ACP-EU Co-operation Programme in Higher Education (EDULINK II)

2.1.4 Eligibility of costs: costs which may be taken into consideration for the grantOnly "eligible costs" can be taken into account for a grant. The categories of costs considered as eligible andnon-eligible are indicated below. The budget is both a cost estimate and a ceiling for "eligible costs". Notethat the eligible costs must be based on real costs based on supporting documents (except for subsistencecosts and indirect costs where flat-rate funding applies).Recommendations to award a grant are always subject to the condition that the checking process whichprecedes the signing of the contract does not reveal problems requiring changes to the budget (for instancearithmetical errors, inaccuracies or unrealistic costs and other ineligible costs). The checks may give rise torequests for clarification and may lead the Contracting Authority to impose modifications or reductions toaddress such mistakes or inaccuracies. The amount of the grant and the percentage of the EU co-financing asa result of these corrections may not be increased.It is therefore in the applicant's interest to provide a realistic and cost-effective budget.Claimed costs must be duly justified, and in particular, it should be noted that the financing of items such asequipment and travels should be limited to the minimum necessary for the implementation of the actionEligible direct costsTo be eligible under the Call for Proposals, costs must comply with the provisions of Article 14 of theGeneral Conditions to the Standard Grant Contract (see Annex G of the Guidelines).Note that taxes, including VAT will only be accepted as eligible costs when the Beneficiary (or, whereapplicable, its partners) can show it cannot reclaim them. Taxes shall in such case be included in the Budgetof the Action under each heading. Information on taxes can be found in Annex J to these Guidelines.Staff costsStaff cost shall mean any payment made to a person working on a regular or recurrent basis for the project,whether as staff member of a participant HEI or as sub-contracted professional.Staff costs shall be calculated on the basis of the normal salary paid by the HEI to the concerned staff member,for the number of months/days to be spent on the project (i.e. no special “international project” rate should beused). This calculation shall include all the normal charges paid by the employer, such as social securitycontributions and related costs, but shall exclude any bonus. The salary claimed should be justified by includinga copy of the HEI’s salary schedule and/or copies of the latest monthly pay slips of the individual staff members.Specific funds in the budget should be dedicated to the management of the project and to enhance the projectmanagement expertise of partners. In addition, and with the purpose of avoiding weak reporting (and inparticular financial reporting), the project application should include the necessary provisions to allocate astaff member with the appropriate administrative / accounting know-how to the tasks of document keepingand reporting, in particular financial reporting.A specific budget allocation for “Administrative/support staff (bookkeeping & financial reporting)” must beentered under 1.1.3. Annex B, Budget for the Action.For other personnel engaged in the project, the unit rates must be actual local market rates and must beexplained in the budget justification.January 2012 Page 13 of 23