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TECHNICAL MANAGEMENT
 | Successful project management requires specific skills such as professional, administrative and financial management skills, together with efficient and effective communication skills at the coordinator. The coordinator must be capable of directing and motivating its partners and efficiently dealing with any problems that may occur.
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The kick-off meeting is in many cases the first time when all the beneficiaries meet in person and it plays an important role for the implementation of the project. Typically it is a 1 to 3 day meeting (usually in the Coordinator's country) where beneficiaries clarify all tasks to be implemented and plan in details the activities of the first 6 months. The distribution of financial means should be also on the agenda. In the frames of the kick-off meeting there is a chance for non-experienced beneficiaries to receive special, technical-financial training. The management structure, communication means are also finalised during the kick-off meeting.
The project should be put on the right track from the very beginning and everything should be sorted out at the kick-off meeting. The beneficiaries have the opportunity here to get to know each other, so the role of ice-breaking events should not be underestimated. Usually, the Project Officer is invited to the kick-off meeting.
Project planning and the project life-cycle has to be based on the Description of Work. The common elements in each project will be: kick-off meeting; reporting deadlines; submission of deliverables; review if organised; project scientific milestones; project meetings; closure; post-project activities.
During implementation the important milestones for the Commission are the reporting deadlines. Reporting fills an important function in allowing the Commission to follow the project and ensure it is implemented as stated in the Grant Agreement and in compliance with financial rules.
Coordinator
The entity submitting the proposal typically becomes the Coordinator of the project, but it is not a requirement. The basis of coordination of the project is two-fold. On one hand, the tasks and their results, and each of the deliverables is clearly defined in the project (the Technical Annex). On the other hand, the internal contract, the Consortium Agreement (CA), needs to set out in detail the jobs, persons in charge of the jobs, legal relations and any sanctions. The Consortium Agreement decisively influences the beneficiaries' roles and scope of action, and enables the Coordinator to apply positive or negative sanctions.
Obligations of the Coordinator:
- Contractual obligations (transfer of payments, preparation of annual reports - tasks that cannot be delegated)
- Moral obligations
- Report to the Commission any deviations from the contract
- All obligations that ”ordinary” contractors have
Rights of the Coordinator:
- Decision right in any issue debated by beneficiaries
- To be the only official communication channel between the Commission and the consortium
- Initiate changes in terms of work content (only in line with the Grant Agreement)
- Initiate changes in the budget, reallocation of resources between beneficiaries (in line with the Consortium Agreement and/or the Grant Agreement)
- Initiate the removal of non-performing beneficiaries (in line with the CA and/or GA)
The conclusion must be that the scope of the Coordinator's tasks is quite wide and complex, requiring extensive experience. The risk of not being prepared, the financial troubles and the potentially bad reputation resulting from mismanagement, makes it definitely not worth the hassle.
Beneficiary
A project beneficiary has much simpler duties and responsibilities, usually being responsible for leading a small part of the work (a work package or task), or taking part as contributors in several phases. The responsibility of a beneficiary usually extends to a given phase, and preparation of the related financial reports.
Experience shows that bottlenecks for successful participation of a beneficiary are not usually the performance of technical tasks, but the professional preparation of financial reports. The reasons are that internal administrators or external accounting companies do not know the special rules of EU support systems. It is useful to buy or create special systems within the company, which enable monitoring of financial means assigned to the given project, related performance or documents determined by the European Union (e.g. working hour charts). By using these and having the right personnel, typical mistakes can be easily prevented, and any unexpected problems that arise can be soon remedied.
Third Parties in the project
The consortium should be able to carry out the project with common efforts and subcontracting should only be used for minor tasks and not for core activities of the project. Third parties are not beneficiaries in the consortium and they are only involved to perform a specific task paid by one of the beneficiary's budget. There are two main types of third parties in FP7 projects: subcontractors, who charge the PRICE of the services/products they offer to the project, and so called 'third parties linked to the beneficiary' (like grouping, affiliates, JRU, EEIG). In the latter case the linked TP allocates the COST only to the project. The difference between the price and the costs is that the latter does NOT include the profit. But in both cases the amount and purpose of the third party assistance should be discussed during the Grant Agreement Negotiation and indicated in the proposal/DoW. Typical jobs contracted out are small tasks such as legal/financial services or translations and even then you will be expected to provide detailed explanation why these services are necessary for the implementation of the project.
