EUROPEAN COMMISSION Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME) Unit A1 – COSME

Call for proposals - COS-TFLOWS-2014-3-15 Facilitating EU transnational tourism flows for seniors and young people in the low and medium seasons [email protected] Questions and Answers Version 3 31/10/2014

INDEX A. B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. J. K. L. M.

Background of the call Objective(s) – Theme(s) – Priorities - Activities Timetable Available budget and funding of projects Admissibility Requirements Eligibility Criteria Exclusion Criteria Selection criteria Award criteria Legal commitments Financial provisions Publicity & Data protection Submission of proposals

New Questions (and Answers) from the previous version are highlighted in a yellow background.

Executive Agency for Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (EASME), B-1049 Bruxelles/Brussel, BELGIQUE/BELGIË http://ec.europa.eu/easme/cosme

A. Background of the call – general policy

B. Objective(s) – Theme(s) – Priorities - Activities B.1 What kind of projects are eligible? Is it just to promote senior tourism with the events described in the call or can it include other activities (workshops, tourism fairs, B2B, exhibitions, Over 50’s shows, B2C) or can it include some global projects for entertainment activities to implement at the destination so it can give more attractiveness to the tourist area? Section 2.3 "Supported actions" details what are the "core" and compulsory activities to perform under each strand (seniors or youth) and also provides a list of additional activities that can be proposed. However, this list only serve as an example and the call states that: "This list is non-exhaustive and only aims at providing guidance to applicants. Applicants may propose any other action they deem necessary to achieve the objectives of the call, provided they justify their choice and clearly describe the link between the proposed actions and the objectives they want to achieve. " Hence, applicants can propose – in addition to the key and compulsory activities - any activity contributing to achieving the objectives of the call. It is up to the applicant to well justify the choices made. B.2 Under strand A, can you please explain in details the meaning of the 3? Do I have to apply with 3 other entities? How many seniors should I target? Do I have to collaborate with another entity in the European Union? Applicants, applying for the STRAND A, must propose projects that include at least (but they can include more) the 3 "core activities" detailed in section 2.3.1. Hence, proposals must design and develop a tourism product concept (please check the definition of tourism product provided), propose a methodology to test this product and assess the results of the test. Proposals must be presented by consortia composed of "a minimum of 4 to maximum 8 applicants from at least 4 different eligible countries". Therefore, yes, you need to apply together with at least 3 other entities from other COSME countries (in this case each partner must come from a different eligible country). However, there are also other requirements that must be fulfilled, for example in terms of typology of entities that must be part of the consortium. We invite you to carefully check all compulsory requirements consortia must fulfil, in particular section 6.3 "Eligibility conditions for consortia". There is no minimum or maximum number of target beneficiaries. It is up to the applicant to propose a methodology, define the target group (direct and indirect beneficiaries) and to justify the choices made. B.3 According to the definitions of STRAND B (memory sites and mobility schemes), is it necessary to propose one of the two or both of them? Section 2.3.2 states that "project proposals under this strand must: 1. Design one of the two above said "tourism concepts",

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2. Run a pilot to test this concept. The pilot must be run during the low-medium seasons1 and at transnational level involving at least 2 different EU member states2, 3. Measure and evaluate the test's results and gather the lessons learned." Hence, you can chose which of the 2 proposed tourism concepts you want to develop on: transborder students trips to European memory sites or intra-EU mobility schemes. C. Timetable C.1 Could you please let me know if this is an annual call? Or if this is the only call for proposals (in this field) under this programming period? It is intention of the Commission to facilitate transnational mobility of tourists during the low seasons via – among other initiatives - an annual call for proposal. However, the work program of the Commission is adopted yearly and it is submitted to the so called "comitology procedure". We cannot guarantee that this call for proposal will be approved in the next years by the appropriate committee of Ministers of the EU. At the same time, even though the call should be repeated yearly, we cannot guarantee that the terms of references will remain the same. D. Available budget and funding of projects D.1 What is the total cost of the project if the co-financing is 250.000€? There is no maximum total cost of the project set in this call. There is a maximum co-financing of 220.000€ for projects submitted under STRAND A and of 250.000€ for projects submitted under STRAND B and a maximum co-financing rate of 75% per project. This means that your contribution must be at least 25% of the total eligible costs but it can be higher. Hence, the total cost of the project depends on your own contribution. D.2 We have not understood if projects will be 100% covered by EU and EASME. Please refer to answer given here above to question D.1 . There is a maximum co-financing rate of 75% of the total eligible costs, as specified in section 4 "Budget available and funding of projects". E. Admissibility Requirements E.1 Can proposals be drafted in a language which is different from English? According to section 5 "Admissibility requirements", applications must be drafted in one of the official EU languages. Thus, you can submit your proposal in any EU language. However, the Guide for Applicants (section 3 "Proposal submission") requires in such cases to submit a 1

There is no common definition of low-medium season because seasonality really varies from country to country and from a site to another. Applicants should demonstrate how their proposal contributes extending the tourism season of the targeted territories.

