II.4.1 Formal and Administrative Compliance Check
In order to be eligible for funding, project proposals submitted within calls shall fulfil certain formal and administrative requirements:
– The proposal has to be submitted via Jems before the deadline set for a call; – The submitted application form has to be filled out in all its parts in English language; – The signed lead partner declaration has to be submitted using the lead partner declaration template provided by the programme; – The partner declaration has to be submitted using the project partner declaration template provided by the programme; – For private lead applicants, the required supporting documents listed in chapter II.2.1.4 have to be submitted. |
Proposals failing in any of above requirements are regarded as non-eligible and are not further processed.
Mistakes of formal and administrative nature other than the ones listed above, can only be healed for the proposals which were selected for funding by the MC. Specific conditions for approval may be set by the MC and have to be addressed during the contracting phase.
II.4.2 Financial Capacity Check of Private Lead Applicants
On the basis of information contained in the documents submitted by private lead applicants (as listed in chapter II.2.1.4), a financial capacity check of private lead applicants is performed on the respective project proposals passing the formal and administrative compliance check. This check is aimed at assessing whether the private lead applicant has stable and sufficient sources of funding to maintain its activity throughout the project implementation period and to participate in its funding, in compliance with the applicable legal framework.
The financial capacity check of the private lad applicant is carried out along the following criteria:
| For private commercial organisations, at least criterion No. 1 and an additional 2 of the other three criteria must be respected: | |
| 1 | The ratio “subsidies” (equity) / “ERDF requested by the lead applicant” is higher than 0,5. Calculation carried out from the data of the most recent balance sheet and the lead applicant’s ERDF budget as in the submitted application form. |
| 2 | The ratio “current assets” + “cash and cash equivalents” / “current liabilities” is higher than 0,8 or higher than 1[1] Calculation carried out from the data of the most recent balance sheet. |
| 3 | There is positive net financial income. In case of negative financial income, the ratio “net financial income” / “total revenues” must be lower than 0,04. Calculation of the ratio is carried out from the data of the last two financial years. |
| 4 | There is a positive operational profit Calculation carried out from the data of the last two financial years. |
| For private non-commercial organisations, at least criterion No. 1 and an additional 1 of the other two criteria must be respected: | |
| 1 | The ratio “subsidies” (equity) / “ERDF requested by the lead applicant ” is higher than 0,5. Calculation carried out from the data of the most recent balance sheet and the lead applicant’s ERDF budget as in the submitted application form. |
| 2 | The ratio “current assets” + “cash and cash equivalents” / “current liabilities” is higher than 0,8 or higher than 1[2]. Calculation carried out from the data of the most recent balance sheet. |
| 3 | There is positive net financial income. In case of negative financial income, the ratio “net financial income” / “total revenues” must be lower than 0,04. Calculation of the ration is carried out from the data of the last two financial years. |
If following the financial capacity check the private lead applicant does not meet the necessary financial capacity criteria, the entire project proposal is regarded as not eligible and is not further processed.
The programme strongly recommends private institutions planning to apply as lead applicant to check their ability to fulfil the financial capacity criteria mentioned in this chapter well before the submission of their project proposal.
The Interreg CE Programme provides a complimentary tool for calculating the ratios of the financial capacity test described above. Please note that the use of this tool is under the sole responsibility of the applicants and programme bodies do not bear any responsibility for its possible non-functioning or misuse.
A project proposal shall be regarded as non-eligible and shall not be further processed also in case that the private lead applicant falls into one of the following situations:
- The audit report submitted with the project proposal has not given an “unqualified opinion” about the private lead applicant’s financial viability;
or, if applicable
- The reference letter from the lead applicant’s bank, submitted with the project proposal, does not comply with requirements set in chapter II.2.1.4.
II.4.3 Legal Status and Capacity Check of Applicants
Checks on the correctness of declarations submitted by applicants, including the verification of the declared legal status as indicated in section B.1.3 of the application form as well as of the compliance with the fundamental rights as laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, are carried out by competent national authorities of concerned Member States. In case the project foresees investments in infrastructure or productive investments (see chapter I.3.3.3), such checks include the verification that concerned partners hold the necessary financial resources and mechanisms to cover the operation and maintenance costs for such investments, so as to ensure their financial sustainability.
When performing their checks, national authorities might require additional documents in order to confirm declarations submitted by the applicants. Information on additional documents to be provided are published on the national websites of the programme contact points.
In some cases, lead applicants considering themselves as public might be declared as private by the competent national authorities following their legal status and capacity check. Such lead applicants shall heal the situation by submitting the additional compulsory documents for private lead applicants listed in chapter II.2.1.4. Such documents are to be provided within 5 working days from the date of written request by the MA/JS. In the case that the concerned private lead applicants fail to provide the necessary documents within the given timeframe, the project proposal becomes non-eligible and is not further processed.
In case of applicants located in EU regions outside the programme area, the correctness of their declared legal status when submitting the proposal is confirmed by competent national authorities of the respective Member States outside the programme area. This confirmation has to be obtained within 45 calendar days counted from the date of the MC funding decision of a call. The process of obtaining such confirmation is coordinated by the MA/JS.
In case of EGTCs (as defined in chapter I.3.1.1) the aforementioned checks are performed by competent national authorities of the country in which the EGTC is registered.
Please note that if the legal, financial, administrative or operational capacity of any applicant is not confirmed by the competent national authorities, or it does not comply with the fundamental rights as laid down in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, the concerned applicants is excluded from the projects and partnership modification procedures shall be initiated in compliance with chapter III.4.
II.4.4 State Aid Assessment
The State aid assessment is aimed at checking the State aid relevance of a project proposal. This analysis is performed on the basis of information included in the application form. During the assessment process, the MA/JS might approach the partners in order to collect further information necessary for a proper assessment of the State aid relevance.
For detailed information on the approach followed by the Interreg CE Programme with regard to State aid, including the State aid assessment, please refer to chapter I.4.4.3.
II.4.5 Quality Assessment
Only project proposals that pass the formal and administrative compliance check (and the financial capacity check in case of private lead applicants) enter into the quality assessment.
Quality assessment criteria are grouped in two categories:
- Strategic criteria assess the relevance of project proposals in relation to the programme specific objective of reference for the proposal and the specific territorial challenges and needs addressed. Furthermore, the clarity of the intervention logic, the contribution to relevant policies including horizontal principles, and innovativeness as well as the relevance and competence of partnerships are assessed.
- Operational criteria assess the planned project implementation, i.e. the feasibility and viability of the project approach, methodology and work plan as well as the project budget, including value for money (i.e. the best relationship between the amount of support, the planned activities, outputs and the set objectives).
For more information on the assessment procedure and detailed assessment criteria please refer to the ToR of the respective call. A self-assessment tool including the relevant guiding questions is available at the programme website.
Decisions on project selection are taken by the programme MC on the basis of quality assessment results. A notification letter with the MC decision (rejection or approval) is sent to the lead applicant.
In case of approval, the notification letter might include:
- Conditions for approval (obligatory) – they have to be fulfilled by the applicants in order to enter into the contracting phase (see below). Such conditions may address the project partnership, work plan or budget. If applicable, also administrative and/or State aid conditions for approval might be included.
- Recommendations for improvement (optional) – they are aimed at providing additional advice to the partnership in order to strengthen the quality of the project implementation but are not mandatory.
[1] If the ratio “current assets” + “cash and cash equivalents” *365/“total revenues” is lower than 120, then this indicator must be higher than 0,8 for a positive result. If the ratio is higher than 120, then the indicator must be higher than 1 for a positive result. Calculation of ratio is done from the data of the last two financial years.
[2] Ditto