National Contact Points (NCPs) in the field of security and cybersecurity fostering the links with National Community building for Safe, Secure and Resilient Societies

GRANT PURPOSE AND TARGET

• Core Objective: To establish and fund a network of National Contact Points (NCPs) for Horizon Europe Cluster 3 'Civil Security for Society' and cybersecurity. The project aims to professionalize NCP services, harmonize their support across Europe, lower entry barriers for newcomers to Horizon Europe, and raise the overall quality of submitted proposals. It will foster trans-national cooperation between NCPs and link them with national security research and innovation communities to better identify and communicate capability needs at the EU level.

• Funding Organization: European Commission.

• Target Recipients: The grant is exclusively for officially nominated National Contact Points (NCPs) responsible for Horizon Europe Cluster 3 and/or cybersecurity from EU Member States or Associated Countries.

• Sector Focus: SECTOR-SPECIFIC. The grant is a coordination and support action targeting the network of NCPs that serves the civil security and cybersecurity research and innovation sectors. While applicants for the calls supported by this network may come from any sector, this specific grant is only for the NCP support structures themselves.

• Geographic Scope: Applicants must be from EU Member States or Countries Associated to Horizon Europe. The consortium is required to have broad representation, including at least one NCP from each EU Member State and Associated Country that has officially appointed a Cluster 3 and/or cybersecurity NCP.

• Key Filtering Criteria:

  • Action Type: Coordination and Support Action (CSA).
  • Applicant Type: Must be an officially nominated National Contact Point (NCP) for Horizon Europe Cluster 3 or cybersecurity.
  • Consortium: A consortium is mandatory and must include NCPs from all participating EU Member States and Associated Countries.
  • Project Budget: Approximately €3 million for a single project.

FINANCIAL STRUCTURE

• Funding Range:

  • The European Commission estimates a contribution of €3.00 million for one project.
  • The total indicative budget for this topic is €3.00 million.
  • Minimum/Maximum Contribution: €3,000,000.

• Co-financing:

  • This is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA), which is funded at a rate of 100% of eligible costs. Therefore, no co-financing is required from the applicants.

• Eligible Costs: Standard Horizon Europe rules apply. Eligible direct costs include:

  • Personnel costs: Costs for employees, natural persons under direct contract, and seconded persons assigned to the action.
  • Subcontracting costs: For tasks that are part of the action, awarded based on best value for money.
  • Purchase costs: Travel and subsistence, equipment (depreciation), and other goods, works, and services (e.g., dissemination materials, publications).
  • Financial support to third parties: The grant allows for providing financial support to third parties in the form of prizes or grants, with a maximum amount of €60,000 per third party.
  • Indirect costs: A 25% flat rate of the total eligible direct costs (excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties, and certain other specific costs) is applied to cover general overheads.

• Ineligible Costs: Standard Horizon Europe rules apply. Ineligible costs include, but are not limited to:

  • Debt and debt service charges.
  • Provisions for future losses or debts.
  • Interest owed.
  • Deductible VAT.
  • Currency exchange losses.

• Payment & Reporting: The project will follow standard Horizon Europe payment and reporting schedules.

  • Prefinancing: An initial payment will be made at the start of the project after the grant agreement is signed.
  • Interim Payments: Payments linked to the submission and approval of periodic reports.
  • Final Payment: The final balance is paid after the submission and approval of the final report at the end of the project.

ELIGIBILITY REQUIREMENTS

• Formal Criteria:

  • Applicants must be a legal entity.
  • The consortium must be composed of at least one independent legal entity from an EU Member State, and at least two other independent legal entities, each established in different Member States or Associated Countries.
  • A specific eligibility condition applies: To be eligible, applicants must be Horizon Europe National Contact Points (NCPs) officially nominated to the European Commission, responsible for Cluster 3 'Civil Security for Society' and/or cybersecurity matters, from an EU Member State or an Associated Country.
  • The consortium must include at least one NCP from each EU Member State and Associated Country that has appointed a relevant NCP.
  • The proposal must have an exclusive focus on civil applications.

• Organizational Status:

  • Applicants must hold the official status of a National Contact Point as designated by their national authorities and communicated to the European Commission. These are typically public bodies or entities designated by national authorities.

• Technical Expertise:

  • The consortium should demonstrate a good representation of both experienced and less experienced NCPs to facilitate knowledge sharing and capacity building.
  • The proposal requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts.

• Exclusion Criteria:

  • Entities that are not officially nominated National Contact Points for the relevant field are not eligible to participate as beneficiaries.
  • Entities from Russia, Belarus, or non-government controlled territories of Ukraine are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
  • Entities subject to EU restrictive measures are ineligible.
  • Standard Horizon Europe exclusion criteria (e.g., bankruptcy, grave professional misconduct, fraud) apply.

APPLICATION PRACTICAL INFORMATION

• Deadlines:

  • Call Opening: 12 June 2025
  • Submission Deadline: 12 November 2025, 17:00:00 Brussels Time (CET)

• Required Documents:

  • Application Form Part A: Contains administrative information about the participants and the budget, filled in directly on the portal.
  • Application Form Part B: A narrative document describing the project's excellence, impact, and implementation. This must be uploaded as a PDF. The page limit for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA) is 30 pages.
  • The proposal must include a plan for the exploitation and dissemination of results, including communication activities.

