For those who get a notification email inviting to Grant Agreement Preparation (GAP) process for the submitted EU funding proposal, that in itself is a great achievement. It shows that the funding application has been positively reviewed and ranked higher than almost all other applications. However, highly detailed work needs to be done to fulfil the process requirements and achieve the signing of your Grant Agreement before you can truly kick off your funded project. Spinverse Project Services offer specialised support for navigating the GAP phase, ensuring that all necessary details are addressed, facilitating a smooth and efficient preparation process towards the successful signing of your Grant Agreement.
The project funding is not approved until the Grant Agreement has been signed by both parties - the EU and the coordinator - on behalf of the consortium. The Grant Agreement Preparation process follows a strict time schedule which is given by EU in their notification letter and according to the funding instrument rules. Even for those organisations or experienced individuals who have done this phase before, it still can be a daunting experience to complete the needed actions on time. For most organisations, the Grant Agreement Preparation process is done infrequently and of course in parallel to other ongoing work.
The Grant Agreement Preparation work can be split into two different parts:
- The original proposal will be updated according to the feedback from the EU Evaluation Summary Report (ESR) and possible extra requirements of the funding instrument. After that, the proposal content will be uploaded to the relevant sections of the EU grant management tool, the Funding & Tenders portal. Usually, clarifications and adjustments to project budgets or national funding will be required, depending on the funding instrument.
- The consortium partners (known as beneficiaries) must be financially and legally validated by the EU financial services. This could include validation of the beneficiary status (type of organisation: SME, RTO, LE, etc.) and financial eligibility, financial validation of the coordinating organisation, and validating official representatives such as Legal Entity Appointed Representatives (LEAR).
Attention to detail is critical. This data becomes the legally binding agreement between the EU and the consortium and forms the basis for the work in the project as well as the tracking of its completion over the following years of project execution.
All partners have tasks in the GAP process – not only the Coordinator
The GAP process can consume a lot of effort from the whole consortium. Whilst the responsibility remains with the Coordinator, all beneficiary partners need to act, for example signing the “Declaration of Honour” in the portal and providing any required clarifications or updates to the project plan. This requires that each beneficiary has all the required administrative validation steps for the organisation completed in the portal, as well as having appointed and registered those authorized individuals that can sign the Grant Agreement on behalf of their organisation.
Let us guide you in the critical GAP phase to help secure the funding and take your project forward!
Spinverse has the practical know-how, built through nearly twenty years of work on EU projects, to guide you through the myriad of requirements with minimum effort.
We have a wealth of experience of EU funding instruments and their processes. Our daily work is focused on building consortia and creating winning funding proposals. In addition, we have supported countless proposals through their Grant Agreement Preparation process and have subsequently supported many large and complex innovation projects over their duration.
We know and understand the rules and processes and, in addition to our core team of Project Management specialists experienced in project administration, we can draw on the expert knowledge from our diverse group of colleagues. We have the ability to allocate key resources in a supporting role to help ensure that your Grant Agreement Preparation process runs smoothly toward the project start.
Feel free to contact our Project Services team to discuss how we can support you in this critical phase for your project. We would be happy to discuss what works best for you.
Find more information about our Project Services here.
Get in touch with us!
John Sperryn, Senior Manager, Team Leader for Project Services
john.sperryn@spinverse.com
+358 45 314 8404