a. Forecast notice with proof of publication of the procurement notice and any corrigenda

c. Shortlist report (incl. annexes) and applications

e. Letters to non-shortlisted candidates

g. Tender dossier including annexes, clarifications, minutes of the meetings, proof of publication

i. Tender opening report, including annexes

k. Notification letter

m. Cover letter for submission of contract

o. Award / cancellation notice, including proof of publication

Calls for proposals and direct award of grants:

e. Evaluation report of the full application or negotiation report with relevant annexes

g. Letters to successful and unsuccessful applicants with approved reserve list following full application evaluation

l. Award/cancellation notice with proof of publication

In case of programme estimates: In addition to the above, all relevant documentation relating to payments, recoveries and operating costs.

In particular, the Beneficiary shall take appropriate technical and organisational security measures concerning the risks inherent in any such operation and the nature of the information relating to the natural person concerned, in order to:

b) Ensure that authorised users of an IT system performing such operations can access only the information to which their access right refers;

Article 2 - Deadline for the signature of the procurement and grant contracts by the Beneficiary

Where this action is financed from the EDF, programme estimates referred to in Article 5 of these General Conditions shall also be endorsed by the Commission within that three-year deadline.

2.2. However, the following transactions may be signed at any time during the operational implementation phase.

b. amendments to procurement and grant contracts already signed;

d. amendment of this Financing Agreement resulting from the change of the entity charged with the entrusted tasks, referred to in Article 1.2 of these General Conditions; the amendment shall also stipulate a new period within which procurement and grant contracts shall be concluded by this new entity in accordance with Article 2.1:

2.3. After expiry of the three years of the entry into force of this Financing Agreement, any financial balance for activities entrusted to the Beneficiary for which contracts have not been duly signed shall be decommitted by the Commission.

2.5. A procurement or grant contract which has not given rise to any payment within three years of its signature shall be automatically terminated and its funding shall be decommitted.

3.1. The Beneficiary shall take the necessary measures to ensure the visibility of EU funding for the activities entrusted to it or for other activities under this action. These measures shall either be defined in Annex I (Technical and Administrative Provisions) or shall be agreed later between the Beneficiary and the Commission.

Article 4 - Provisions on payments made by the Commission to contractors and grant beneficiaries on behalf of the Beneficiary

(a) for pre-financing specified in the procurement or grant contract:

(ii) 30 calendar days for an action financed under the EDF;

The Commission shall act in accordance with Articles 4.6 and 4.7 within the period amounting to the time-limit for payment provided for in the procurement and grant contracts minus the above deadlines.

4.3. Upon receipt of an admissible payment request, the Beneficiary shall examine whether a payment is due, i.e. whether all contractual obligations justifying the payment have been fulfilled, including examining a report, where applicable. If the Beneficiary concludes that a payment is not due, it shall inform the contractor or grant beneficiary thereof and of the reasons. The dispatch of this information suspends the time-limit for payment. The Commission shall receive a copy of the information so dispatched. The Commission shall also be informed of the reply or corrective action of the contractor or grant beneficiary. That reply or action aimed at correcting the non-compliance with its contractual obligations shall restart the time-limit for payment. The Beneficiary shall examine this reply or action pursuant to this paragraph.

If disagreement between the Beneficiary and the Commission persists, the Commission may pay the undisputed part of the invoiced amount provided that it is clearly separable from the disputed amount. It shall inform the Beneficiary and the contractor or grant beneficiary of this partial payment.

4.6. After transfer of the payment request pursuant to Article 4.5, if the Commission concludes that the payment is not due, it shall inform the Beneficiary and, in copy, the contractor or grant beneficiary thereof and of the reasons. Informing the contractor or grant beneficiary shall have the effect of suspending the time-limit for payment, as provided for in the contract concluded. A reply or corrective action of the contractor or grant beneficiary shall be treated by the Beneficiary in accordance with Article 4.3.