Project officer
The project officer or scientific officer – also may be referred to as desk officer – is the representative of the European Commission to the project. The name of the officer is set in the Grant Agreement, but you will get to know him or her during the contract negotiation already. Experience shows that each project officer is working differently so it is important to find way how to cooperate smoothly from the very beginning. The project officer will follow the projects’ progress from the very beginning till the closure. He or she will read and accept all periodic reports and deliverables, organise reviews. It is important to inform the project officer about major changes in due time before they take place in the project.
IPR stands for Intellectual Property Rights. As FP7 is the EU's tool for financing research, IPR is extremely important and it is the duty of the consortium to determine how any IPR developed is going to be protected. There are various forms of protection for intellectual property a consortium can use.
The first form protects, in general, artistic, intellectual and/or creative works and is a Copyright. There are no formalities to enjoy copyright protection. Once an idea has been expressed the creator is automatically granted copyright protection. While formal registration is not required to receive copyright protection, it is recommended that formal registration be sought, as this can be very useful in cases of disputes. Typically copyrights are granted for a certain period of time, and up to 70 years after the author has died. Some examples of works that enjoy copyright protection are written works, books, software, lyrics, etc. Copyrights are international in character and are enforced all over the world.
The second form of protection is a Patent. Patents are used to protect new inventions, typically industrial inventions. While copyrights are international, patents only protect inventions in the country where the patent was granted, that is to say they only provide territorial protection, although, it is possible to apply for a patent from a regional office, which can cover more than one country (i.e. the European Patent Office). Patents are granted through a patent office and can be expensive. Formal requirements must be met in order for an invention to be granted a patent. Such formal requirements include originality, i.e. newness, practical use, and inventive. If the invention incurs high costs during development it is highly recommended to ensure a third party does not develop a similar product and patent it, denying the original creator any privileges. Typically a patent is applicable for 20 years before it becomes a public domain.
The third common form of protection is a Trademark. Trademarks allow for brand recognition and are a way for consumers to associate products of the brand with the same quality, good or bad. They are granted for products and services. As with patents, trademarks are granted territorially, must meet formal requirements and can be very expensive. The typical time period of a trademark is ten years, but can be renewed for ten-year periods indefinitely.
International protection for patents and trademarks can be applied for and obtained from the World Intellectual Property Organisation. Costs are high but worth the expense, as such protection will eliminate future legal problems that may arise. The costs incurred for protecting results of an FP7 project are considered eligible costs; therefore they may be charged to the project. Any results occurred in parallel with the project but not directly related to the project are not eligible and cannot be charged to the project.
Other forms of intellectual property right protection also exist, but the three mentioned are the most common. It is important to keep in mind that ideas cannot be protected solely as ideas! They must be transformed into tangible, concrete form before they can be protected.
Entering into an EU project can be a great advantage for any company or organisation, but as companies and organisations have certain ”trade secrets” that should be protected it must always be clearly stated how the partners in a consortium are going to protect their background (pre-existing know how in FP6) and foreground.
In order to protect background and foreground in any project a Consortium Agreement should be signed. In FP7 Consortium Agreements are mandatory for most projects, and highly recommended for all projects. In the Consortium Agreement it can be clearly defined how information can be safely exchanged between consortium members. Things to take into consideration when drafting and signing a Consortium Agreement are definition of use according to its intended purpose, how the contracting parties allowed to use the information, a disclaimer in the instance of erroneous use of information, the time period allowed for access to the information, etc.
There are numerous online resources to help consortia draft a Consortium Agreement. One of these resources is DESCA (webaddress: www.desca-fp7.eu).
Background
Background is a new term in FP7 used to describe the knowledge held by a company or organisation before entering into the Grant Agreement. Under the previous Framework Programmes background was referred to as pre-existing knowledge and know-how. Background should be protected before entering into the Grant Agreement, and it should also be highlighted how such information is going to be used throughout the lifetime of the project and by whom. Access to background by consortium members for project purposes should be restricted to only the information that is needed in order to execute the project. This is where wording in the project plays an important role. This will be elaborated on later under ’Access Rights’.
