The funds, which were provided under the Instrument for Pre-Accession Assistance for Turkey” in 2002, started to be provided under the “Instrument for Pre-Accession Financial Assistance (IPA) in 2007 after the launching of the EU accession process of Türkiye in 2005.
While implementing the EU funded projects, it is expected to follow procedures, specified in the The Practical Guide on Contract Procedures for European Union External Action (PRAG) and its annexes. Here, you can find several information regarding grant management, especially for projects under the direct management modality of the EU Delegation to Turkey.
The Implementation period is a timeframe in which beneficiary has to implement all components, activities and to make payments of the project. Execution period means to a period of beneficiaries’ legal liability on the contract until the payment of the balance of final amount by the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality) and in no event later than 18 months after the end of the implementation period (unless postponed in accordance with the Article 12.5 of the General Conditions).
The expenditures in relation with the project should be made within the implementation period. Namely, the beneficiary should not make expenditures neither prior to the start date of the implementation nor after the end date of the implementation. The start and end dates of the implementation are indicated in Article 2 of the special conditions of the contract.
An exception is made for costs relating to final reports, including expenditure verification, audit and final evaluation of the project, which may be incurred after the implementation period of the Action. These cost (amount above EUR 500) have to be clearly listed in “The list of pending payments” in worksheet “Final sources of funding” in the final financial report (Annex G / Annex VI). The following details should be provided: Name of the provider, object of the contract (final audit, works execution guarantee…), amount in EUR, due date, reference document (date and number of invoice/contract), explanation and comments (why still not paid?)
For more information, please check out the Companion
As stated in Article 9.5 of General Conditions, in case of change of address, bank account or auditor, the beneficiary should notify the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality). Note that in relation to the change of auditor, the Contracting Authority may object to the new auditor, considering the auditor's independence or professional standard.
As stated in the Companion, the notifications on changes should be in written format. A confirmation letter from the Contracting Authority is not necessary to officialise a change of address, bank account, or auditor. The Contracting Authority may however oppose the Coordinator's choice for justified reasons notified to the Coordinator (where possible) within 30 days from the receipt of the letter of the Coordinator.
Any amendment should be executed in writing to the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality). A contract amendment should not be contrary to the principle of grant award decision or contrary to the equal treatment of applicants. Oral agreements for amendments are not considered as the legally binding procedure for all parties. It’s advised to contact the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality) prior to the amendment request to identify whether an addendum is needed.
As stated in the General Conditions of the contract, an amendment request regarding the contract, including annexes, can be made only during the contract’s implementation period.
For more information, please check out the Companion
As stated in the General Conditions of the contract, the beneficiary should submit the amendment request in written format as soon as the need for amendment is identified and prior to any intended changes taking effect for unilateral amendments. For amendments by addendum, the beneficiary should inform the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality) 30 days before the date on which the amendment should enter into force. Note that the contracts cannot be amended after the end of the implementation period.
For more information, please check out the Companion.
An amendment request by addendum should be duly substantiated and should include all necessary information for the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality) for taking an informed decision on the request.
The necessary information for amendment request should in particular covers;
- The reasons and its justifications of the amendment
- The detailed information regarding the impact of the amendment on the implementation and budget of the project/action. (i.e. and most notably on the activities and budget of the action).
It’s advised to prepare following documents for an addendum request;
- The letter of addendum request which gives justifications for the proposed amendment. It’s recommended that the letter is signed and stamped,
- Description of Action (DoA) that indicates modifications regarding proposed amendments in the form of track changes (including Logical Framework Matrix),
- Concept Note (as a part of the contract) that indicates changes in proposed amendment in track changes format. Even if it does not contain information in relation with changes, it’s still advised to submit,
- Revised budget of the contract/project in line with proposed changes,
- “Other Source of Funding” (as a part of the contract) sheet is also recommended to be submitted with the request (This does not exist in the Companion. The mentioned documentation requests have been observed by STGM in the course of EUD’s practices.)
Note that hardcopy and soft versions (soft copies to be sent via e-mail) of above-mentioned documentation are recommended to submit to EUD (This does not exist in the Companion. The mentioned documentation requests have been observed by STGM in the course of EUD’s practices.)
The amendment to the contract by addendum must be signed by the same parties who signed the initial contract, i.e. the coordinator and the contracting authority. An addendum enters into force following signatures of two parties.
Besides, in case of a further clarification request by the EUD, note that additional supporting documents regarding the amendment request should be submitted.