4.8. Where late-payment interest is due to the contractor or grant beneficiary, it shall be allocated between the Beneficiary and the Commission pro rata to the days of delay in excess of the time limits stipulated in Article 4.1, subject to the following:

(b) the number of days used by the Commission is calculated from the date following that of transfer of the request by the Beneficiary referred to in Article 4.5 to the date of payment and from the date of transfer to the date of informing the Beneficiary pursuant to Article 4.6.

Where feasible, one party shall cooperate at the request of the other party in providing useful information for the assessment of the payment request, even before the payment request is formally transferred to or returned from the first party.

5.1. When the Beneficiary is additionally entrusted with making payments to contractors, grant beneficiaries and/or in the context of direct labour, it shall do so on the basis of a programme estimate agreed by the Beneficiary and the Commission beforehand.

The programme estimate shall have an imprest component and a component of specific commitments.

Under the component for specific commitments, the Beneficiary shall carry out tasks as referred to in the second subparagraph of Article 1.1 of these General Conditions; the Commission shall carry out related payment to contractors and grant beneficiaries. Certain identified activities, including audits, evaluations and recourse to the framework contract, shall be implemented directly by the Commission.

5.3. All programme estimates implementing the Financing Agreement must respect the procedures and standard documents concerning programme estimates and laid down by the Commission, in force at the time of the adoption of the programme estimate in question.

5.4. The Beneficiary shall submit to the Commission annually, by the date stipulated in Article 6 of the Special Conditions, a management declaration signed by the Beneficiary at the appropriate level using the template in Annex IV.

6.1. The Commission shall transfer funds no later than 30 calendar days after the date on which it registers an admissible payment request for pre-financing from the Beneficiary which contains the date, the amount and the currency; the time-limit shall be 90 calendar days for a payment request for replenishment or closure. Late-payment interest shall be due pursuant to the applicable Financial Regulation. The time-limit for the payment may be suspended by the Commission by informing the Beneficiary, at any time during the period referred to above, that the payment request cannot be met, either because the amount is not due or because the appropriate supporting documents have not been produced. If information which puts in doubt the eligibility of expenditure appearing in a payment request comes to the notice of the Commission, the Commission may suspend the time-limit for the payment for the purpose of further verification, including an on-the-spot check, in order to ascertain, prior to payment, that the expenditure is indeed eligible. The suspension and the reasons for it shall be communicated to the Beneficiary as soon as possible. The time-limit for the payment shall resume once the missing supporting documents have been provided or the payment request has been corrected.

6.3. The Beneficiary shall guarantee that funds paid by the Commission can be identified in this bank account.

6.5. The imprest component of a programme estimate which has not given rise to any payment to the Beneficiary within three years of the conclusion of the programme estimate shall be automatically terminated, and the corresponding committed amount shall be decommitted.

7.1. The Beneficiary undertakes to publish each year in a dedicated and easily accessible place of its internet site, for each procurement and grant contract for which it is contracting authority under the programme estimates referred to in Article 5, its nature and purpose, the name and locality of the contractor (contractors in case of a consortium) or grant beneficiary (grant beneficiaries in case of a multi-beneficiary grant), as well as the amount of the contract.

If such internet publication is impossible, the information shall be published by any other appropriate means, including the official journal of the Beneficiary.

7.2. Scholarships to, and direct financial support of natural persons most in need-shall be published anonymously and in an accumulated manner by category of expenditure.

The Beneficiary shall present a list of data to be published on natural persons with any justifications for proposed waivers of publication to the Commission which must grant prior approval to this list. Where necessary, the Commission shall complete the locality of the natural person limited to a region at NUTS2 level.

7.4. Publication of contracts may be waived if such publication risks harming the commercial interests of contractors or grant beneficiaries. The Beneficiary shall present a list with such justifications to the Commission which must grant prior approval to such publication waiver.

