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Grant Analysis

Purpose & Target

Core objective: Facilitate trans-national cooperation between National Focal Points (NFPs) of the European Defence Fund (EDF) to identify and share good practices, raise the standard of support for potential programme applicants, and strengthen the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base (EDTIB).
Explicit identification of target recipient type and size: National support structures hosting EDF-NFPs or alternate EDF-NFPs, nominated by an EU Member State or EDF Associated Country.
MUST state if grant is 'SECTOR-SPECIFIC' or 'SECTOR-AGNOSTIC': SECTOR-SPECIFIC (Defence Industry).
Geographic scope and any location requirements: EU Member States and EDF Associated Countries; activities and main resources must be located/held in these countries.
Key filtering criteria for initial grant screening: Must be an officially nominated NFP entity, established in an eligible country, and part of a consortium of at least 10 eligible countries.
Grant frequency and program context: Recurring, as part of the annual European Defence Fund (EDF) Work Programme; specifically a Coordination and Support Action (CSA).

Financial Structure

Total estimated call budget for this topic: EUR 2,000,000.
Project budget (requested grant amount) must not exceed EUR 2,000,000.
Currency: EUR.
Funding type: Budget-based mixed actual cost grant, with unit cost and flat-rate elements.
Funding rate: 100.0% of eligible costs for Coordination and Support Actions (CSA).
Eligible costs:
- Personnel costs (employees, natural persons under direct contract, seconded persons, SME owners/natural person beneficiaries).
- Subcontracting costs, provided the subcontracted work is performed in the eligible countries.
- Purchase costs including travel and subsistence, equipment, and other goods, works, and services.
- Indirect costs: A 25.0% flat-rate of the eligible direct costs (excluding subcontracting, financial support to third parties, internally invoiced goods and services, and PCP procurement costs).
- Costs for a kick-off meeting organized by the granting authority (travel for a maximum of 2 persons to Brussels and accommodation for one night), if the meeting takes place after the project's starting date.
- Communication costs for presenting the project on participant's existing websites or social media accounts.
Ineligible costs:
- Key project tasks such as project management and the organization of trainings are NOT eligible for subcontracting.
- Financial support to third parties is NOT allowed.
- Costs related to the use of assets, infrastructure, facilities, or resources located or held outside the eligible countries (unless exceptionally authorized under specific conditions).
- Non-deductible/non-refundable VAT paid by public bodies acting as public authority.
- Costs for separate project websites.
Reimbursement for equipment costs: Depreciation only.
Payment schedule:
- Prefinancing: Normally 55.0% of the maximum grant amount, paid within 30 days from entry into force/starting date/financial guarantee (whichever is latest).
- For projects of more than 18 months, there may be one or more additional prefinancing payments linked to a prefinancing report and one or more interim payments (with detailed cost reporting).
- A final balance payment will be made at the end of the project after calculation of the final grant amount.
Prefinancing guarantees may be required (normally from the coordinator, for an amount equal to or lower than the prefinancing), issued by an approved bank/financial institution established in an EU Member State.