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The chosen target group(s) must travel in EU country(ies) different from the one of residence. A greater geographical impact would be seen as an asset. 3

summary of the proposals in English. Please be aware that submission in English would greatly facilitate the assessment by the evaluators of your proposal. F. Eligibility Criteria F.1 We are interested in your call for proposal and are looking for potential partners. Will you put in place a system for partners ‘search? If you are looking for partners, you can use the Cordis database. Although the user community on CORDIS is mainly focussed on research, there are no specific restrictions on who can use the CORDIS Partners service to create a profile, find partners, collaborate in groups and build projects. One of the features of the research of Partners on Cordis is the option to create partnership requests specifically linked to calls for proposals (all calls and their related partner searches are listed here: http://bit.ly/U6hYlE). For people who already have a Partner profile in Cordis database, they can select a specific COSME call when they create a partnership request: http://bit.ly/1mQZpyn. Each partnership request will then show up as being associated to the call to attract others interested in the same call. In the case you don’t have a profile you can create https://cordis.europa.eu/sur/index.cfm?fuseaction=Reg.UserRegistration

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here:

Should you encounter any difficulties with the Cordis database, please contact the Cordis helpdesk: http://cordis.europa.eu/guidance/helpdesk/home_en.html You may also contact your nearest Enterprise Europe Network member who could assist you in finding potential Partners. The list of Enterprise Europe Network members is available at http://een.ec.europa.eu/about/branches F.2 Regarding the Call addressed to Senior Tourism, it would be possible to include in the proposal the collaboration from Canadian Universities and other Organizations? Since Canada is not a country of COSME included in the program, how could finance the participation of these potential partners? (involving researchers at conferences or seminars, for example. Possible exchange of best practices, pilot Canadian seniors trip to Europe and subsequent exchange of European Seniors to Canada, etc). Costs could be generated in this collaboration could be included in the proposal? either as outsourcing, attending scheduled activities, participation in the preparation of studies and documents, etc) According to section 6.1 "Geographical eligibility" of the call text, eligible applicants must come from EU countries or from other countries participating in the COSME programme under Article 6 of the COSME Regulation. In addition, participation of partners from other countries is allowed if relevant to the project and in duly justified cases. However, section 6.1 further specifies that "costs derived from these countries are not eligible, nor will these additional countries be considered as concurring to comply with the eligibility criterion of having a minimum of 4 partners from 4 different countries (see section 6.3.)". Hence, partners from Canada can be allowed provided that the applicant well justifies the added value to the project and to the achievement of the objectives of the call. Costs derived from these partners will however not be eligible for funding. 4

Subcontracting is possible but it should follow an adequate procurement procedure and it is limited to the rules and conditions set in section 11.1 point "e". In particular: - it may only cover the implementation of a limited part of the action; - it must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation; - it must be clearly stated in the proposal. I also would like to draw your attention to the footnote n° 16 that states: "The product concept will be tested involving at least 2 MS (i.e. the chosen target group(s) must travel in EU country(ies) different from the one of residence), with a sufficient number of tourists to evaluate and provide evidence of the impact of the transnational tourism product". Hence, the pilot test must involve at least 2 EU Member States. F.3 Please tell us if the eligible partners should come exclusively from the EU countries or if we can also have partners from The Republic of Moldova and Ukraine. According to section 6.1 "Geographical eligibility" of the call text, eligible applicants must come from EU countries or from other countries participating in the COSME programme under Article 6 of the COSME Regulation. The European Commission (DG Enterprise and Industry) provides up to date information regarding the countries that participate in COSME. Please check the following link (in particular regarding 3rd country participation): http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/initiatives/cosme/index_en.htm As you can see from the above link, Moldova already signed the international agreement to participate to COSME. Hence, partners from Moldova are eligible for funding under the present call. Ukraine is still negotiating its participation to the COSME programme. Entities from 3rd countries likely to participate to the programme (such as Ukraine) are considered eligible pending the enter into force of the participation agreement for the year 2014. F.4 Are SMEs and organizations from Serbia eligible partners in 2015? Please refer to the answer given to question F.3 here above. Entities from 3rd countries likely to participate to the programme are considered eligible pending the enter into force of the participation agreement for the year 2014. According to the latest information, Serbia is expected to sign the participation agreement to COSME only in 2015. If this will be the case, entities from Serbia can be eligible for funding under calls published in 2015. F.5 What is the maximum duration of projects submitted? Section 6.5 "Implementation period" of the call text states that: "The project duration must be between a minimum of 12 and a maximum of 15 months. Applications for projects scheduled to run for a shorter or longer period than that specified in this call for proposals will not be accepted." 5

