Annex -IV to the standard grant contract (Annex – G).

2.1.4.Eligible actions: actions for which an application may be made

Definition:

Anaction (project) is composed of a set of activities.

Duration

The initial planned duration of an action may not be lower than 6 months nor exceed 12 months.

Sectors or themes

Social dialogue in working life.

Location

Actions must take place in one or more of the following countries: Turkey or EU Member States.

If the action includes a lead applicant or co-applicant(s) from other eligible countries (EU Member States or other eligible countries according to the IPA Regulation), in addition to the activities that will take place in Turkey, if properly justified, some activities can be implemented in these countries. However, such activities cannot constitute the major part of the action.

Types of action

All actions, which aim at achieving the Programme objectives and fall within the eligible priority areas, could qualify for financing.