HORIZON
2020
HORIZON 2020
Model Grant Agreements of the
Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
Structure, novelties & specificities
DG EAC/REA – 23 June 2014
MSC-MGAs
•4 MSC-MGAs:
1) H2020 MGA MSC Individual Fellowships (IF) – Mono-beneficiary
2) H2020 MGA MSC Co-funding of regional, national and international
programmes (COFUND) – Mono-beneficiary
3) H2020 MGA MSC Innovative Training Networks (ITN) – Multibeneficiaries
4) H2020 MGA MSC Research and Innovation Staff Exchange (RISE) –
Multi-beneficiaries
Objectives of the MSCA MGAs
(in line with the H2020 Model Grant Agreement objectives)
Simplification
Flexibility
• Provisions
• Wording
• 4 MGAs instead of
multiple
• To accommodate
particularities of
MSCA
Coherence
Continuity
• Within H2020 and
with other EU
programmes
• Where possible and
adequate
MSC-MGAs
•Novelties in the structure:
New structure of MGA: Legal provisions in 1 document, no more
in annexes:
main provisions are common to general GA model + MSC specific
provisions integrated in the document
+ annotations = explanations providing specific guidance for the
understanding of the MSC-MGAs (under finalisation)
Chapter 1: General
• Single article: subject of the agreement
Chapter 2: Action
• Action, duration and budget
Chapter 3: Grant
• Amount, reimbursement rate and form of costs, conditions for costs to be eligible
Chapter 4: Rights and obligations
•
•
•
•
Proper implementation of the action
Grant administration: reporting, payments, audits (records)
Background and results: access rights, exploitation, dissemination
Others: Recruitment and working conditions for recruited researchers, ethics
Chapter 5: Division of roles
• Roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries, internal arrangements – Consortium
agreement
Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties,
termination
• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties
• Suspension and termination of the action
Chapter 7: Final provisions
• Communication between parties, amendments, applicable law
Chapter 1: General
• Single article: subject of the agreement
Chapter 2: Action
• Action, duration and budget
Chapter 3: Grant
• Amount, reimbursement rate and form of costs, conditions for costs to be eligible
Chapter 4: Rights and obligations
•
•
•
•
Proper implementation of the action
Grant administration: reporting, payments, audits (records)
Background and results: access rights, exploitation, dissemination
Others: Recruitment and working conditions for seconded researchers, ethics
Chapter 5: Division of roles
• Roles and responsibilities of the beneficiaries, internal arrangements – Consortium
agreement
Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties,
termination
• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties
• Suspension and termination of the action
Chapter 7: Final provisions
• Communication between parties, amendments, applicable law
Chapter 1: General
• Single article: subject of the agreement
Chapter 2: Action
• Action, duration and budget
Chapter 3: Grant
• Amount, reimbursement rate and form of costs, conditions for costs to be eligible
Chapter 4: Rights and obligations
•
•
•
•
Proper implementation of the action
Grant administration: reporting, payments, audits (records)
Background and results: access rights, exploitation, dissemination
Others: Recruitment and working conditions for recruited researchers, ethics
Chapter 5: Division of roles
• Roles and responsibilities of the beneficiary
Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties,
termination
• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties
• Suspension and termination of the action
Chapter 7: Final provisions
• Communication between parties, amendments, applicable law
Chapter 1: General
• Single article: subject of the agreement
Chapter 2: Action
• Action, duration and budget
Chapter 3: Grant
• Amount, reimbursement rate and form of costs, conditions for costs to be eligible
Chapter 4: Rights and obligations
• Proper implementation of the action
• financial support to or implementation of programmes (Art. 15) incl. conditions for the
recruitment of researchers and obligations towards them
• Grant administration: reporting, payments, audits (records)
• Background and results: access rights, exploitation, dissemination
Chapter 5: Division of roles
• Roles and responsibilities of the beneficiary
Chapter 6: Rejection, reduction, penalties,
termination
• Rejection, reduction, recovery and penalties
• Suspension and termination of the action
Chapter 7: Final provisions
• Communication between parties, amendments, applicable law
MSCA Model Grant Agreements:
Annexes to the GA
Annex 1: Description of the action
Annex 2: Estimated budget
Annex 3: Accession Form for beneficiaries