Article 8 - Recovery of funds

Amounts unduly paid and recovered by the Beneficiary, amounts from financial guarantees lodged on the basis of procurement and grant award procedures, amounts from financial penalties imposed by the Beneficiary on candidates, tenderers, applicants, contractors or grant beneficiaries, as well as damages awarded to the Beneficiary shall be returned to the Commission.

8.3. To this end, the Beneficiary shall provide to the Commission all the documentation and information necessary. The Beneficiary hereby empowers the Commission to carry out the recovery in particular by calling on a guarantee of a contractor or grant beneficiary of which the Beneficiary is the contracting authority or by offsetting the funds to be recovered against any amounts owed to the contractor or grant beneficiary by the Beneficiary as contracting authority and financed by the EU under this or another Financing Agreement or by forced recovery before the competent courts.

8.5. Where the Beneficiary is a sub-delegatee of an entity with which the Commission concluded a delegation agreement, the Commission may recover funds from the Beneficiary which are due to the entity but which the entity was not able to recover itself.

The Beneficiary undertakes to confer with the Commission before taking any decision concerning a request for compensation made by a contractor or grant beneficiary and considered by the Beneficiary to be justified in whole or in part. The financial consequences may be borne by the EU only where the Commission has given its prior approval. Such prior approval is also required for any use of funds committed under the present Financing Agreement to cover costs arising from disputes relating to contracts.

10.1. Individual overruns of the budget headings of the activities implemented by the Beneficiary shall be dealt with by reallocating funds within the overall budget, in accordance with Article 25 of these General Conditions.

10.3. If the activities cannot be scaled down, or if the overrun cannot be covered either by the Beneficiary’s own resources or other resources, the Commission may, at the Beneficiary's duly substantiated request, decide to grant additional EU financing. Should the Commission take such a decision, the excess costs shall be financed, without prejudice to the relevant EU rules and procedures, by the release of an additional financial contribution to be set by the Commission. This Financing Agreement shall be amended accordingly.

Part Two: Provisions Applicable to Budget Support

The Beneficiary and the EU commit to engage in a regular constructive dialogue at the appropriate level on the implementation of this Financing Agreement.

Article 12 - Verification of conditions and disbursement

Where the Commission concludes that the conditions for payment are not fulfilled, it shall inform the Beneficiary thereof without undue delay.

12.3. The Beneficiary shall apply its national foreign exchange regulations in a-nondiscriminatory manner to all disbursements of the budget support component.

The Beneficiary hereby agrees to the publication by the Commission, of this Financing Agreement and any amendment thereof, including by electronic means, and of such basic information on the budget support which the Commission deems appropriate. Such publication shall not contain any data in violation of the EU laws applicable to the protection of personal data.

All or part of the budget support disbursements may be recovered by the Commission, with due respect to the principle of proportionality, if the Commission establishes that payment has been vitiated by a serious irregularity attributable to the Beneficiary, in particular if the Beneficiary provided unreliable or incorrect information, or if corruption or fraud was involved.

Part Three: Provisions Applicable to This Action as a Whole, Irrespective of the Management Mode

15.1. The execution period of this Financing Agreement shall comprise two phases:

- a closure phase, during which final audits and evaluation are carried out and contracts and programme estimates for the implementation of this Financing Agreement are technically and financially closed. The duration of this phase is stipulated in Article 2.3 of the Special Conditions. It starts after the end of the operational implementation phase. Only expenditure necessary for the closure shall be eligible.

15.2. Costs related to the principal operational activities shall be eligible for EU financing only if they have been incurred during the operational implementation phase; the costs incurred by the Beneficiary before the entry into force of this Financing Agreement shall not be eligible for EU financing unless provided otherwise in Article 6 of the Special Conditions. Costs related to final audits and evaluation, and to closure activities shall be eligible until the end of the closure phase.

