Quality of life and management of living resources

ions.htmQuality of Life homepagehttp://www.cordis.lu/lifeCall text for “Quality of Life and Management of Resources” Programmehttp://www.cordis.lu/life/src/library.htmWork Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Resources” Programmehttp://www.cordis.lu/life/src/library.htmQuality of Life Documentshttp://www.cordis.lu/life/src/library.htmQuality of Life contactshttp://www.cordis.lu/life/src/contacts.htmMarie-Curie fellowships homepagehttp://www.cordis.lu/improvingSME-specific measures homepagehttp://www.cordis.lu/smeINCO-web site (Bursaries, international co-operation)http://www.cordis.lu/incoOther programme web sites accessible viahttp://www.cordis.lu/fp5/ III. Participation in activities in the Fifth Framework Programme This section describes the conditions of participation in activities within the Fifth Framework Programme, the process whereby the Commission selects among the proposals submitted to it, and the manner in which selected projects should be carried out. It is based on the Annex IV of the decision on the Fifth Framework Programme, the decision on the rules of participation, and other subsequent texts or documents. III.1. The participants III.1.1. Who ? The Framework Programme, with its corresponding financial support, is open to all legal entities established in the Member States of the European Union e.g. individuals, industrial and commercial firms, universities, research organisations, etc. including SMEs. The Programme is also open to all legal entities established in any of the other States associated to the Programme (see box 4). Participation and financing for legal entities established in other countries (third countries') is governed by common conditions which are applied throughout the Fifth Framework Programme (see boxes 3 and 4), with the exception of the Programme Confirming the international role of Community research under which some entities are entitled to receive Community funding depending on their country of origin. III.1.2. How many? Proposals submitted to the Commission should demonstrate a Community dimension. As a general rule, this means that they should involve at least two legal entities, independent of each other, and established in two different Member States, or one Member State and one Associated State. (The Joint Research Centre of the European Commission is considered as a participant of a Member State). However, certain actions may vary from this general rule - either by requiring more participants or by permitting a single one (see box 6). III.1.3. Role of the participants Participants in a proposal fall into a number of different legal categories, according to the type of activity proposed and the nature of a participants role in it (see box 6 and III.5.3.). III.2. Proposal submission III.2.1. call for proposals Calls for Proposals published in the Official Journal will open certain parts of a Specific Programmes Work Programmes for proposals, indicating what types of actions (RTD projects, Accompanying measures etc.) are expected. In addition to those with a fixed closing date, the Commission will open certain Calls on a longer open basis, with periodic evaluation of received proposals. A provisional timetable for the Calls of a Specific Programme is included in each Work Programme. A Call may address the full programme, a key action, one or several research themes, areas, sectors, action lines, objectives, topics. In order to ensure co-ordination among the Specific Programmes, common Calls may be published. The objectives to be achieved may also be fully detailed, for example in the case of key actions or dedicated calls. Proposals submitted under a Call shall be subject to a selection process presented in section III.4. Certain Accompanying Measures may however be based on spontaneous applications or on a call for tender, and shall therefore be subject to a different process. III.2.2. Submission Participants should complete the appropriate Proposal Submission Form corresponding to the type of action involved, preferably using the software tool that the Commission supplies: The Proposal Preparation Tool or ProTool, available at the following address: http://www.cordis.lu/fp5/protool. Proposals must be completed in full as detailed in the Guide for Proposers Part 2. In addition, experience in previous Calls shows that a number of general recommendations, provided in box 9, may be helpful. Participants have the choice to submit proposals either electronically or on paper. Submission takes place in the following steps, which are detailed in Part 2 of this Guide.

The co-ordinator may request a pre-proposal check from the Commission, if this service is offered for the call concerned.

The proposer may be required in the Call for Proposals to submit a request for a proposal number. This form (Notification of Intention to Propose) is sent to the Commission services via fax or electronic mail.The requested proposal number is sent back to the proposer by fax or electronic mail from the Commission.The proposal is prepared either in electronic or paper form, preferably using ProTool.The co-ordinator checks the proposal against the key recommendations (Box 9)Electronic submission The submitting partner in the consortium seeks certification for the Programme.Paper submission The proposal is sent to the Commission in the form of five bound paper copies and one unbound original.The proposal is submitted electronically following the instructions given with ProTool.

III.3. Proposal evaluation III.3.1. General principles The evaluation of proposals will be based on the fundamental principles of transparency and equality of treatment. The entire selection process and the description of the criteria by which the proposals will be evaluated are presented in the Evaluation Manual (see also box 5 and Appendix 6 of Part 2 of this Guide). In general, and in order to help the Commission, panels of independent, external experts will be constituted covering a wide range of relevant expertise, without linguistic or geographic bias. Proposers confidentiality will be fully respected, both to avoid conflicts of interest and to preserve the impartiality of the independent experts. III.3.2. Conformity check and eligibility On receipt, all proposals will be subject to a validation process, to ensure they conform to the requirements of the Call, of the submission procedure and of the rules for participation. Only proposals that conform to these requirements will be subject to evaluation. III.3.3. Evaluation Proposals will be evaluated according to criteria grouped into five categories, as laid down in the Work Programme applicable to the relevant call. The content and the respective weighting of the criteria are described in the Evaluation Manual. Programme specific information on evaluation may also be explained, if appropriate, in Part 2 of this Guide. Ethical aspects and safety aspects