F.6 The Ministry XXX is interested in submitting a project proposal under this call. Should the Ministry for Tourism be the lead partner in this project, can it include also the National Tourism Authority (an entity falling under the Ministry’s remit) and be listed as 1 partner of the consortium? or should these be separate (e.g. the Ministry as the Lead partner and the Tourism Authority as one of the other partners of the consortium? No specific requirement is foreseen for the lead partner of the consortium. Both lead partner and other partners must fulfil the same eligibility requirements. Any eligible applicant, fulfilling the requirements set in section 6.2 "Eligible Applicant Entities", can be the lead partner. Hence, both the Ministry and the National Tourism Authority could be lead partner in the project. Having said this, please check carefully the other eligibility conditions and in particular section 6.3 "Eligibility conditions for consortia". The consortium, must fulfil, according to this section certain minimum requirements. In particular we draw your attention to the points 3a and 3b of section 6.3 that state the following: a) at least one of the applicants must be either a national or regional or local public governmental authority or a network or association of regional or local public governmental authorities. b) Unless a national or regional governmental authority is partner of the consortium, the applicants must also submit, together with the project proposal, a letter of support of the project idea and activities proposed delivered by a public governmental authority - at national or regional level - from one of the eligible countries. Hence, one of the partners must be a public governmental authority (at national, regional or local level). In addition, unless a national or regional governmental authority is partner of the consortium, there is need for a letter of support of the above said. On the definition of governmental authority please check also the footnotes 24, 25 and 26. A Ministry is a public governmental authority. Any other public body, even if dependent from a Ministry, does not qualify as a governmental authority as such. Therefore, if your Ministry does not participate directly as partner, a letter of support might also be necessary (depending on the other partners). F.7 Is it possible to be partner for Strand A and for Strand B? Is it possible to be partner in more than one proposal for Strand A and Strand B? There is no rule excluding the possibility of applying as partner in different consortia and/or for different strands, except that an entity can be lead partner only in one proposal. Of course, it will not be possible to have the same activities/tasks financed more than once. We also remind you that each proposal must apply for strand A or Strand B and it is not possible, within the same proposal, to target both seniors and young people. F.8 On p. 17, point 3, it is stated that “The consortium must be composed of at least 1 public governmental authority, 1 partner representing a youth or senior organisation, and one tourism provider”. Below this sentence, an explanation of each of these three types of partners is given. On p. 18, point d) it is mentioned that “At least one applicant must be an SME … or an association of SMEs acting in the tourism sector”

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Is the “tourism service provider” a synonym for “SME acting in the tourism sector”? So is it sufficient to have 1 public governmental authority, 1 partner representing a youth or senior organisation, and 1 SME active in tourism among the partners of the consortium? Section 6.3 defines at point 3 the typology of partners that must be part of the consortium as a minimum. Hence, yes, 1 public governmental authority, 1 partner active in the fields of youth or seniors and 1 SME corresponding to the definition that is given in the call text at page 18 are sufficient to fulfil the requirements at point 3. Please be aware, however, that if the governmental authority is a local one, a letter of support from the national or regional public governmental authority will also be a compulsory eligibility requirement. Furthermore, we remind you that those 3 partners alone would not be sufficient to comply with the eligibility conditions. Also the other conditions (number of minimum and maximum partners, number of COSME countries covered by the consortium, eligible applicants, etc.) must be fulfilled in order for the proposal to be eligible. F.9 On page 19 of the call for proposals, it says “Please provide any useful supporting document and proof of fulfilment of the above-mentioned compulsory requirements…” • Is an extract from the chamber of commerce required/sufficient to show that a partner is a legal entity? (see p. 15, 6.2 Eligible applicant entities: “applicant organisations must be a legal entity”) • To prove that a partner is “an association, a federation or an organisation active in the fields of youth or seniors” (p. 18, point C), we are planning to submit a copy of the statutes of the organisation. Is this necessary/sufficient? • To prove that an SME meets the requirements mentioned in the table on p. 18, we are planning to submit a profit loss account and balance sheet for the last financial year OR a table filled in with the relevant statutory accounting figures (as mentioned on p. 21). Is this necessary/sufficient? Please note that the Executive Agency services cannot, for reasons of equal treatment, neither assess proposals at this stage nor help to draft proposals. Assessing the proposal – including its eligibility - is the exclusive competence of an appointed evaluation committee. It is therefore up to the applicant to provide the evaluation committee with enough information to prove the fulfillment of eligibility criteria. We suggest you to send all documents you estimate may be useful. F.10 My association is a cultural association and also manage a little hostel. Can it apply for the grant? Please note that the Executive Agency services cannot, for reasons of equal treatment, neither assess proposals at this stage nor help to draft proposals. Assessing the proposal – including its eligibility - is the exclusive competence of an appointed evaluation committee. If your association corresponds to one of the entities listed in section 6.2 "Eligible Applicant Entities" at point 2, then it is eligible as a partner of the consortium. G. Exclusion Criteria G.1 Is it a criterion of exclusion that no one of participants has made a previous project in the field of the call? "Exclusion criteria" as such are only those specified in section 7, among which there is no reference to the previous professional experience. 7

