Launching of the call for large projects

The EEA Grants provide funding to 16 EU countries in Central, Eastern and Southern Europe. An amount of EUR1.79 billion has been set aside under the EEA and Norway Grants for the programming period 2009-2014.

The overall objectives of the Financial Mechanisms 2009-2014 are to contribute to the reduction of economic and social disparities within the EEA and to strengthen the bilateral relations between the Donor States and the Beneficiary States.

In order to ensure an efficient implementation of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 / EEA Grants (), a Memorandum of Understanding between the Kingdom of Norway, the Republic of Iceland, the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Government of Romania on the implementation of the EEA Financial Mechanism for the period 2009-2014 is in force as of 22 March 2012, amended 18 October 2012.
The rules and requirements on the implementation of the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 / EEA grants are set out in the Regulation on the implementation of the European Economic Area (EEA) Financial Mechanism 2009-2014, including its annexes. Further information can be found at www.eeagrants.org.

The EEA Grants contribute, inter alia, to protecting cultural heritage and revitalizing cultural heritage and to promoting cultural diversity, intercultural dialogue, fostering minority cultures and cultural exchange by providing more than €200 million support in 16 beneficiary countries. In Romania a total of € 20,8 million is provided for support in this area. The budget of the present call for proposals is of € 6,327,957.

In Romania, the programme operator for Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage Programme, hereinafter named the Programme, is the Project Management Unit (PMU), within the Ministry of Culture, implementing the Programme in partnership with the Arts Council Norway.

Under the present call for proposals, support is directed to Roma minority related cultural projects, through appropriate funding. At least 10% of the total eligible costs of the Programme shall target the improvement of the situation of the Roma population.

OBJECTIVES

The general objective of the Programme is to increase cultural dialogue and to foster European identity through understanding of cultural diversity.

The specific objectives of the Programme are:

• broadening the possibilities of accomplishing various artistic and cultural activities;
• strengthening participation in culture for the public;
• deeper understanding of cultural diversity and strengthening of inter-cultural dialogue, including the cultures of minorities;
• strengthening of bilateral relations between Romanian cultural operators and cultural players from the Donor States (in the field of arts and culture), with emphasis on cultural diversity.

The Programme will contribute to the strengthening of the bilateral cooperation between cultural operators from Romania and the Donor States, and aims at having 50 % of the projects carried out in partnerships with organisations from the Donor States.

2.1. Outcomes and Outputs

The present large grant scheme within Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage Programme envisages the achievement of the following:

• Awareness of cultural diversity raised and intercultural dialogue strengthened;
• Cultural history documented.

Under “Awareness of cultural diversity raised and intercultural dialogue strengthened” the following outputs are expected:

• Increased mobility for artists and their work at international level;
• Education through art and culture reaching a broader audience;
• Projects concerning music and stage arts;
• Projects concerning fine and visual arts.

Under “Cultural history documented” the following outputs are expected:

• Cultural history of minorities enhanced and promoted;
• Events/productions involving minorities (fairs, performances, festivals, productions, etc.).

2.2. Eligible types of activities

Under the present call for proposals, all activities which aim to achieve the objectives, outcomes and outputs outlined above are considered eligible. The activities may be related to cultural and creative sectors.

The following list of activities is indicative:

• Support for  mobility of artists /cultural professionals and their works to reach new audiences beyond their home countries;
• Organization of local, national or international cultural and art events;
• Exchange of experience and good practices among cultural organizations;
• Education and training for professionals and cultural organisations in order to, inter alia, gain new skills, strengthen their capacity in the cultural field, support community development;
• Develop education methodologies regarding cultural diversity and intercultural dialogue through new communication services, etc;
• Information and communication campaigns in order to raise awareness about cultural diversity, including cultures of minorities;
• Research, surveys, inventories on culture and arts and studies in order to raise awareness about cultural diversity, including on cultures of minorities, particularly among young people;
• Production of goods and services related to the culture of communities, including   the culture and heritages of minorities, including Roma .

These activities can be carried out in the following areas but not limited to: fine arts, visual arts, music, stage arts, exploration/representation of traditional knowledge and promotion of traditional knowledge (values, beliefs, rites etc.).

Please consider the list of eligible activities above mentioned is not limited but exemplificative. Other activities than mentioned above could be considered as eligibile if the applicant justifies their necessity in carrying out the project and their contribution to the Programme objectives.

2.3. Cross-cutting issues

Under this call for proposals the following cross - cutting issues have to be considered in projects: good governance, sustainable development and gender equality (according to Protocol 38 B and Article 1.6 of the Regulations).

