cluster of sub-projects (“component” projects).

Details of the different types of actions (“implementation modalities”) and

cluster proposals are given in Section IV.2 of Part 2 of this Guide.

The types of actions that will be funded and the research areas covered

will vary from call to call. Please refer to details of the specific calls

published in the Official Journal and Part 2 of the “Guide for Proposers”,

which will give you further, call specific, information, including a

detailed description of the types of actions supported.

II.6. References

|Decision on the Fifth Framework | |http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/src|

|Programme | |/decisions.htm |

|Decision on the “Quality of Life | |http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/src|

|and Management of Resources” | |/decisions.htm |

|Programme | | |

|Quality of Life homepage | |http://www.cordis.lu/life |

|Call text for “Quality of Life and | |http://www.cordis.lu/life/sr|

|Management of Resources” Programme | |c/library.htm |

|Work Programme “Quality of Life and| |http://www.cordis.lu/life/sr|

|Management of Resources” Programme | |c/library.htm |

|Quality of Life Documents | |http://www.cordis.lu/life/sr|

| | |c/library.htm |

|Quality of Life contacts | |http://www.cordis.lu/life/sr|

| | |c/contacts.htm |

|Marie-Curie fellowships homepage | |http://www.cordis.lu/improvi|

| | |ng |

|SME-specific measures homepage | |http://www.cordis.lu/sme |

|INCO-web site (Bursaries, | |http://www.cordis.lu/inco |

|international co-operation) | | |

|Other programme web sites | |http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/ |

|accessible via | | |

III. Participation in activities in the Fifth Framework Programme

This section describes the conditions of participation in activities within

the Fifth Framework Programme, the process whereby the Commission selects

among the proposals submitted to it, and the manner in which selected

projects should be carried out.

It is based on the Annex IV of the decision on the Fifth Framework

Programme[x], the decision on the rules of participation[xi], and other

subsequent texts or documents[xii].

III.1. The participants

III.1.1. Who ?

The Framework Programme, with its corresponding financial support, is open

to all legal entities established in the Member States of the European

Union – e.g. individuals, industrial and commercial firms, universities,

research organisations, etc. including SMEs. The Programme is also open to

all legal entities established in any of the other States associated to the

Programme (see box 4).

Participation and financing for legal entities established in other

countries (‘third countries') is governed by common conditions which are

applied throughout the Fifth Framework Programme (see boxes 3 and 4), with

the exception of the Programme ‘Confirming the international role of

Community research’ under which some entities are entitled to receive

Community funding depending on their country of origin[xiii].

III.1.2. How many?

Proposals submitted to the Commission should demonstrate a Community

dimension. As a general rule, this means that they should involve at least

two legal entities, independent of each other, and established in two

different Member States, or one Member State and one Associated State. (The

Joint Research Centre of the European Commission is considered as a

participant of a Member State).

However, certain actions may vary from this general rule - either by

requiring more participants or by permitting a single one (see box 6).

III.1.3. Role of the participants

Participants in a proposal fall into a number of different legal

categories, according to the type of activity proposed and the nature of a

participant’s role in it (see box 6 and III.5.3.).

III.2. Proposal submission

III.2.1. call for proposals

Calls for Proposals published in the Official Journal will open certain

parts of a Specific Programme’s Work Programmes for proposals, indicating

what types of actions (RTD projects, Accompanying measures etc.) are

expected. In addition to those with a fixed closing date, the Commission

will open certain Calls on a longer ‘open’ basis, with periodic evaluation

of received proposals. A provisional timetable for the Calls of a Specific

Programme is included in each Work Programme.

A Call may address the full programme, a key action, one or several

research themes, areas, sectors, action lines, objectives, topics. In order

to ensure co-ordination among the Specific Programmes, common Calls may be

published. The objectives to be achieved may also be fully detailed, for

example in the case of key actions or dedicated calls[xiv].

Proposals submitted under a Call shall be subject to a selection process

presented in section III.4.

Certain Accompanying Measures may however be based on spontaneous

applications or on a call for tender, and shall therefore be subject to a

different process[xv].

III.2.2. Submission

Participants should complete the appropriate Proposal Submission Form

corresponding to the type of action involved, preferably using the software

tool that the Commission supplies: The Proposal Preparation Tool or

‘ProTool’, available at the following address:

http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/protool.

Proposals must be completed in full as detailed in the Guide for Proposers

Part 2.

In addition, experience in previous Calls shows that a number of general

recommendations, provided in box 9, may be helpful. Participants have the

choice to submit proposals either electronically or on paper.

