CARDS Twinning Manual
European Commission
A REFERENCE MANUAL ON
PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS
VALID FOR THE SECOND CALL FOR PROPOSALS OF THE KEY INSTITUTIONS PROGRAMME
September 2003
1
KEY TERMS USED
Tacis / Tacis is the main means of assistance to promote the transition to a market economy and to reinforce democracy and the rule of law. The latest Tacis regulation was adopted in Council Regulation (EC, Euratom) 99/2000 of 29 December 2000.NIS / Newly Independent States
PC / Partner Country(ies). For the purpose of this manual it includes countries covered by the Tacis Programme: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
MS
CC / Member State(s) of the European Union.
Candidate Countries
NCP / National Contact Point. A designated person in each of the MS/CC and partner countries is the official contact point for all twinning activities.
Practical Guide / The Practical Guide to EC External Aid Contract Procedures covers all contracting procedures which apply to EX external aid contracts.
PA / Partnership Adviser, who works full-time on the project.
Grant Contract / Contractual agreement between the EC and the MS/CC on the Partnership Project. It includes the work plan and standard annexes. Signed by the EC and the MS/CC.
Standard annexes of the Grant Contract are:
Annex I Description of the Action
Annex II General Conditions applicable to European Community-
financed grant contracts for External Actions
Annex III Budget for the Action
Annex IV Contract-Award Procedures
Annex V Standard request for payment and financial identification
form
Annex VI Model audit certificate
Annex:VII Model Financial Guarantee (not. applicable)
Annex VIII Categories and Remuneration of Partnership Experts
Work Plan / Legal document developed by the PC and MS/CC, which commits both parties to achieving the results described through the implementation of a detailed work programme.
TABLE OF CONTENTS[1]
PART A THE GENERAL APPROACH 7
1.2 Key Institutions as an Instrument for Institution Building 8
Section 2: The Components of a Partnership Project 9
2.1 The Fundamental Basis 9
2.2 The Project Leader and Partnership Advisor (PA) 9
2.3 The "Description of the Action including the detailed Work Plan" 13
2.4 Role of the Partner Countries 14
2.5 Role of the Member States/Candidate Countries 15
2.6 Role of the Commission 15
PART B PREPARATION OF PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS 17
Section 3: Process of Project Preparation 18
3.1 Call for proposals 18
3.3 Eligibility of Potential Partners 19
3.4 Member State/Candidate Country consortia 20
3.5 Selection of the Partners 21
3.6 Drafting of the "Work Plan and Budget" 21
3.7 Signature of the Grant Contract and annexes 22
Section 4: Detailed Project Design 24
4.1 Designing the Project 24
4.2 Benchmarks, Timeframes, Duration & Risk Analysis 25
4.3 Deciding Project Management responsibilities 26
4.4 Projects involving a Consortium of MS/CC 27
4.5 Inputs of PC (Staff & Infrastructure) 28
4.6 Inputs of MS/CC (Staff) 29
4.7 Management & Accounting 31
4.8 Translation & Interpretation 31
4.9 Seminars, Training, Traineeships & Workshops 32
4.10 Intangible Inputs 32
4.11 Project Presentation 33
Section 5: The Partnership Project Budget 34
5.1 The Project Budget 34
5.1.1 Global envelope 34
5.1.2 Content of the budget 34
5.1.3 Eligible costs 34
5.1.4 Structure of the budget 35
5.2 Costs arising during the preparation of the Project Proposal 35
5.3 Partnership Advisers 36
5.3.1 General principles 36
5.3.2 Staff Categories and rates of reimbursement 37
5.4 Project Leader, Short & Medium Term Expert Inputs 38
5.6 Travel & Per Diem 39
5.6.1 Travel 39
5.6.2 Per Diem 40
5.6.3. Reserve for adjustment of prices 40
5.7 Training and Seminars 40
5.7.1 Training in the PC 40
5.7.2 Trainee/internships in the MS/CC 41
5.8 Flat rate compensation 41
5.8.1 Principle 41
5.8.2 Beneficiary 42
5.8.3 Budget presentation 42
5.9 Translation and Interpretation 42
5.10 Equipment 43
5.11 Private Sector Sub-Contractors 43
5.12 Costs not covered by the EU 44
PART C IMPLEMENTATION OF PARTNERSHIP PROJECTS 45
Section 6: General Management of the Project 46
6.1 Management by the Project Leaders 46
6.6 Changes to a "Grant Contract" 48
Section 7: Financial Management and Control 49
7.1 General Principles 49
7.4 Private Sector Inputs: tendering, procurement and contracting 51
7.7 Audit 51
Section 8: Other Issues 52
8.1 Languages 52
8.2 Troubleshooting 52
8.3 Acknowledgement of Funding Source 53
ANNEXES
D. Templates
D1 Model Project Proposal
D2 Standard EU CV Format
D3 Letter Mandate Project Leader from Junior Partner
D4 Letter commitment PC (in case the Work Plan has not been signed by the PC Authority)
D5 Model Work Plan
E. Miscellaneous
E1 Evaluation Grid (Eligibility and Administrative Compliance, Evaluation Grid)
E2 Categories and Remuneration of the Partnership Experts
This manual describes the rules and procedures particular to Twinning funded by EU funds. Where no particular rule is specified, the general rules applicable to external actions financed from the general budget of the European Communities apply.