Good governance

Good governance has 6 main principles; it is participatory and inclusive, accountable, transparent, responsive, effective and efficient, and follows the rule of law. The zero tolerance towards corruption is by default, as well the fact that the minorities points of view are taken into consideration and the voices of the most vulnerable groups of society are listened within the decision making. These principles apply to project level, too. Transparency and openness shall characterize all phases of project implementation.

Sustainable development

Sustainable development is defined as „development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs”. Therefore, sustainable development is an integrated concept including a longterm vision and implies all the human actions up to local level. Sustainable development has to be considered as integrated, from all the three perspectives: economic growth, social cohesion and environmental protection.. The principles of sustainable development from a social perspective have to be observed at project level.

Gender equality

Gender equality is one of the fundamental values of society and refers to men and women having equal rights and opportunities in all areas of society and economy, such as representation and participation, access to resources, rights, norms and values. The projects financed under this Programme have to comply with the legal provisions regarding gender equality, equal treatment between women and men, equal opportunities and non-discrimination.

Within the projects, thefollowing horizontal concerns have to be addressed: tolerance combating hate speech, extremism, racism, homophobia, anti-semitism, sexual harassment, violence against women, trafficking.

FINANCIAL ALLOCATION

3.1. Total  amount available through the call

The total budget of the present call for proposals within Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage Programme is of 6,327,957 EUR. This amount consists of 5,378,763 EUR (85%) provided by the EEA Financial Mechanism 2009-2014 / EAA Grants and 949,194 EUR (15%) provided by the Romanian Government.

3.2. Financial allocation on Programme outcomes

The above total budget of the present call will be allocated for both outcomes of the Programme, as follows:

• Outcome 1: Awareness of cultural diversity raised and intercultural dialogue strengthened - 3,377,956 EUR.
• Outcome 2: Cultural history documented - 2,950,000 EUR.

3.3. Financial allocation on projects

The value of the grant awarded for a project will be between:

• the minimum grant amount is EUR 50 000 per project
• the maximum grant amount is EUR 200 000 per project.

To ascertain whether the minimum and maximum amount of the grant, the applicant will consider the InforEuro rate from the month of launching the call for proposals (January 2014), respectively 4.4707 LEI.

The grant rate for the implementation of a project is as follows:

• in case of projects submitted by public entities -  the grant will cover up to 100% of the total project eligible costs;
• in case of projects submitted by non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – associations and foundations– the grant will cover up to 90% of the total project eligible costs.

In case of NGOs, in-kind contributions are accepted. Such contributions shall amount to maximum 50% of the co-financing provided by the applicant. Contributions in kind are possible only in the form of voluntary work.

The basis for the calculation of the unit prices for voluntary work will be the official data on minimum and average salary in the economy at national level, as established by the National Commission for Prognosis in force at the time of the call for proposal launching. The eventual net revenues gained/generated in a project must be reinvested in the project.

Further details about these aspects are available in the Applicant’s Guide.

ELIGIBILE APPLICANTS

4.1.For both Programme outcomes, the eligible applicants are Romanian organisations:

• Public entities:
  • local and national authorities,
  • cultural institutions,
  • higher education and research institutions;
• Non-governmental organisations.

Note: the eligible applicant for the present call for proposals are legal persons established and registered in Romania.

4.2. Applicants are not eligible to receive granting within the Programme should they fall under one of the following categories:

1. They have been the subject of a judgement which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation or any other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities’ financial interests;
2. They are  bankrupt or being wound up, are having their affairs administered by the court, have entered into an arrangement with creditors, have suspended business activities, are the subject of proceedings related to these matters or are in any situation arising from a similar procedure provided for in national legislation or regulations;
3. Have not fulfilled their obligations related to payment of social security contributions or the payment of taxes in accordance with the legal provisions of the country in which they are established;
4. They have been convicted in relation to their professional conduct by a court judgement which has the force of res judicatain the last three years;
5. They are guilty of grave professional misconduct which the Programme Operator can justify/prove by any means;
6. They have been declared in a serious breach of contractual obligations on public procurement procedures and/or contracting procedures within European Economic Area.
   In addition, applicants will not receive grants within the Programme, should they be in one the following:
7. Have attempted to obtain confidential information or influence the Programme Operator evaluators during the evaluation process of applications within call for proposals;
8. Have failed to supply the correct information required by the Program Operator;
9. Are in  any situation of conflict of interest which may arise in connection with the present call;(a conflict of interest could arise in particular as a result of economic interests, political or national affinities, family or emotional ties or any other relevant connection or shared interest);
10. Delays informing Programme Operator of any situation which may be considered conflict of interest or which could give rise to a conflict of interest;
11. Have  made any offer of any type whatsoever from which an advantage can be derived under the agreement.
12. Are currently subject to an administrative penalty for misrepresentation in supplying information required by the Programme Operator.