Eligibility Requirements

Organizational Eligibility

Eligible Organization Types:
- National support structures hosting the EDF-National Focal Points (NFP).
- Alternate EDF-NFPs officially nominated to the European Commission by a Member State or an EDF Associated Country.
- Must be legal entities (public or private bodies).
- Entities without legal personality may participate exceptionally, provided their representatives have the capacity to undertake legal obligations on their behalf and offer equivalent guarantees for financial protection.
Consortium Requirements:
- Mandatory multi-beneficiary application.
- Proposals must be submitted by a consortium of national support structures (organizations hosting NFPs) from at least 10 Member States or EDF Associated Countries.
Geographic Location Requirements:
- Established in one of the eligible countries: EU Member States (including overseas countries and territories (OCTs)) or listed EEA countries ('EDF associated countries').
- Executive management structure must be established in eligible countries.
- Activities must take place in eligible countries.
- Infrastructure, facilities, assets, and resources used must be primarily located or held in an eligible country.
Control Requirements:
- Not subject to control by a non-associated third country or non-associated third-country entity, unless approved guarantees are provided by the Member State or EDF associated country where they are established.
- Subcontractors involved in the action and associated partners must also comply with these establishment and control conditions.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Natural persons are NOT eligible (exception: self-employed sole traders, where the company does not have legal personality separate from that of the natural person).
- International organizations are NOT eligible, unless their members are exclusively Member States or EDF associated countries and their executive management structure is in a Member State or EDF associated country.
- Entities subject to EU restrictive measures (under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)) are NOT eligible to participate in any capacity.
- Entities subject to EU conditionality measures (e.g., Hungarian public interest trusts established under Act IX of 2021) are NOT eligible to participate in any funded role.
- Applicants in situations of bankruptcy, grave professional misconduct, fraud, corruption, or those with significant deficiencies in complying with previous EU funding obligations are excluded.
Capacity Requirements:
- Applicants must have stable and sufficient financial resources to implement projects and contribute their share.
- Applicants must have the know-how, qualifications, and resources to successfully implement projects, including sufficient experience in projects of comparable size and nature.

Application Process

Application Submission

Application procedure: Proposals must be submitted electronically via the Funding & Tenders Portal Electronic Submission System. Paper submissions are NOT possible.
Submission platform: EU Funding & Tenders Portal.
Call opening: 2025-02-18 00:00:00+0100.
Application deadline: 2025-10-16 17:00:00+0100 (16 October 2025, 17:00:00 CET Brussels).
Required documentation:
- Application Form Part A: Contains administrative information about participants and summarized budget (filled in directly online).
- Application Form Part B: Contains the technical description of the project (template downloaded, completed, and uploaded as PDF).
Page limits: Part B is limited to a maximum of 70 pages (counting work package descriptions). Excess pages will be disregarded.
Supporting materials: Supporting documents can be provided as an annex and do not count towards the page limit.
Pre-application requirements: All applicants (beneficiaries and affiliated entities) must register in the Participant Register and be validated by the Central Validation Service before submitting the proposal.
Mandate and Declaration of Honour: At proposal submission, applicants must confirm they have the mandate to act for all participants and that information is correct. Before grant signature, each beneficiary and affiliated entity must sign a Declaration of Honour.

Evaluation and Award Timeline (Indicative)

Evaluation period: October 2025 - April 2026.
Information on evaluation results: April 2026.
Grant Agreement signature: By 2026-12-31 00:00:00+0100.
Project starting date: Normally after grant signature; a retroactive starting date can be granted exceptionally for duly justified reasons, but never earlier than the proposal submission date.

Project Implementation and Reporting

Grant duration: Up to 36 months. Extensions are possible if duly justified and through an amendment.
Key milestones and deliverables: The action should provide clearly defined and quantified deliverables and milestones in line with all activities mentioned. These will be managed through the Portal Grant Management System.
Reporting obligations: Progress reports (not linked to payments) and detailed cost reporting for interim payments are required.
Compliance: Full compliance with terms will be a pre-condition for signing the grant.
Record keeping: Applicants are responsible for keeping records on all the work done and the costs declared.

Application Assistance

Help and support available via the Online Manual, Topic Q&A on the Topic page, Portal FAQ, IT Helpdesk for technical issues, and a specific email address ([email protected]) for non-IT related questions.

Evaluation Criteria

Award Criteria (Maximum 15 points, Minimum 10 points overall threshold) Excellence (Scoring: 0-5 points, Minimum pass score: 3 points, Weighting: 1)

Clarity and pertinence of the proposal's objectives and corresponding targets, and their compliance with the objectives, scope, types of activities, technical requirements, and expected impact as set out in the call for proposals.
Quality and originality of the proposed measures.

