#2 Assessment and award procedure
The assessment and award process begins as soon as a call closes. Received applications are assessed against admissibility, eligibility and award criteria. The guiding principles of assessment are transparency, fairness and impartiality, confidentiality, efficiency and speed.
Admissibility and eligibility check
Applications are first checked for the formal requirements – admissibility and eligibility check.
Admissibility and eligibility check helps to ensure that only high-quality applications, which are in line with requirements laid down in a call, are further assessed and qualify for funding.
As a rule, this check is based on questions, which can be answered with ‘yes’, ‘no’ or ‘not applicable’ and relate mainly to adherence to formal requirements. Admissibility check may, for example, include assessment if an application has been submitted by the deadline and by means specified in Call Conditions. In case of eligibility criteria check, for instance, the assessment of whether an applicant falls within one of the categories outlined in Call Conditions as eligible is conducted.
Admissibility conditions and eligibility criteria will be stipulated in Call Conditions of each call. As failure to comply with one of them will usually lead to the rejection of the application, it is highly recommended to study admissibility conditions and eligibility criteria prior to submission of an application and self-assess compliance with them.
Operational capacity assessment
An applicant shall have the operational capacity to complete the activities for which funding is requested. Only legal entities with have sufficient experience in project management/coordination will be considered eligible to receive a grant.
Call Conditions will describe in detail requirements set for the operational capacity. Under some calls, only operational capacity of the coordinator (a legal entity which submits an application and represents the consortium) will be checked. Under other calls, the assessment may be extended to other applicants and co-applicants.
Award criteria assessment
The applications found admissible and eligible will be assessed against the award criteria.
Award criteria assessment is the quality assessment, which implies an in-depth assessment of the project. Award criteria serve as the yardstick against which proposals are measured. This check encompasses various aspects such as level of innovation, relevance to the objectives and outputs of the call, potential impact and sustainability, or the quality of the proposed methodology for implementation of a project. Award criteria assessment helps to ensure that resources will be allocated to projects with the highest potential for success and positive societal impact, ultimately contributing to the advancement of the ESF+ SI+ initiative.
Each call has a range of award criteria against which applications, submitted under a specific call, will be assessed. Award criteria, including the scale for assessing, will be established and described in detail in Call Conditions. Minimum and maximum points for each award criteria and the overall minimum threshold will also be specified in Call Conditions.
During the award criteria assessment, applications will be assessed qualitatively by at least two experts. The final score for an application will be calculated as the average of the points awarded by two experts who have assessed an application independently. In case of a substantial difference between the two overall scores for the same application, the third expert will be appointed.
In parallel to award criteria assessment, legal checks will be carried out. Information regarding applicable legal requirements will be presented in call documentation.
Selection procedure
The selection of projects and the final decision for funding will be taken by a selection panel – the Project Selection Committee (PSC). PSC will rank the applications with the passing scores and will set the order of priority for the applications with equal scores. Applications that pass the individual thresholds per criterion and the overall threshold will be considered for funding – within the limits of the available budget. Other applications might be put on the reserve list or will be rejected.
Exclusion Criteria
In accordance with the Financial Regulations, applicants and co-applicants may be excluded from the grant award procedure if any of them is found in one or more of the following exclusion situations:
- bankruptcy, insolvency or winding-up procedures
- breach of obligations relating to the payment of taxes or social security contributions
- guilty of grave professional misconduct
- guilty of fraud, corruption, having links to a criminal entity, money laundering, terrorism-related crimes, child labour or human trafficking
- has shown significant deficiencies in complying with their main obligations under an EU procurement contract, grant agreement, prize, expert contract, or similar
- guilty of irregularities within the meaning of Article 1(2) of Regulation No 2988/95
- has created under a different jurisdiction an entity with the intent to circumvent fiscal, social or other legal obligations in the country of origin or created another entity with this purpose
During the application process, an applicant and co-applicants will have to submit a declaration confirming that they do not fall under any of the exclusion criteria above mentioned. The declaration will have to be duly signed by their respective legal representatives.