The Applicant will not receive grant if in the grant dossier will present information which are not compliant with the supporting documents submitted in the contracting phase (not accepted justifications for introducing erroneous data).

The Applicant wil fill in, sign and stamp the Eligibility Statement (Annex 3) and it will submit it along with the Grant Application Form.

4.3. Eligible project partners

To enhance cooperation, partnerships between organisations from Romania and Donor States are strongly encouraged. It should be noted that the application is to be submitted by an Applicant from Romania which may establish a partnership with one or more organisations from the Donor States: Iceland, Liechtenstein and/or Norway.

The  project partner shall meet the following requirements:

• its participation in the envisaged project is reasonable;
• it does not draw direct financial profits from the participation within the project;
• it is legally established, based and registered in the country of origin, as:
• public bodies active in the field of culture, organized and managed according to the applicable law;
• non-governmental and non-profit organizations, organized and managed according to the applicable law.

Partners may participate in co-financing the project and may be involved in the design and implementation activities. But the applicant is responsible for submitting the application and signing the contract with the Program Operator. The role of each partner must be very clear and detailed in the Grant Application Form and in the Letter of partnership intent and furthermore in the Partnership Agreement.

ELIGIBLE EXPENDITURES

All project costs must be directly linked to the implementation of the proposed activities. All project costs have to be proportionate, justified and necessary for the implementation of the project and actually incurred by the Project Promoter/Project Partner.

5.1. The following project costs are considered eligible costs under this call of proposals:

a) Management costs including, among others:

• the cost of staff assigned to the project, comprising actual salaries plus social security charges and other statutory costs included in the remuneration, provided that this corresponds to the Project Promoter’s and project partner’s usual policy on remuneration. The corresponding salary costs of staff of national administrations are eligible to the extent that they relate to the cost of activities which the relevant public authority would not carry out if the project concerned were not undertaken;
• travel and subsistence allowances for staff taking part in the project, provided that they are in line with the Project Promoter’s and project partner’s usual practices on travel costs and do not exceed the relevant national scales;
• other costs (it could include costs of consumables and supplies, provided that they are identifiable and assigned to the project);

b) Consulting and expertise costs including, among others:

• expenses for technical, administrative, financial, accounting, tax, legal advice consulting and management and consulting costs on project activities;
• expert fees for reports, strategies, guidelines, methodologies, inventories, studies, analyses, reports on tangible and intangible cultural assets;
• translation and interpretation services costs;
• evaluation and audit costs;

c) Specific costs including, among others:

• costs entailed by the contracts awarded by the Project Promoter for the purpose of carrying out the project, provided that the awarding complies with the applicable national rules on public procurement;
• costs arising directly from requirements imposed by the project contract for each project (e.g. specific evaluation of the action, audits, translations, reproduction), including the costs of any financial services (especially the cost of financial guarantees);
• the entire purchase price of new and second hand equipment will be eligible in projects where the equipment is functional at the end of the project and/or those cases where the use of the equipment after project implementation is limited to activities in line with the project’s objectives;
• generally accepted depreciation cost of other new or second hand equipment corresponding to the duration of the project and the rate of actual equipment use for the purposes of the project
• Costs for project visibility, publicity and information, including but not limited to:
  • Costs for developing, processing and printing of visibility and promotional materials, website creation and maintenance;
  • Cost for organizing the promotion events;
  • cost for purchasing of billboards/ permanent plaque;
  • other costs.

d) Indirect costs (overheads)

• the indirect costs are eligible costs that cannot be identified by the Project Promoter and / or partner as being directly assigned to the project, but those can be identified and justified by their accounting system as being directly related to the project direct eligible costs. These cannot include direct eligible costs.

The project promoter and / or project partners shall apply the following methodology for calculating indirect costs:

Indirect costs = X% * (total eligible direct costs)

X% is calculated by applying one of the following two formulas:
x% =  number of project staff / total number of staff employed by the project promoter or partner  x 100 
or
x% = the project office area / total area of the project building x 100.

e) Unrecoverable VAT.