Foreground
Foreground refers to the results generated from a project. Ownership of foreground is usually granted to the participant that generated it. In this respect it is highly important to properly document all developments throughout the project lifecycle. Jointly developed foreground is granted joint ownership, but in such circumstances the terms and conditions of use must be agreed upon. Conditions such as management and cost sharing for legal protection of the results should be addressed.
Access Rights
Access Rights are licenses and user rights to both the foreground and the background of a project. Minimal provisions for access rights are provided for by the Commission in the Grant Agreement, although additional access rights may be granted as long as the minimal access rights in the Grant Agreement are not compromised. Access rights to background in order to execute the project can be freely determined by the consortium members. Again wording comes into play when defining access rights to background and probably the best approach is to use the ”Positive list” approach. This would entail specifically defining which background is available for the other beneficiaries to access during the duration of the project, or for a certain time period. On the other hand, background can be opened up in general to use by consortium members, with specifications made as to which background may not be accessed. Variants between the two approaches are also possible. It depends on the consortium as to how to define use and access of background in order to carry out the project. Access rights to foreground must also be determined, as foreground may not belong to the consortium, but the participant who developed it.
IPR Helpdesk
The European Commission has established the IPR Helpdesk site in order to address all questions dealing with IPR, how and when to protect IPR, definitions, etc. The helpdesk is an extremely useful tool and should be consulted by all consortium members in order to better protect background, foreground and any other issues related to ownership and dissemination of project results. The IPR helpdesk can be found at: www.ipr-helpdesk.org/ (All theoretical information, definitions, etc., for this chapter was obtained from the helpdesk.)
The Coordinator, on the behalf of the consortium, submits technical and financial details in the form of 'Periodic reports'. These reports should be submitted within 60 days following the end of the reporting period. The reporting periods are defined during negotiations and included in the core text of the Grant Agreement.
The aim is to provide an overall picture on the project's progress, relation to original and revised plans, and provide a review of incurred costs. It is also a good opportunity for the Coordinator to confirm that the beneficiaries carry out the work as planned and agreed. The Project Officer, and occasionally experts from the Commission, assess the reports and decide whether any modifications are needed or if the project can continue as foreseen. The consortium can initiate changes during the project, but major modifications must be submitted and approved by the Commission. It is important to inform the project officer about major changes in due time before they take place as expenditures that were not foreseen initially are not eligible or calculated for in the grant.
The Periodic Project Reports
The Coordinator, on behalf of the consortium, must submit the Periodic Report to the Commission, by electronic means and by mail, within 60 calendar days following the end of each reporting period. The length of the reporting periods are defined in the Grant Agreement, and set during the Grant Agreement Negotiation. The most common periods are 12-months, but it could be shorter or longer, depending on the length of the project and the Project Officer.
The Periodic Report must include:
- Publishable summary
- Project objectives for the period
- Work progress and achievements during the period
- Deliverables and milestones tables
- Project Management
- Explanation of the use of the resources
- Financial statements - Forms C and Summary financial report
- Certificates, if needed
The reports must be approved in Brussels, which generally takes between 1-3 months (official timeline is 105 days) and if the Commission does not accept the reports, a new revised version must be submitted. The next payment will come only once the financial report is approved. A periodic report contains an overview of the achieved results during the given period, a description of progress toward the objectives of the project, a description of progress towards the milestones and deliverables foreseen, the identification of any problems encountered and corrective action taken. An updated plan for using and disseminating the foreground shall be included as a separate part of this report.
Deliverables
Deliverables are normally tangible results of the project, but not necessarily. These should be delivered to Brussels according to the deadlines defined in the Description of Work of the Grant Agreement. Deliverables can have different statuses and thus be available to different groups, i.e. public, restricted or confidential. The deadlines for deliverables must always be met; they are an indicator that the project is progressing on time. Tipical deliverables are: reports; website, dissemination material; prototype, etc. |
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