• Application Process:

  • Proposals must be submitted electronically via the EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
  • The submission process is a single-stage procedure.
  • The proposal must be created and submitted by the designated contact person of the coordinating organisation.

• Support:

  • The grant provides financial support (funding) to the selected project.
  • The project itself is a support action, which will offer activities like training, mentoring, brokerage events, a partner search tool, and strategic communication to the broader security research and innovation community.

• Post-Award Obligations:

  • Project Duration: The recommended duration is 3 years.
  • Reporting: Beneficiaries must submit periodic technical and financial reports, as well as a final report, as specified in the Grant Agreement.
  • Deliverables: The consortium must deliver all outputs as defined in the work plan (Annex 1 of the Grant Agreement).

EVALUATION CRITERIA

Proposals are evaluated based on three standard criteria for a Coordination and Support Action (CSA): Excellence, Impact, and Quality and efficiency of the implementation. Each criterion is scored from 0 to 5. The minimum threshold for each criterion is 3/5, and the overall threshold is 10/15.

• Scoring Factors:

  • 1. Excellence (Threshold: 3/5):

    • Clarity and pertinence of the project’s objectives: How well the objectives align with the goal of professionalizing and networking NCPs.
    • Quality of the proposed coordination and/or support measures: The soundness of the proposed activities, such as training, benchmarking, brokerage events, and communication strategies.
    • Soundness of the methodology: The logic and effectiveness of the approach to achieve the project's goals, including how it builds on previous initiatives like SEREN5.

  • 2. Impact (Threshold: 3/5):

    • Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts: The likelihood that the project will lead to improved NCP services, simplified access to funding, higher quality proposals, and better integration of national and EU security R&I efforts.
    • Scale and significance of the contributions: The expected extent of the project's positive effects on the Horizon Europe security research community.
    • Suitability and quality of the measures to maximise expected outcomes and impacts: The quality of the dissemination, exploitation, and communication plan to ensure the project's results reach the target stakeholders effectively.

  • 3. Quality and efficiency of the implementation (Threshold: 3/5):

    • Quality and effectiveness of the work plan: The coherence of the work plan, including the appropriateness of work packages, tasks, and deliverables. The assessment of risks and the proposed mitigation measures are also evaluated.
    • Appropriateness of the effort and resources: How well the assigned person-months and overall budget align with the planned activities.
    • Capacity and role of each participant and the consortium as a whole: The expertise of each NCP in the consortium, how their roles are defined, and how they collectively possess the necessary skills to execute the project. The balance between experienced and less-experienced NCPs is considered.

• Innovation & Impact: The project's impact is measured by its ability to create a more professional, consistent, and collaborative NCP network. Key outcomes include simplifying access to Horizon Europe for newcomers, increasing the average quality of proposals, and providing structured feedback to the European Commission on security R&I needs from national communities.

• Project Quality: Evaluators will assess the soundness of the methodology for training, benchmarking, and networking activities. The work plan must be effective, with a clear risk assessment. The project should follow up on the work of the SEREN5 project.

• Strategic Fit: The project must directly address the scope outlined in the topic, which focuses on reinforcing the NCP network for Civil Security and Cybersecurity. It should facilitate trans-national cooperation, identify and share good practices, and improve the flow of information between national and EU levels. Collaboration with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) is a key requirement.

• Cross-cutting Themes: The topic explicitly requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines and the involvement of SSH experts. This is a key evaluation aspect. Gender balance among project personnel may be used as a tie-breaker for proposals with the same total score.

COMPLIANCE AND SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Regulatory Compliance:

  • Ethics: Projects must adhere to the highest ethical standards and comply with all applicable EU, international, and national laws. An ethics self-assessment is required in the proposal.
  • Data Protection: All activities must comply with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR).
  • Security: As the topic deals with civil security, projects may handle sensitive information. Proposals must complete a security issues table. If necessary, specific security obligations (e.g., handling of EU Classified Information) will be included in the Grant Agreement.

• IP Policy:

  • The standard Horizon Europe rules on Intellectual Property apply, as detailed in the Model Grant Agreement.
  • Results are owned by the beneficiaries who generate them.
  • The European Union receives a royalty-free, non-exclusive, irrevocable licence to use project materials for communication and policy purposes.
  • Beneficiaries must have a strategy for the management of intellectual property, which is described in the 'plan for the dissemination and exploitation'.

• Unique Aspects:

  • Highly Specific Eligibility: This grant is not open to the general research community but is restricted to officially nominated National Contact Points (NCPs) for Horizon Europe Cluster 3 and cybersecurity.
  • Mandatory Comprehensive Consortium: The consortium must include representation from every EU Member State and Associated Country that has appointed a relevant NCP.
  • Building on Past Initiatives: The project is expected to follow up on the work of previous NCP network projects, specifically mentioning SEREN5.
  • Strategic Collaboration: Proposals must detail how they will cooperate with national security R&I stakeholders and establish strong links with the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS).
  • SSH Integration: The topic explicitly requires the effective contribution of Social Sciences and Humanities (SSH) disciplines.

• Industry-Specific Rules: Not applicable, as this grant is for public/designated support structures rather than industry players.