For more information, please check out Companion.
The maximum amount of EU contribution and percentage of eligible or accepted costs, financed by the EU may never be increased.
For more information, please check out Companion.
When the cumulative variations of a given budget heading exceed 25% of the budget heading's value, it is necessary to process a formal budget revision (through an addendum according to Article 9.3). Without such addendum (to regularize the modification that leads to exceeding the 25 %) all costs exceeding the threshold related to that modification would be ineligible.
When informing the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality), a comparative version of the budget with the cumulative changes already made, justification and detailed explanation of the amendment request shall be submitted.
The granting of addendum may take a certain period of time. Therefore, the request of addendum should be made in 30 days before the date on which the amendment should enter into force. Note that an addendum enters into force following signatures of two parties
For more information, please check out Companion.
The budget attached to the contract must be respected. However, beneficiaries can benefit from a certain flexibility within the budget, as long as the 'expected results of the action' are not affected and the change does not call into question the initial award of the grant or the equal treatment of applicants.
The term 'results' includes: overall objective (impact), specific objective (outcome), other outcomes and outputs.
In case of doubt, it is strongly recommended to check beforehand with the Contracting Authority (is EUD under the direct management modality) that the planned modifications do not impact the expected results of the action. As long as the expected results of the action is not affected, beneficiaries can perform followings, in terms of financial aspects:
- Transfers between items or cancel or introduce the new items within the same budget heading,
- Transfers part of the budget from one main heading to another (from “1. Human Resources to “4. Local Offices” for instance) as long as this transfer does not imply variation (both increase and decrease) of more than 25% of the headings concerned.
Please be noted that successive unilateral modifications to the budget shall be taken into account in a cumulative way.
For instance; if a budget heading was already increased with a unilateral modification by 20% of its initial value (as set out in the original budget of the project/action or as modified by an addendum), that heading can be further increased by no more than 5% of its initial value (thus reaching in total the limit of 25% of its initial value).
When informing the EUD, a comparative version of the budget with the cumulative changes already made must also be submitted.
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Example 1: You are running a 24 month length project and you want to make an unilateral amendment (minor modifications) in the budget in line with 25% rule as stated in the GC of your contract. In the original budget per your contract, you have an allocation for vehicle cost under the ‘4.1. Vehicle Cost’ of the “4. Local Office” budget heading. The unit value for the allocation is 500 EUR per month for 24 months. You have already spent this allocation for 12 months. Meanwhile, you make a cooperation agreement with municipality and the municipality agrees to provide you a vehicle for your use for 3 months long in summer time. Under the circumstances, you decided not to use this allocation for forthcoming 12 months and you want to continue hiring the vehicle for 9 months instead of 12 months. For making this amendment, you plan to transfer 1,500 EUR (3 months cost of vehicle hire) from ‘4.1. Vehicle Cost’ budget item to ‘1.3.3 Seminar/conference participants’ budget item under the ‘1. Human Resources’. More 15 people will be able to participate in seminars through transferring 1,500 EUR to the 1.3.3. Seminar/Conference participants without increasing the unit cost of the allocation. Please be informed that the total amount of the transfer (1,500 EUR) is in the limits of 25% rule in line with the article 9.4 of GC. 1,500 EUR does not exceed 25% of the total amount of ‘4. Local Office’ budget heading nor 25% of the total amount of ‘1. Human Resources’. Under the circumstances, you may make this amendment through unilateral amendment (minor modification) process by informing your Project Manager via official correspondence. For a sample “Modified Budget Table” for unilateral amendment based on this example please e-mail to [email protected] For a sample request letter to explain unilateral amendment based on this example please e-mail to [email protected] |
For more information, please check out Companion.
The beneficiary cannot amend “indirect costs”, “the contingency reserve”, “in-kind contributions” as well as amounts or rates of simplified cost options.
For more information, please check out Companion.
The 25% variation is calculated on both the original value of the heading where the funds are taken from and the original value of the heading where the funds are to be added.
If a main budget heading has a provision of 100, and it is sought to transfer the maximum allowed amount to another heading, i.e. 25, this will only be possible if the other heading had also a provision of 100 or more. If this other heading had only a provision of 90, it cannot receive a transfer of 25 as this would constitute an increase of more than 25%. In other words, the limit of 25% applies not only to the heading where the money is taken from, but also to the heading intended to receive the transferred amount.
For more information, please check out Companion.