PART ATHE GENERAL APPROACH
1.2 Key Institutions as an Instrument for Institution Building
The objective of the Key Institutions Programme is to encourage institution building by means of partnership co-operation projects between public organisations from the European Union and the Partner Countries in Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia.
These projects should aim to accelerate the process of administrative reform and to facilitate the design and implementation of public policies based on the experience and practices of public policies of the EU Member States/ Candidate Countries.
MS/CC public administrations have similar roles and missions, and face, in their day-to-day activities, many of the same problems. In many policy areas, such as reform of the judiciary, the fight against economic and organised crime, fiscal reform or the setting up of regulatory frameworks, to cite just a few examples, the expertise that the Partner States require exists mainly in the public sector. This Programme aims to benefit from the experience and know-how within the EU Member States and Candidate Countries.
The Key Institutions Programme is an initiative of the European Commission to assist the PC in their reform of administrative structures in the framework of the Tacis Programme. The Programme is based on the experience on Phare Twinning, which has organised over 300 partnership projects in Central Europe.
· The PC eligible for assistance under this initiative are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrghyzstan, Moldova, Mongolia, Russian Federation, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan.
Secondment of long term MS/CC experts to PC administrations will form the ‘backbone’ of the partnership projects. The long-term experts are called Partnership Advisors (PA). To achieve its objectives, a project will typically also need various other short-term specialist inputs.
The budget available for the Second Round of the Key Institutions Programme is funded from Tacis 2001 and 2002 budget:
2001 2002
Kazakhstan: 0.3 M Euro 0.7 M Euro
Russian Federation 1.0 M Euro 5.0 M Euro
Ukraine 0.625 M Euro 1.5 M Euro
Section 2: The Components of a Partnership Project
2.1 The Fundamental Basis
· A Partnership project is not designed to provide only advice or other types of classical technical assistance. It is a complex project in a specific field that must yield results.
· A Partnership project is not one-way Technical Assistance from MS/CC to PC. It is a close partnership in which the specific commitment of the Partner Country, which is also the driving force behind the changes targeted, is vital.
· A Partnership Project will not aim at transposing a particular MS/CC administrative system to the PC but rather strive to help introduce EU wide best practices to the PC administration
At the completion of a project, the Partner Country should have developed an efficient, working organisation.
The aim of a partnership is therefore to arrive at a fully operational outcome in a particular field. Achieving this aim calls for long and thorough co-operation between PC and MS/CC, bringing into play whatever actions are required to achieve the desired results.
2.2 The Project Leader and Partnership Advisor (PA)
In all projects, success in delivering a minimum result will depend on the coherence of a number of successive inputs, the continuity of those inputs and steady progress. Every project will therefore include a Project Leader, who continues to work in his/her MS/CC administration but who devotes some of his/her time to conceiving, supervising and co-ordinating the overall thrust of the project. S/he will always be complemented by at least one full-time expert, known as a Partnership Advisor (PA), from an MS/CC to work on a day-to-day basis with the beneficiary in the PC and accompany the implementation of the project.
· PAs will be civil servants or equivalent staff seconded to work and be based in the PC.
