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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Grant Purpose and Target

Core objective: To provide comprehensive administrative, analytical, and communication support to the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures (ESFRI) to enhance its efficiency, impact, and visibility.
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: Organizations or consortia with expertise in research infrastructure policy, scientific coordination, and administrative support.
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC (Research Infrastructures and Science Policy).
Geographic scope and any location requirements: European focus, covering activities for pan-European research infrastructures. Eligible countries are defined in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes (typically EU Member States and Associated Countries).
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Must be able to provide direct support to ESFRI's operational activities, including Roadmap development, evaluation, and outreach.
Grant frequency and program context: This is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) under the Horizon Europe Work Programme 2025, part of a series of calls for consolidating and evolving the European research infrastructure landscape. The granting authority can fund a maximum of one project for this specific topic.

Financial Structure

Funding type: The grant will be provided in the form of a lump sum.
Budget range: Minimum contribution of €1,500,000 and maximum contribution of €3,000,000 per project.
Total budget for the topic: €3,000,000 for 2025.
Currency: EUR.
Eligible costs: Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners/natural person beneficiaries), subcontracting costs, purchase costs (travel, subsistence, equipment, other goods/works/services), and other cost categories (financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods/services, transnational access to RIs, virtual access to RIs, PCP/PPI procurement, Euratom Cofund staff mobility, ERC additional funding).
Ineligible costs: Any costs that would not be eligible for an 'actual costs' grant under Horizon Europe rules.
Indirect cost policies: Indirect costs are calculated by applying a 25% flat rate to the direct cost categories that qualify, and this is included in the lump sum contribution.
Payment schedule and mechanisms: Payments are linked to the proper implementation of defined work packages as outlined in the grant agreement. Lump sum contributions for completed work packages are paid. If conditions for a work package are not met, its payment can be withheld or recovered.
Mutual Insurance Mechanism: Between 5% and 8% of the total lump sum is retained as a contribution to the Mutual Insurance Mechanism.
Financial reporting requirements: No obligation to report actual incurred costs. Financial checks focus on technical implementation and fulfillment of work package conditions.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Eligibility

Organization type: Research organizations, public bodies, universities, and other entities capable of providing administrative and analytical support in the context of research policy and infrastructure.
Partnership or consortium requirements: The project is expected to involve a consortium. The Joint Research Centre (JRC) may participate as a member of the consortium selected for funding.
Organizational maturity requirements: Must have the capacity to manage and implement a complex project supporting a high-level strategic forum.

Geographic Location

Eligible countries: Defined in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes. This typically includes all EU Member States (Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden) and Horizon Europe Associated Countries. Non-EU/non-Associated Countries may be eligible if specific funding provisions are made.

Technical & Operational Capacity

Technical expertise requirements: Expertise in developing strategic roadmaps, evaluating scientific proposals, conducting analytical studies, and implementing communication strategies.
Infrastructure requirements: Ability to develop and maintain appropriate ICT and analytical tools for evaluation and monitoring of research infrastructures.
Team composition and qualification requirements: Highly skilled personnel for project execution, including administrative, analytical, and communication roles.
Quality standards and expectations: High-quality delivery of support services, ensuring optimal adaptation to ESFRI's needs.

Exclusion Criteria

Financial and operational capacity: Applicants must meet the requirements described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes.

Application Process

Application Deadlines and Submission

Application deadline: 2025-09-18.
Planned opening date: 2025-05-06.
Submission model: Single-stage.
Submission platform: Electronic Submission Service via the Funding & Tenders Portal.

Required Documentation and Materials

Application form: Specific to this call, available in the Submission System. Standard application forms (HE CSA) are adapted.
Proposal content: Must adhere to page limits and layout described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes and Part B of the Application Form.
Budget: Applicants must propose the lump sum amount based on estimated direct and indirect costs, providing a detailed breakdown per work package and per beneficiary/affiliated entity using the 'Detailed budget table (HE LS)' template.
Declaration: Must declare that own accounting practices were followed for budget preparation.

Evaluation and Selection Process

Review process: Proposals will be evaluated by external independent experts according to standard Horizon Europe procedures.
Evaluation criteria: Excellence, Impact, and Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation.
Financial evaluation: Experts with financial know-how will check budget estimates against benchmarks and assess resource allocation.
Grant agreement preparation: The final lump sum amount will be established during this phase, potentially adjusted based on evaluation findings.

Project Implementation and Reporting

Grant duration: Not explicitly stated, but typically multi-year for CSA actions.
Implementation timeline: Workplan should be sufficiently flexible to adapt to changing ESFRI needs, with a mechanism for optimal adaptation.
Reporting obligations: Focus on technical progress and fulfillment of work package conditions. No detailed financial reporting of actual costs incurred is required.
Post-award requirements: Compliance with ethics, research integrity, dissemination, exploitation of results, intellectual property management, and gender equality.

Evaluation Criteria

Award Criteria

Evaluation and award criteria are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes, generally covering Excellence, Impact, and Quality and Efficiency of Implementation.

Excellence

Soundness of the proposed methodology: How well the project plans to provide administrative, analytical, and communication support to ESFRI.
Quality and pertinence of the objectives: Alignment with ESFRI's tasks and activities (e.g., Roadmap development, evaluation of applications, analytical capacity strengthening).

Impact

Contribution to expected outcomes: Ability to deliver enhanced ESFRI efficiency, a better-structured European research infrastructure ecosystem, reinforced global competitiveness of the European Research Area, coordination of EU and national research infrastructure priorities, and an impact assessment of ESFRI.
Dissemination and exploitation: Effective communication and outreach strategy development and implementation, fostering cooperation among stakeholders.

Quality and Efficiency of the Implementation

Coherence and effectiveness of the work plan: The project's structure, including its flexibility to adapt to changing ESFRI needs and a mechanism for optimal adaptation.
Appropriateness of resources: Adequacy of personnel, infrastructure, and budget allocated to activities.
Quality of the consortium: Competence and complementarity of the partners and management structure.
Financial evaluation: Assessment of the proposed lump sum budget by experts with financial expertise, ensuring it approximates eligible costs and resources are appropriate for planned activities.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory Compliance

General conditions: Compliance with Annex A, B, C, D, E, F, G of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes.
Legal and financial set-up: Adherence to the specific decision authorizing lump sum contributions under Horizon Europe and other relevant EU financial regulations.

Technical & Intellectual Property

Open source software: All software developed under this grant must be open source, licensed under a CC0 public domain dedication or an open source license recommended by the Free Software Foundation or the Open Source Initiative.

Risk Management and Security

Verification: Granting authority will verify compliance with lump sum conditions, ethics, research integrity, dissemination, exploitation, IP management, and gender equality during implementation or afterwards.
Financial irregularities: Reduced risk due to lump sum model. Checks focus on whether work package conditions for payment release have been met.

Unique Aspects and Strategic Opportunities

Support for ESFRI: The grant is crucial for the operational efficiency and strategic development of the European Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures.
JRC Collaboration: The European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) is an ESFRI stakeholder and may consider collaborating with successful proposals, offering experience in research infrastructure management.
Impact Assessment: The project is specifically required to include an impact assessment of ESFRI, potentially involving third parties.
Cross-cutting themes: Fostering cooperation between research infrastructures, managers, stakeholders, and funding bodies, and ensuring cooperation with ERA-related groups and initiatives like EOSC (European Open Science Cloud).
Project flexibility: The workplan should be adaptable to ESFRI's evolving support needs.

Grant Details