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Application procedure

The EU Commission supports specific project ideas. Short descriptions together with deadlines can be found in the work programmes of the four specific programmes. Approximately six months prior to the deadline, the calls for proposals are also published on the EU website CORDIS.

The most important documents during the application procedure are the call for proposals and the guide for applicants. The latter is published on CORDIS together with an information package about the specific call. The guides for applicants are aimed at helping applicants through the process of preparing a proposal, while the legal basis is formed by the rules for participation, published on the 31 December 2006.

The project proposals are submitted through the Electronic Proposal System EPSS (= Electronic Proposal Submission Service). Coordinators register the project and their organisation first. After that they register all their partners so that each partner receives their own password. Every participant has to fill in forms A2 (status of the organisation) and A3 (calculation of budget) on-line. Part B of the proposal is also submitted electronically.
EPSS is accessible approximately four weeks prior to the deadline of the specific call. It is advisable to register all participants as early as possible and to upload even draft versions of part B, as all information entered in the forms and every document uploaded in EPSS can be updated until the final deadline of the call.

Timing

Focused work on the preparation of the project proposal should start four months before the deadline of the call.

Project coordination and management

The role of project management covers not only the scientific and technical coordination of the project, but also the protection of intellectual property rights, the awarding of subcontracts (such as audits) and, crucially, the financial planning for the whole project, the fulfilment of the reporting obligations and the implementation of the appropriate decision making and management structures.
The formulation of an adequate and convincing project management concept is an essential part of the project proposal, as the description of the project management is one of the evaluation criteria used by the EU Commission.
Furthermore, the Commission has stressed the importance it attaches to good project management by defining it as a key task within projects which may not be subcontracted.

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