Clarification of questions

Clarification of questions regarding
Call for Proposals-Number: KOS 01/2011
Higher KOS - Promoting Institutional Development in Higher Education and
Research in Kosovo
Question 1: Gibt es irgendeine Vorgabe zur Management-Struktur (vor Ort und in
Österreich)?
Answer 1: Regarding the question whether any specific management structure is
foreseen by the Contracting Authority, the answer is that the extent and manner of
setting-up a management structure for the project is to be proposed by the applicant.
Question 2: Ist es grundsätzlich möglich, bestehenden Staff an den beneficiary
institutions für zusätzlichen Arbeitsaufwand (nicht für Teilnahme an Trainings etc.)
finanziell zu entschädigen?
Answer 2: Staff of the beneficiary institutions (MEST, universities etc.) may not
receive any type of remuneration (i.e. honoraria or salaries) to “compensate
additional workload” related to the project.
A remuneration of staff of the beneficiary institutions may only be provided for shortterm
assignments (e.g. where an expert provides specific input to a particular task).
Such remuneration must be based on clearly defined services to be delivered based
on clearly defined terms of reference. The procurement regulations as set out in the
General Terms and Conditions of Contract of the Austrian Development Agency are
to be respected in this context.
Question 3: Zum Budget: Ist es möglich, Personalkosten innerhalb des Consortiums
(betrifft v.a. interne ExpertInnentätigkeit) in Form von üblichen Tagsätzen
abzurechnen (um die Administration des Projekts und den damit verbundenen
Aufwand gering zu halten)?
Answer 3: Costs for personnel of the grant beneficiary (i.e. staff employed by the
main applicant or any other proposed consortium members) may only be budgeted
and charged on the basis of proportional salary costs (depending on the percentage
at which the respective staff is assigned to the project).
Therefore, for personnel employed by the applicant no honoraria can be budgeted or
charged. Honoraria can only be budgeted or charged for potential sub-contractors of
the grant beneficiary that are selected to provide specific services to the project that
cannot be implemented by the applicant. Sub-contractors are to be identified in
accordance with the procurement regulations as set out in the General Terms and
Conditions of Contract of the Austrian Development Agency (“Allgemeine
Vertragsbedingungen”).
Question 4: Zu der Bibliotheks-Komponente: Es gab die Idee innerhalb des KAIPs
ein "Library Network" zu fördern. Ist das realisiert worden und gibt es Ergebnisse auf
denen aufgebaut werden kann?
Answer 4: A “library network” has not been implemented in any of the predecessor
programmes supported by the Austrian Development Agency in Kosovo.
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Question 5: Ist es grundsätzlich möglich, im Rahmen der Programmatic
Partnerships einerseits Partnerinstitutionen aus anderen Ländern (außer Kosovo und
Österreich) zu involvieren bzw. andererseits ExpertInnen aus anderen Ländern
(außer Kosovo und Österreich) im Rahmen der Partnership zur Kooperation
einzuladen?
Answer 5: As regards the support to establishing programmatic partnerships
between Kosovan higher education institutions and higher education institutions from
other countries, it is referred to the document „Invitation to the Call for Proposals”
where it is stated that the “Strategy Document” includes “possible activity lines”.
These activity lines can however be adapted by applicants along the lines of their
approaches/strategies with the aim to ensure best possible and high quality
knowledge transfer.
Question 6: On which basis will the administrator of the calls for “collaborative
research projects” get reimbursed the project funds by the Austrian Development
Agency?
Answer 6: Conditions are laid down in the contractual arrangement, with reference
to the ADA website link:
http://www.entwicklung.at/funding-and-tenders/general-contractual-terms-andfunding-logos/en/
Additional clarification:
Assuming that the concerned tasks will be carried out by the Applicant himself (or a
member of the Applicant, in case of a consortium), the funds for these tasks will be
made available to the grant recipient (Applicant) directly by ADA.
The grant recipient will receive a pre-financing instalment following signature of the
grant agreement with ADA. Further instalments will be made by ADA based on actual
expenditure rates during implementation and approval of the respective financial
reports by the finance department of ADA.
The costs for technical/management personnel of the grant beneficiary may be
charged for in the project budget on the basis of proportional salary costs. The
remuneration for staff of the Applicant (or a member of the Applicant, in case of a
consortium) may, as a rule, not be fee-based.
Typical administrative costs related to the implementation of such activities are
covered by the “Projektbegleitentgelt (see the respective regulation as follows:
http://www.entwicklung.at/uploads/media/PBE_Regelung_Foerderungen_100115.pdf
).
As regards supporting documentation:
As a rule, original invoices/receipts must be submitted by grant recipients in
the context of financial report submission every six months (due by 28
February and 31 August of each calendar year for the reporting period ending
on 30 June and 31 December respectively).
However, the grant recipient may also propose (in the proposal) to conduct
annual financial audits for project related expenditures incurred until 31
December of the respective calendar year. In this case, the grant beneficiary
does not have to submit original invoices to ADA, but an original hard copy of
the audit report. For further details please see Art. 4.6 of the General Terms
and Conditions of Contract of the Austrian Development Agency under the
above cited link. The costs for the financial audits have to be carried by the
grant beneficiary (see regulation on “Projektbegleitentgelt”). The audit report
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will be due by 28 February of the calendar year following the reporting period
ending on 31 December of the previous calendar year.
Question 7: Gelten diese Regelungen auch für Research Grants, die an Dritte
vergeben werden (über Calls for proposals) [reference is made to Answer 6 above]?
Answer 7: The contractual conditions are, of course, applicable to the project as a
whole (i.e. “PBE-Regelung”, financial reporting/auditing regulations etc.).
In addition, as regards possible research grants, such grants may be included in the
direct project budget. Therefore, such grants may not include administrative costs
(e.g. proportional costs for an accountant employed by the beneficiary organisation).
Equally, no lump sum payments may be included by beneficiary organisations in the
budget of the research project to cover administrative costs.
However, the grant beneficiary may charge for costs that may be required to
implement the particular research project (e.g. room rental for the research team,
material costs such as stationery, etc.). These costs must be accounted for through
submission of original invoices/receipts (or alternatively, the research projects may
be examined by the audit firm that will audit the whole project on an annual basis).
The model/approach to the implementation of the grant scheme for the award of
research grants should be described in the proposal submitted by the Applicant to
the extent possible at the stage of proposal submission.
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