General Provisions
1. Definition
The present general provisions apply to PAs made available by MS/CC’ administrations and mandated bodies to counterparts in partner countries with EU funding.
The seconded experts covered by these provisions will remain in paid employment in their national administration or mandated body throughout the period of secondment.
PAs must be nationals of a MS/CC.
2. Qualification of Partnership Advisors
To qualify for secondment, a PA must have at least three years’ experience in the organisation of the practical application of the legislative process or other duties as described in the project fiche covering his/her secondment. S/He will have a grade equivalent to Category A as defined in the Staff Regulations for Officials of the European Communities.
A PA should have a good knowledge of one Community language and may be required to have a satisfactory knowledge of a second language where this is necessary for the performance of his/her duties.
A MS/CC may not be in a position to make available statutory civil servants to co-operate with the Partner Country, if the civil servants who specialise in the given field are too few to be spared, or if the MS/CC in question usually entrusts a public service to a private body.
The administrations or mandated bodies of this MS/CC may therefore hire experts for the purpose of the project, provided they have the necessary skills in respect of the relevant legislation/field of the project.
These experts, temporarily recruited by the administration, may only act on its behalf provided they have the necessary experience and are not subject to any conflict of interests. The contract between such experts and the recruiting administration or mandated body must clearly integrate the expert into the contracting organisation, identify the person to whom they report and who is responsible for their backup, thus attributing full responsibility for the quality of their services.
3. Status of PAs
In the host PC, the PA's status is that of a technical expert. If the MS/CC so requests, the PA will be entitled to diplomatic status.
4. Duration of secondment
As a rule, PAs are not seconded for more than three years total in any one country. They must serve on a fulltime basis throughout the period of secondment.
By way of exception a PA who has already served on secondment may, in response to a reasoned request from a department, be seconded a second time. However, two tours of duty, in the same or different countries, may not be exceeded. Thereafter, PAs must return to their home administration to reacquaint themselves with latest developments and related administrative practice.
The duration of secondment is fixed at the outset in the Grant Contract (annex I). Any change in the duration of secondment specified in the initial project may give rise to a review of the funding approved by the Commission. Such changes are thus subject to an amendment to the agreement, to be submitted to the Commission for prior approval.
5. Breaks in or termination of periods of secondment
The Commission may authorise breaks in periods of secondment and specify the terms applicable. During such breaks:
a) the allowances for housing and removal costs will not be payable;
b) the expenses for health insurance, schooling and personal travel costs will be reimbursed only if the break is at the Commission’s request;
c) any reimbursement of salary to the expert’s employer will be suspended automatically.
The Partner Country and the Member State/Candidate Country may by mutual accord terminate a long-term secondment at any moment, if the PA does not comply with the obligations laid down in the “Grant Contract” or for any justified reason. The termination of a secondment, whether or not there is a substitute for the PA in question, may give rise to a review by the Commission of the funding for all or part of the Grant Contract. Termination of secondments is thus subject to an amendment to the agreement, to be submitted to the Commission for prior approval.
The Commission may, at its own initiative or at that of the Partner Country or the MS/CC alone, propose to review the funding of the Grant Contract, if a PA is not fulfilling his/her obligations to satisfaction, or for any other justified reason. In such cases, the Commission proposes a review of the Contract as a condition for the continuation of all or part of its funding.
6. Duties
PAs will assist the administration or other government body in the Partner Country in the context of a predetermined work programme
Unless special instructions to the contrary are given, under the authority of the appropriate person to whom they report, PAs are excluded from any official act whereby the host administration exercises its public law prerogatives. Nor will they enter into a commitment on their behalf, nor commit the Commission to any act compromising the exercise of its public law prerogatives.
PAs may work in any field where their services are deemed necessary according to the Grant Contract, provided there is no conflict with the interests of their administration or mandated body of origin.
A PA will carry out his/her duties and conduct him/herself solely with the interests of the host administration in the Partner Country and those of the EU in mind.
A PA will abstain from any action, and in particular any public expression of opinion, which may reflect on his/her position.
A PA who, in the performance of his/her duties, is called upon to pronounce on a matter, in the handling or outcome of which s/he has a personal interest such as to impair his/her independence, will immediately inform the MS/CC project leader to whom s/he reports.