VAPRO

Structural Consulting™ Group  –  www.fonduri-structurale.ro and VAPRO Romania have submitted today, 19^th July 2016, to the Ministry of European Funds and AM POCU a case study based on Romania’s excessive interpretation regarding the use of simplified cost options within POCU 2014-2020.

The document is part of a series of recommendations that the two companies have proposed to develop in order to assist the authorities responsible for POCU management. The analysis, called “Romania, excessive interpretation in use of simplified cost options. Recommendations and proposals” shows comparatively how simplified cost options are used in other four EU countries: Poland, Malta, Czech Republic and Wales.

Thus, in Romania the indirect costs are not only calculated as a fixed percentage of 15% of the total direct staff costs (further refined by our country with the amount of subcontracted staff costs) but also include other categories of costs, which in the countries given as example, are considered direct costs.

The document offers also recommendations on how the simplified cost options should be used to support the beneficiaries and also to ensure and support the reducing of the administrative burden at Authorities level.

For more information download the document.

Together with Structural Consulting Group we submitted yesterday for the Ministry of European Funds and MA HCOP a series of recommendations regarding the Applicant’s Guideline – General Conditions for HCOP – “Guidelines regarding the access for funding under the Operational Programme Human Capital 2014-2020”.

The document comprises the main aspects of novelty introduced in the eligibility requirements for 2014-2020, and that, in our opinion, are restricting the access to several categories of potential beneficiaries.

In our recommendations we analyzed and included a part of the suggestions received after the “Fresh Start” round table. The event was organized by Structural Consulting Group and the Romanian-Dutch Chamber of Commerce in Romania (NRCC), on 26^th of May 2016, at which attended the representatives of the Ministry of European Funds and experts involved in SOPHRD/HCOP.

This document is the first from a series of analyzes that VAPRO Romania consultants, together with Structural Consulting Group and other partners, are preparing based on the guidelines published within HCOP and that they will forward to the Ministry of European Funds and MA HCOP.

The submitted document can be downloaded here: Download Recommendation Letter!

The Ministry of European Funds launched under public consultation the Applicant Guidelines – Specific Conditions: “School for all” (SO 6.2, 6.3, 6.4, 6.6) – financing line dedicated to:

• Facilitating the access to education and preventing / reducing the rate of early school leaving;
• Increasing the quality of educational services;
• Providing qualified human resources in education field;

A project should comprise activities from at least two of above mentioned categories and will be implemented over a period of maximum 36 months.

Maximum project value:

• Small projects 500.000 euro (at the level of a single county);
• Large projects: 1.500.000 euro (at the level of more counties);

Eligible applicants:

• NGOs;
• Religious institutions;
• Public or private educational institutions (compulsory participation);
• Various organizations with attributions in education area, according to the Guidelines;

Target group:

• children with ante/preschool age, students from groups with school dropout risk including their parents;
• teaching staff;
• people who have not completed compulsory education;

According to the Ministry, the projects can be submitted during 1st of August 2016 – 30th of September 2016, their implementation being estimated to start in December 2016.

The Guideline is under public consultation until 21st of July 2016 and can be downloaded from here.

Starting with July, a new series of non-reimbursable financing will be available for SMEs (including Bucharest-Ilfov region), through the Micro-industrialization National Programme. 

Eligible beneficiaries:

• SMEs from all development regions and
• Microenterprises and SMEs from Bucharest-Ilfov, region not covered by European funds

The grant value: up to 250.000 lei/beneficiary (approx. 55.000 euro).

Financing percentages: up to 90% of eligible expenditures of the project.

Total budget allocated for 2016: 60 mil lei (for minimum 244 beneficiaries).

Eligible expenditures within the project: purchasing of technological equipment, measurement and control equipment, fiscal electronic devices, vans, patents, brands, e-commerce software, IT equipment, development of a website, work/production spaces, heating/air-conditioning installations, entrepreneurship training, consultancy etc.

More information you can find here.