Submission takes place in the following steps, which are detailed in Part 2

of this Guide.

|The co-ordinator may request a pre-proposal check from |

|the Commission, if this service is offered for the call|

|concerned. |

|The proposer may be required in the Call for Proposals |

|to submit a request for a proposal number. This form |

|(Notification of Intention to Propose) is sent to the |

|Commission services via fax or electronic mail. |

|The requested proposal number is sent back to the |

|proposer by fax or electronic mail from the Commission.|

|The proposal is prepared either in electronic or paper |

|form, preferably using ProTool. |

|The co-ordinator checks the proposal against the key |

|recommendations (Box 9) |

|Electronic submission |Paper submission |

|The submitting partner in |The proposal is sent to the|

|the consortium seeks |Commission in the form of |

|certification for the |five bound paper copies and|

|Programme. |one unbound original. |

|The proposal is submitted |

|electronically following |

|the instructions given with|

|ProTool. |

III.3. Proposal evaluation

III.3.1. General principles

The evaluation of proposals will be based on the fundamental principles of

transparency and equality of treatment. The entire selection process and

the description of the criteria by which the proposals will be evaluated

are presented in the Evaluation Manual (see also box 5 and Appendix 6 of

Part 2 of this Guide).

In general, and in order to help the Commission, panels of independent,

external experts[xvi] will be constituted covering a wide range of relevant

expertise, without linguistic or geographic bias. Proposers’

confidentiality will be fully respected, both to avoid conflicts of

interest and to preserve the impartiality of the independent experts.

III.3.2. Conformity check and eligibility

On receipt, all proposals will be subject to a validation process, to

ensure they conform to the requirements of the Call, of the submission

procedure and of the rules for participation.

Only proposals that conform to these requirements will be subject to

evaluation.

III.3.3. Evaluation

Proposals will be evaluated according to criteria grouped into five

categories, as laid down in the Work Programme applicable to the relevant

call. The content and the respective weighting of the criteria are

described in the Evaluation Manual. Programme specific information on

evaluation may also be explained, if appropriate, in Part 2 of this Guide.

Ethical aspects and safety aspects have to be taken into account in the

process.

The experts examine proposals individually, then meet as a panel to agree a

ranking. At this stage, they may recommend that certain proposals should be

combined into larger projects or linked together as clusters (see section

I.3.3).

Following the evaluation, and according to the interest of Community, the

Commission will establish a list of proposals in order of priority. This

list will take into account the budget available (which has been set out in

the call for proposals) plus, if necessary, a percentage of the call budget

to allow for withdrawal of proposals and/or savings to be made during

contract finalisation. Late or ineligible proposals, those of inadequate

quality or for which there is not adequate budget will be subject to a “non-

retained” decision by the Commission. This information, with the main

reason for non-retention, will be communicated to the proposers concerned.

III.4. Proposal selection

The co-ordinators of proposals, which have been retained, will be notified

in writing. This notification however does not ultimately commit the

Commission to fund the project concerned.

A brief report on the evaluation prepared by the Commission will be sent to

the proposers via the proposal co-ordinator. Further administrative and

financial information will be required to assess the viability of the

proposed project.

Hence, participants will have to demonstrate that they have all the

necessary resources[xvii] needed for carrying out the project. The

Commission will check these, and may seek to safeguard its interest by

asking for a bank guarantee or by other measures.

The Commission may also propose modifications to the original proposal

based on the result of the evaluation, or in terms of grouping or

combination with others.

On successful conclusion of these negotiations, the Commission will then

offer contracts for the commencement of work, based on a timetable

determined by the needs of the Specific Programme concerned.

Any proposal, which is finally not taken up, due to a lack of available

funding for example, will be subject to a “non-retained” decision by the

Commission. This information, with the main reason for non-retention, will

be communicated to the proposers concerned.

III.5. The contract

Contracts are issued to proposals successful in the procedure of selection.

III.5.1. The various types of contracts

Research contracts from the Commission fall into five main groups. They

each have their own detailed conditions, appropriate to the types of action

and the activities to which they refer. (see boxes 6, 7 and 8).

III.5.2. The subject of the contract

The main obligation of the participants is to carry out the project to

completion in a pre-arranged period, and to make use of or disseminate its

results.

In return, the Commission undertakes to contribute financially to the

realisation of the project, normally by reimbursing a certain percentage of

the project costs[xviii].

III.5.3. Rights and obligations of participants

These may vary according to the nature of the action or the category of

participant:

. For Research and Technological Development (R&D) projects,

Demonstration projects and Combined projects, a participant who has a

wide-ranging role in the project throughout its lifetime is normally a

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