15.4. In exceptional and duly substantiated cases, a request may be made for the extension of the operational implementation phase and correlatively of the execution period. If the extension is requested by the Beneficiary, the request must be made at least three months before the end of the operational implementation phase and approved by the Commission before that end. This Financing Agreement shall be amended accordingly.

15.6. Article 2 of these General Conditions shall apply to activities implemented by the Commission as contracting authority (direct management) with the exception of the second and third subparagraph of Article 2.1.

16.1. The Beneficiary shall assist and support the verifications and checks carried out by the Commission, OLAF and the European Court of Auditors at their request.

16.2. The Beneficiary also agrees that OLAF may carry out on-the-spot checks and verifications in accordance with the procedures laid down by EU law for the protection of the EU’s financial interests against fraud and other irregularities.

16.3. The checks and audits described above shall also apply to contractors and grant beneficiaries, and subcontractors who have received EU financing.

Article 17 - Tasks of the Beneficiary in fighting irregularities, fraud and corruption

17.2. The Beneficiary shall ensure and check regularly that the actions financed from the budget are effectively carried out and implemented correctly. It shall take appropriate measures to prevent, detect and correct irregularities and fraud and where necessary, bring prosecutions and recover funds unduly paid.

- non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation, with the same effect;

17.3. The Beneficiary undertakes to take every appropriate measure to prevent, detect and punish any practices of active or passive corruption during the implementation of the Financing Agreement.

17.4. The Beneficiary shall immediately inform the Commission (contacts pursuant to the third subparagraph of the Article 1.8 of the General Conditions) of the name of the entity that has been the subject of a judgment which has the force of res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organisation, money laundering or any other illegal activity detrimental to the EU’s financial interests.

Article 18 - Suspension of payments

a) the Commission has established that or has serious concerns, on the basis of information it received, and needs to verify, whether the Beneficiary has committed substantial errors, irregularities or fraud in the procurement and grant award procedure or in the implementation of the action, or the Beneficiary has failed to comply with its obligations under this Financing Agreement, including obligations regarding the implementation of the Communications and Visibility plan;

c) the Commission suspects that the Beneficiary committed substantial errors, irregularities, fraud or breach of obligations in the procurement and grant award procedure or in the implementation of the action and needs to verify whether they have occurred.

18.2. The Commission shall immediately inform the Beneficiary about the suspension of payments and of the reasons for this suspension.

18.4. In order to resume payments the Beneficiary shall endeavour to remedy the situation leading to the suspension as soon as possible and shall inform the Commission of any progress made in this respect. The Commission shall, as soon as it considers that the conditions for resuming payments have been met, inform the Beneficiary thereof.

Where the action is financed under the EDF, amounts unduly paid and recovered by the Commission, amounts from financial guarantees lodged on the basis of procurement and grant award procedures, amounts from financial penalties imposed on candidates, tenderers, applicants, contractors or grant beneficiaries, as well as damages awarded to the Commission shall be allocated to this action.

20.1. Where justified by the nature of the procurement or grant contract, the Beneficiary shall entitle natural and legal persons participating in invitations to tender for works, supply or service contracts or calls for proposals and entities expected to be entrusted with budget- implementation tasks identified in Annex I with a provisional right of establishment and residence in the Beneficiary’s territory(ies). This right shall remain valid for one month after the contract is awarded.

Article 21 - Tax and customs provisions

Where the Beneficiary is an ACP State, account shall not be taken of arrangements applied by it to the other ACP States or to other developing countries for the purpose of determining the most-favoured-State treatment.

21.3. subject, these provisions shall apply as well.

22.1. The Beneficiary agrees that its documents and data held by an entity with which the Beneficiary is in a contractual relationship regarding them may be forwarded to the Commission by that entity for the sole purpose of implementing this or another Financing Agreement. The Commission shall respect all confidentiality arrangements agreed between the Beneficiary and that entity.