The total value of the management cost together with the indirect costs shall not exceed 20% of the project total direct eligible value.

5.2. Excluded costs

Within this call for proposals, the  following  costs  are not considered eligible:

1. any costs incurred for the project activities before project contract entering into force;
2. interest  on  debt,  debt  service  charges  and  late payment charges;
3. charges  for  financial  transactions  and  other purely  financial  costs,  except to the costs of financial  services  imposed  by  the  project contract;
4. provisions  for  losses  or  potential  future liabilities;
5. exchange  losses;
6. recoverable VAT;
7. costs that are covered by other sources;
8. fines, penalties and costs of litigation; and
9. excessive or reckless expenditure.

PUBLIC PROCUREMENT

The project promoters and partners which are public institutions in Romania, financed under the Programme must fully comply with all of the national applicable regulations, in particular with the public procurement national legislation, i.e. Government Emergency Ordinance no 34/2006 regarding the awarding of public procurement contracts, including subsequent amendments and completions.
The project promoters and partners which are private entities in Romania, financed under the Programme must fully comply with the provisions of Ministerial Order no. 1120/2013 regarding the simplified procedures  applied to private beneficiaries in case of projects financed through Structural Instruments, Convergence Objective, and projects financed under EEA and Norway Grants for awarding of supply, works or services contracts, respectively the Government Emergency Ordinance no. 34/2006 including subsequent amendments and completions, if applicable according to art.9, par. c and c1.

The main principles in implementation of the public procurement procedure include: equal treatment of contractors and transparency of the procedure, appropriate deadlines, mutual recognition of diplomas, certificates and other documents confirming qualifications, in accordance with the Romanian law, proper publicity of the procurement procedure,  proportionality and efficient use of funds.

STATE AID

According to the provisions of GEO no.117/2006 on the national procedures regarding state aid, these rules apply to economic undertakings with a lucrative purpose.  The Programme is not subject to the State Aid provisions because of the nature of the specific activities to be funded within the Programme, because the applicants do not act as economic operators in implementing the specific activities, because there are no premises to appreciate that competition on the European market will be distorted and taking into account the maximum limit of the grant awarded per project, as well. The eligible project promoters and project partners in the Programme are public or private organisations which are not aiming at gaining profit.

PAYMENT FLOWS AND REPORTING

Payments to projects will take the form of advance payment, interim payments and final balance payment. The advance payment shall be set in the financial plan of each project and shall not exceed 30% of the total project grant.

The payments within projects will be made as pre-financing (advance and interim payments), except of the final balance.

• The advance payment is set in the project contract and shall amount up to 30% from the project grant and shall cover the expenditure for up to 2 reporting periods. The advance payment is made on the basis of the payment claim submitted by the Project Promoter;
• Interim payments to the projects will be made on the basis of approved interim reports, provided that the costs for at least 70% of any previous payment have been incurred
• The payment of the final balance is made after the approval of the final report. The Programme Operator may withhold up to 10% of the total grant amount for the payment of the final balance. this amount being disbursed within 15 working days after the approval of the final report.

PROJECT SELECTION CRITERIA AND PROCEDURE

With regard to individual projects, the project selection criteria are:

Administrative and eligibility criteria:

• Compliance with the template and instructions for filling in the application,  the number of original documents and copies required, the manner of submitting the application (on paper and electronic)
• All annexes required are duly signed and stamped;
• Submitting the application within the deadline;
• Eligibility of the applicants and partners (if the case);
• Grant rate requested between EUR 50,000 – 200,000;
• Existence of documents proving the commitment to supply the co-financing, if applicable.

Evaluation criteria:

• Quality and innovation;
• Project relevance within the Programme context;
• Project feasibility;
• Project impact.

Detailed evaluation criteria and maximum scores to be awarded are presented in the table below:

* The scoring of II.4. is awarded as follows:

• maximum 5 points for the projects whose activities are partially referring to cultural projects of minorities, including Roma;
• maximum 10 points for the projects whose activities are exclusively referring to cultural projects of minorities, including Roma.

Only applications receiving 70 points or more will be considered for funding.

Selection Procedure

• Verification of compliance with administrative and exclusion criteria;
• Each application that meets the administrative and eligibility criteria shall be reviewed by two experts appointed by the Programme Operator; who shall be impartial and independent of the Programme Operator and the Selection Committee;
• The experts shall separately score the project according to the selection criteria published in the call for proposals; the average of the scores awarded by the experts shall be used for ranking the applications;
• the Selection Committee shall review the ranked list of applications and shall recommend the projects to be funded within the Programme as to reach the Programme objectives and indicators.