However, the evaluation committee will also assess proposals on the basis of the "operational capacity" as specified in section 8.2. This assessment intends to check whether the applicants and the proposed team have the necessary experience and competence to perform the proposed actions. To this aim applicants must send the CVs of the team and the list of previous projects/activities "connected to the policy field of a given call or to the actions to be carried out". If the experience is judged not sufficient to perform the proposed activities the proposal might be not admitted to the award phase. Please be also aware of the fact that the proposal will be evaluated on the basis of the "award criteria" listed in section 9, among which there is the following that relates to the choice of the partners: "How clearly defined and strategically chosen are the project partners (different types of partners, relevance of the partners to the project, degree of involvement of the partners)? Are the partners able to guarantee successful continuation of the project in the future?" H. Selection criteria

I.

Award criteria

J.

Legal commitments

K. Financial provisions K.1 In the previous call, the maximum subcontracting was 25% of the total budget. Is this percentage still the same under the current call? No limit in terms of percentage of the total budget has been set in the present call for subcontracting. However, subcontracting should follow an adequate procurement procedure (please refer to article 10 of the Model Grant Agreement) and it is limited to the rules and conditions set in section 11.1 point "e" of the call text. In particular: - it may only cover the implementation of a limited part of the action; - it must be justified having regard to the nature of the action and what is necessary for its implementation; - it must be clearly stated in the proposal. It is up to the applicant the onus to demonstrate that these conditions are fulfilled. In addition, we remind you that proposals will be evaluated according to the award criteria set in section 9, where there is a specific reference to subcontracting: "Are subcontracted tasks strictly “not core activities”? ". L. Publicity and Data protection L.1 Is there are any infoday planned for this call? 8

No, no infoday is planned. All questions should be sent to [email protected] L.2 Is the text of the call for proposal also available in Italian? We regret to inform you that the documents are only available in English. L.3 Are there national contact points that could help us with our project? There is no contact point in the member states for this call. All information is available on the website. L.4 Is there a national office (Italian in this case) able to help me with the entire submission procedure and able to answer to my doubts? No. Please refer to the answer given above to question L.3. M. Submission of proposals M.1 I am having technical problems with the online submission tool. Who should I contact? The electronic tool for submission of proposals is run by IT experts in close cooperation with the EASME and line DGs. For any enquiry about the IT tool used for submitting the proposal and to solve technical issues, you should get in touch with the Helpdesk of the Participants portal: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/api/contact/index.html The link to the FAQs of the Participant Portal might also be useful: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/support/faq.html#f05 We strongly advise you to submit the proposal some days before the official deadline in order to have time to eventually solve technical problems with the system. After the deadline expires we will not have any possibility to accept your proposal, for any reason. M.2 I cannot upload CVs in the online submission system. Why? How should I do it? The system allows for an upload of one document only per functional button. Hence, CVs shall be uploaded as one document only, in a pdf format. It would be advisable to include the CVs according to the list of partners as presented in your proposals, i.e. start with the CVs of the 1st partner, then the 2nd partner, 3rd partner etc. It is recommended to use the Europass CV template. However, others will be accepted. M.3 Is this necessary to submit the proposal electronically? Yes, the only eligible way to apply for the call is the electronic submission. M.4 Is this necessary to use a PIC number? In order to submit your application, your organisation needs to be registered and have a 9-digit Participant Identification Code (PIC).

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You can verify in the Participants Portal's Beneficiary Register whether your organisation has already registered: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop/en/organisations/register.html Registration process: •

If you already have a user account for the Participant Portal, you can log in straight away and start entering information to register your organisation on the Beneficiary Register page.

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If you're new to the Participant Portal, you will first need to create a user account (ECAS account), before you start the registration process.

For more information please consult: http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/docs/h2020funding-guide/grants/applying-for-funding/register-an-organisation/registration-oforganisation_en.htm M.5 How can we apply to the call "Facilitating EU transnational tourism flows for seniors and young people in the low and medium seasons"? Please consult the website of the call: http://ec.europa.eu/easme/en/cos-tflows-2014-3-15 where you will find all documents of the call (including templates to be used) and the link to the online submission system. Please also refer, for more information, to the answers given to the questions here above (from M.1 to M.4).

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