22.3. The Parties shall obtain each other’s prior written consent before publicly disclosing such information.

Article 23 - Use of studies

Article 24 - Consultation between the Beneficiary and the Commission

24.2. Where the Commission becomes aware of problems in carrying out procedures relating to management of this Financing Agreement, it shall establish all necessary contacts with the Beneficiary to remedy the situation and take any steps that are necessary.

24.4. The Commission shall regularly inform the Beneficiary of the implementation of activities described in Annex I which do not fall under Part One of these General Conditions.

25.1. Any amendment of this Financing Agreement shall be made in writing, including an exchange of letters.

25.3. If the adjustment both does not significantly affect the objectives of the activity implemented pursuant to Part One of these General Conditions, and if it concerns matters of detail which do not affect the technical solution adopted, and if it does not include the reallocation of funds, or if it concerns reallocations of funds within the limit of the contingency reserve, the Beneficiary shall inform the Commission of the adjustment and its justification in writing as soon as possible and may apply that adjustment.

25.5. Where the Commission considers that the Beneficiary ceases to perform satisfactorily the tasks entrusted pursuant to Article 1.1 of these General Conditions and without prejudice to Articles 26 and 27 of these General Conditions, the Commission may decide to retake the tasks entrusted from the Beneficiary in order to continue the implementation of the activities on behalf of the Beneficiary after informing the latter in writing.

26.1. The Financing Agreement may be suspended in the following cases:

- The Commission may suspend the implementation of this Financing Agreement if the Beneficiary breaches any obligation set under the procedures and standard documents referred to in Article 1.3 and 5.3 of these General Conditions.

- This Financing Agreement may be suspended in cases of force majeure, as defined below. “Force majeure” shall mean any unforeseeable and exceptional situation or event beyond the parties’ control which prevents either of them from fulfilling any of their obligations, not attributable to error or negligence on their part (or the part of their contractors, agents or employees) and proves insurmountable in spite of all due diligence. Defects in equipment or material or delays in making them available, labour disputes, strikes or financial difficulties cannot be invoked as force majeure. A party shall not be held in breach of its obligations if it is prevented from fulfilling them by a case of force majeure of which the other party is duly informed. A party faced with force majeure shall inform the other party without delay, stating the nature, probable duration and foreseeable effects of the problem, and take any measure to minimise possible damage.

26.2. The Commission may suspend this Financing Agreement without prior notice.

26.4. When the suspension is notified, the consequences for the on-going procurement and grant contracts, delegation agreements and programme estimates and for such contracts, delegation agreements and programme estimates to be signed shall be indicated.

26.6. The parties shall resume the implementation of the Financing Agreement once the conditions allow with the prior written approval of the Commission. This is without prejudice to any amendments of this Financing Agreement which may be necessary to adapt the action to the new implementing conditions, including, if possible, the extension of the implementation period, or the termination of this Financing Agreement in accordance with Article 27.

27.1. If the issues which led to the suspension of this Financing Agreement have not been resolved within a maximum period of 180 days, either party may terminate this Financing Agreement at 30 days’ notice.

a) it has not given rise to any payment;

c) and where this action is financed under the EDF, no programme estimate has been signed;

Article 28 - Dispute settlement arrangements

Where the Beneficiary is an ACP State or an ACP resional body or organisation and this action is financed under the EDF, the dispute shall be submitted, prior to arbitration and after the consultations provided for in Article 24 of these General Conditions, to the ACP-EC Council of Ministers, or, between its meetings, to the ACP-EC Committee of Ambassadors, pursuant to Article 98 of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement, If the Council or Committee does not succeed in settling the dispute, either party may request settlement of the dispute by arbitration in accordance with Articles 29.2, 29.3 and 29.4.

28.3. Unless the arbitrators decide otherwise, the procedure laid down in the Permanent Court of Arbitration Optional Rules for Arbitration Involving International Organisations and States shall apply. The arbitrators’ decisions shall be taken by a majority within a period of three months.