More detailed information about the selection procedure is provided in the Applicant’s Guide.

For reasons of equal treatment and non-discrimination, applicants shall not contact the Programme Operator or the evaluators after submission deadline, except in cases where clarifications are requested from them by the Programme Operator.

PERIOD OF PROJECT IMPLEMENTATION

The implementation period of projects under this call for proposals must not extend beyond April 30, 2016.

SUBMISSION PROCEDURE

The application form is available on the Programme dedicated website: www.fonduri-diversitate.ro and on the website of the Ministry of Culture, Project Management Unit: www.umpcultura.ro. The application shall be completed in Romanian language, accompanied by a summary in English language. For those projects submitted in partnership with entities from other states, the application shall be completed both in Romanian and English. If any of the supporting documents is in a language other than Romanian or English, a translation in Romanian or English must be attached. Handwritten applications will not be accepted.

Applications shall be submitted:

• two paper copies, one original and one copy and an electronic copy on CD/DVD, stick USB..The electronic documents shall be submitted in formats compatible with the following software: MS Word, MS Excel, Adobe Acrobat. 

The Grant Dossier will be submitted in a sealed envelope, by registered mail, by courier or delivered personally, from Monday to Thursday between 9.00 – 17.00 and Friday between 09.00 – 12.00, to the following address:

Project Management Unit
Ministry of Culture
Unirii Bld. No. 22, 5th floor, Room 503, 3rd district, Bucharest, postal code 030833

The sealed envelope must have the following information marked:

EEA Grants
PA 17/RO13 - Promotion of Diversity in Culture and Arts within European Cultural Heritage
Call for Applications - Large projects
Applicant: < Complete name and address>
Project Title: Project <Title>

The deadline for submission of project applications is: April 7, 2014. For applications submitted by mail or courier the date of the post stamp or date of the delivery to the courier shall be considered as submission date.

In case of using maile services, please submit the Grant Dossier with receipt confirmation and keep it.

The personal delivery at the above mentioned address is accepted no later than April 7, 2014, 12.00 hours.

QUERIES

• Requests for further clarification may be submitted in writing at the e-mail address: office@fonduri-diversitate.ro, no later than April 7, 2014.  The term of response to questions/ clarifications is normally 3-5 working days;
• The list with FAQs and the related responses will be publishe on the Programme website;
• Additional information about this call for proposals and the Applicant’s Guide can be found on www.fonduri-diversitate.ro and www.umpcultura.ro

CONTACT INFORMATION

For further information, please contact
Project Management Unit
Ministry of Culture
office@fonduri-diversitate.ro
Phone / fax: 021-2228479, 021-2244512

Contact details for additional information on partner search for Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein:

Håkon Halgrimsen
Arts Council Norway/ Norsk kulturråd
Postboks 8052 Dep, 0031 Oslo, NORWAY
Tel.: +47 21045964 and +47 21 04 58 00
E-mail: kulturutveksling@kulturrad.no
Website: www.norskkulturrad.no

Guðný Helgadóttir
Head of Division
Department of Cultural Affairs
Ministry of Education, Science and Culture
Sölvhólsgötu 4 IS-150 Reykjavík, ICELAND
Tel. +354 545 9500
E-mail: gudny.helgadottir@mrn.is

Kerstin Appel-Huston
Senior Advisor to the Minister of Cultural Affairs
Government – Principality of Liechtenstein
Regierungsgebäude
Peter-Kaiser-Platz 1
P.O. Box 684 9490 Vaduz, LIECHTENSTEIN
Tel.: +423 236 60 24
E-mail: Kerstin.Appel@regierung.li

DOCUMENTS

ERRATUM regarding eligible costs – Applicant Guides for large and small projects, chapter 6.5.1 List of eligible expenditures

ERRATUM regarding Annex 4 – Partner statement of eligibility

CLARIFICATION Chapter 10.1 The content of the application dossier Applicant Guide for both large and small projects - Applicant’s financial statements

CLARIFICATION Chapter 10.1 The content of the application dossier Applicant Guide for both large and small projects - Applicant’s financial statements

• Applicant Guide - Large Projects
• Annex 1 Application Form
• Annex 2 Project Budget
• Annex 3 Applicant Eligibility Statement
• Annex 4 Partner Eligibility Statement
• Annex 5 Letter of partnership intent
• Annex 8 Progress Report
• Annex 9 Financial Report