Impact (Scoring: 0-5 points, Minimum pass score: 3 points, Weighting: 1)

Credibility of the pathways to achieve the expected outcomes and impacts specified in the call for proposals, and the likely scale and significance of the contributions from the action.
Suitability and quality of the measures to maximize expected outcomes and impacts, as set out in the dissemination and exploitation plan, including communication activities.
Extent to which the beneficiaries of the consortium have a reach in all EU Member States and Associated Countries, by involving a maximum number of NFPs in the consortium directly and ensuring the openness of activities to non-beneficiary NFPs.

Implementation (Scoring: 0-5 points, Minimum pass score: 3 points, Weighting: 1)

Quality and effectiveness of the work plan (e.g., work breakdown structure), including the timing and inter-relation of the different work packages (e.g., Gantt chart, Pert chart).
Comprehensiveness of the milestones and deliverables of the project.
Quality of the risk management and detail of proposed risk treatments (e.g., mitigation measures).
Capacity and role of each participant, appropriateness of the allocation of tasks and resources between consortium members, ensuring that all participants have a valid and complementary role.
Appropriateness of the management structures and procedures ensuring a high level of effectiveness and efficiency for carrying out the project.

Compliance & Special Requirements

Regulatory and Ethical Compliance

Legal Framework: Projects must comply with the regulatory framework of the European Defence Fund (EDF), including Regulation (EU, Euratom) 2024/2509 (EU Financial Regulation) and EDF Regulation 2021/697.
Ethical Standards: Projects must comply with the highest ethical standards (including research integrity) and all applicable EU, international, and national law. Proposals will undergo an ethics review, and specific ethics rules (as ethics deliverables) may be part of the Grant Agreement.
EU Policy Interests: Projects must comply with EU policy interests and priorities (such as environment, social, security, industrial, and trade policy) and respect EU values and European Commission policy regarding reputational matters.
Data Protection and Privacy: The submission and management of proposals involve the collection, use, and processing of personal data, which will be processed in accordance with the applicable legal framework and the Funding & Tenders Portal Privacy Statement.

Security Requirements

Classified Information: Projects involving classified information must undergo security scrutiny to authorize funding. Specific security rules, detailed in a Security Aspects Letter (SAL) annexed to the Grant Agreement, will apply.
Access to Classified Information: Requires a valid Facility Security Clearance (FSC) at the appropriate level for premises and a valid Personnel Security Clearance (PSC) for individuals with a need-to-know.
Control by Non-Associated Third Countries: Legal entities controlled by a non-associated third country or entity are generally excluded unless they can provide guarantees approved by the Member State/EDF associated country where they are established. These guarantees must ensure that participation will not contravene EU/MS security and defence interests, and intellectual property remains within eligible entities, among other conditions.

Intellectual Property (IP)

IP Policies: Standard Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) rules of the Model Grant Agreement apply, covering aspects such as background information, results, ownership, protection, transfer, licensing, and rights of use.

Special Considerations

Consortium Agreement: A consortium agreement is explicitly recommended for internal arrangements among beneficiaries, including decision-making mechanisms and potential redistribution of grant money.
No-Profit Rule: Grants are not intended to generate a profit (surplus of revenues + EU grant over costs). For-profit organizations must declare revenues, and any profit may be deducted from the final grant amount.
No Double Funding: It is strictly prohibited to receive funding from the EU budget for the same cost items under two different grants (except under 'EU Synergies actions'). Projects must be clearly delineated.
Balanced Project Budget: Grant applications must demonstrate a balanced project budget and sufficient other resources (e.g., own contributions, income generated by the action, financial contributions from third parties) to successfully implement the project.
Subcontracting Limitations: While some subcontracting is allowed, key project tasks such as project management and the organization of trainings are explicitly NOT eligible for subcontracting.
Project Websites: Costs for separate project websites are NOT eligible; however, communication costs for presenting the project on participant's existing websites or social media accounts are eligible.

Grant Details