(only ITN & RISE – multi-beneficiary)
Annex 4: Financial statement
Grant Agreement
Novelties…
 Reimbursement fully based on unit costs (Commission Decision
C(2013)8194) = fixed amount per person-month
→ major simplification, especially for COFUND (not established anymore during
negotiations but set out in the above Decision)
→ reporting significantly easier
 From beneficiaries & third parties & associated partners to
beneficiaries & partner organisations
→ only beneficiaries signing and bound by the MGA, therefore fully responsible
for the proper implementation and for keeping audit records
Grant Agreement
…and specificities to be aware of
 RISE: beneficiaries only in Member States/Associated Countries
and Partner Organisations only in third countries
 Payment of the mobility allowance: Not only direct financial
payment possible, but also e.g. direct payment of flight tickets,
depending on individual preferences and to ensure maximum
benefit for researchers
 Essential: to respect working conditions stipulated in the MGA for
recruited/seconded researchers: Art. 15 (COFUND), Art. 32 (ITN,
RISE, IF) & e.g. recruitment under an employment contract
ensuring best working conditions & full social security benefits for
recruited researchers (ITN, IF, COFUND)
Question 1
How long is the longest time period to shift the project start (to start
later)?
•→ 12 months (will be further explained in the Annotated Grant
Agreement), see draft text of the annotations to Art. 3:
In case when the starting date will be notified by the beneficiary, this date must fall within
the period between the entry into force of the GA and the number of months mentioned in
Article 3. The notification of the starting date has to be sent by the beneficiary through the
Participant Portal ('My Area' section) prior to the start of the action.
If the action does not start within the period indicated above, or if the notification is missing
or delayed, the Agency may terminate the GA according to Section 3 of the Grant Agreement.
In the event of a notification submitted after the start of the action, the deadline to pay the
pre-financing according to Article 21.2 will be counted from the date of receipt of the
notification.
Question 2
In cases of ethically sensitive issues all necessary formalities have to
be finished before the start of the research work. Is this starting point
the start of the project or the start of the specific research work (work
package, task)?
→ Starting point is the start of the specific research work.
Question 3
The "eligibility-check" (fulfilling of the mobility rules) for the researcher
lies in the responsibility of the scientists in charge of the host
institutions. There is some flexibility because of the different rules (e.g.
in the context of the meaning of full-time research experience - for
example in the medical research there specific rules in this context). In
the case of an audit who and how exactly will be checked if those
"eligibility-check" has been fulfilled? Has the host to decided if it
is fulfilled or not?
→ The host institution is entirely responsible for ensuring compliance
with the eligibility criteria and for keeping necessary and adequate
records in case of an audit.
Question 4
Employment contract” for MSC Researchers (ITN + IF). In FP7,
Italian Universities used “assegno di ricerca” (research fellowship) as
main contract to recruit MSC researchers, according to the
interpretation given by Jean-Bernard Veyret, Head of Unit Unit P4 –
Marie Curie Host-Driven Actions (mail 08/03/2012 to Mara Longhini –
UNIBO where he states that “we have concluded that it fulfils the
criteria to be given a status akin to a type A contract. The - assegno di
ricerca - may be used until the employment law in Italy is revised
again. Along the “assegno di ricerca” (art. 22 of Law 240/2010) we
encourage you that you also use the employment contract of fixed
duration (art. 24 of Law 240/2010)”. Can we assume this statement in
H2020 too and applied it both to IF (post-doc grant positions) and ITN
(PhDs positions)?
Question 4
In principle, a full-time employment contract fulfilling the minimum
criteria laid out in Art. 6 & Art. 32 GA is needed, unless this is
impossible under national law.
In case a specific situation arises due to a specificity of the legal
framework and an interpretation is needed, COM can give an
authoritative interpretation as to which constellations are in line with
the legal framework, as e.g. regarding the "assegno di ricercia" (IT),
for which the COM can confirm that it can continue to be used until the
revision of the Italian employment law.
HORIZON 2020
Thank you
for your attention!
http://ec.europa.eu/msca
&
http://ec.europa.eu/research/participants/portal/desktop
/en/funding/reference_docs.html