GroundWork Open Call

Applicants can use Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) in proposals under topics HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-01 and HORIZON-MISS-2024-SOIL-01-02 as one of the options available under Horizon Europe to engage actors in the living labs’ (LLs) activities. The main aim should be to encourage and facilitate the active involvement of smaller actors (e.g. land managers, as farmers, or small enterprises) in the activities of one or more of the proposed living labs. The FSTP should not be used to fund activities outside of the proposed LL, nor to establish other LLs in other regions or countries.

While FSTP grants must benefit final recipients, the latter are expected to be actively engaged in the project through their contributions, including knowledge and expertise. The FSTP should not be used to bring third parties that are responsible for implementing action tasks (subcontracting) or make available some of their resources to a beneficiary without this being part of their normal economic activity (in-kind contributions). The FSTP does not involve public procurement.

In these two topics, it is up to the consortium to decide whether to make use of the FSTP possibility or not. Attention should be paid to the necessary time and effort to define the FSTP procedures and to award and monitor of grants. The selection procedure and the criteria for providing FSTP, including the persons or category of persons that can receive financial support, the number of recipients, the budget per recipient, the activities to be supported, the use of calls or not, will need to be detailed in the proposal (Part A and Part B and in the FSTP Annex).

FSTP (Financial Support to Third Parties), also called cascade funding, allows project beneficiaries to award grants to third-party recipients i.e. entities or persons that are not partners in the consortium.The rules and conditions to use FSTP are described in the HE Model Grant AgreementPDF (Articles 6.2.D.1 and Article 9.4) and state that the consortium must ensure an objective and transparent selection procedure of third-party recipients.

While there is no limitation concerning the percentage of the total project’s budget that can be attributed to FSTP, the amount should be proportionate to and consistent with the contributions expected from the FSTP recipients as well as the objectives of the cascade funding.One or more beneficiaries can implement the FSTP. The beneficiary(ies) implementing the FSTP will be responsible for the proper use of the funding by the FSTP recipients and must ensure the following conditions, as defined in Article 9.4 of the AGA: compliance with Article 12 HE AGA (Avoiding conflict of interest), Article 13 (Confidentiality and security obligations), Article 14 (Ethics), Article 17.2 (Give visibility to the EU funding), Article 18 (Respect specific rules for the action implementation), Article 19 (Information obligations) and Article 20 (Record-keeping). It should also be noted that the bodies mentioned in Article 25 (e.g., granting authority; ECA; OLAF) have the right to carry out checks, reviews, audits and investigations on the recipients, and in particular to audit the payments received.

The FSTP has to be included in the following parts of the proposal/application formPDF:

PART A: in the budget table in column “other cost category” D.1.

PART B: where relevant and in particular in Section 3, the work plan should include one or more tasks (as relevant) dedicated to organize and manage the FSTP and the activities it might entail. This can include defining the selection procedure, preparing application templates for the calls and guidance to applicants, setting up a submission system, an evaluation committee, etc.

FSTP ANNEX: the FSTP Annex templateWord must clearly describe :

-the objectives and the expected results to be obtained;

-the maximum amount of financial support that can be attributed to each third party. For the two topics mentioned, the maximum amount is set to 200 000 EUR per recipient for the entire duration of the project;

-the criteria for calculating the exact amount of the financial support;

-the different types of activities that qualify for support, on the basis of a closed list;

-the persons (natural/legal) or categories of persons that will be supported;

-the criteria and procedures for giving financial support;

-how the different conditions specified in Annex BPDF of the General Annexes will be ensured, in particular: publishing the calls widely;

-adhering to EU standards of transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality;

-publishing the outcome of the calls without delay (which includes a description of third-party projects, the date of the award, the duration, and the legal name of the third party and country of establishment). Please also note that if launching a calls it should be published widely by participants, as well as on the Funding & Tenders portal and be opened for at least 2 months.

Financial Support to Third Parties (FSTP) is usually awarded via a call for proposals. Exceptionally and when duly justified, FSTP can be awarded without a call for proposals. Applicants may already have identified smaller actors in the regions where their living labs will be deployed, who can bring complementary skills, knowledge and specific characteristics needed to achieve the proposed objectives. In such cases, the FSTP without a call can be relevant, reducing the time to engage those actors.

The same legal provisions apply as in the case of FSTP with a call (i.e. Article 6.2.D.1 and Article 9.4 of the Model Grant AgreementPDF ; Annex B of the General Annexes); any reference to the organisation of Open calls becomes non applicable. While the FSTP Annex, to be submitted as part of the proposal, refers to FSTP “in the form of a grant awarded after a call for proposals”, when awarding FSTP grants without a call, the same conditions apply. Therefore, the information to be provided and parameters to be established in the FSTP Annex (see templateWord) by the applicants are:

(1)justification for the awarding of FSTP grants without a call;

(2)description of the objectives and the expected results;

(3)the amount of financial support attributed to each third party (the maximum amount is set to 200 000 EUR per recipient for the entire duration of the project, for the two topics mentioned);

(4)the criteria for calculating the exact amount of the financial support;

(5)the different types of activities that qualify for support, on the basis of a closed list;

(6)the persons (natural/legal) or categories of persons that will be supported;

(7)While Annex BPDF of the General Annexes relates to FSTP with open calls for proposals, some conditions are still relevant in absence of call. Applicants should therefore describe how these relevant conditions will be met. This includes: adherence to EU standards of transparency, equal treatment, conflict of interest and confidentiality; and how information on the third-party grants will be made publicly available (e.g. a description of the third-party project, the date of the award, the duration, and the legal name and country of recipients).

Finally, in line with Article 9.4, beneficiaries remain responsible towards the granting authority for the proper use of the funding by the recipients of FSTP. They must also ensure that FSTP recipients accept and comply with the obligations mentioned in that article.

The budget allocation within proposals under these topics should prioritize the establishment and operation of the soil health living labs and lighthouses within the funded project. A significant portion of the total budget is therefore expected to be allocated to these living labs. However, each proposal is unique, and the budget distribution should reflect its specific context while being in line with the topic scope and expected outcomes as described in the Horizon Europe Work Programme. Importantly, the budget should be used for the sole purpose of achieving the objectives of the project.

The budget allocation should be sufficiently detailed and justified to demonstrate that the requested resources for the different types of cost categories are necessary for implementation of the activities. This will allow evaluators to understand why certain Work Packages, tasks or activities might require a larger portion of the budget.

Although there are no strict rules for budget allocation among activities, it is crucial to ensure that each Living Lab has sufficient resources for their establishment and operation. In that sense, some Living Labs within a proposal may necessitate more resources than others, due to factors such as a larger number of planned experimental sites, costlier soil health solutions, more complex studies to be carried on, more stakeholders to be engaged, or the need for more or varied equipment and infrastructures.

Applicants should also assign sufficient budget for cross-cutting and horizontal tasks such as project coordination and management, to implement dissemination, exploitation and communication measures as well as for cooperation with the SOILL project and other relevant projects or initiatives focused on the chosen soil health challenge and solutions.