Applicant's Guide Third Call

GOVERNMENT OF
EUROPEAN UNION GOVERNMENT OF

ROMANIA
BULGARIA
MANAGING AUTHORITY NATIONAL AUTHORITY

MINISTRY OF REGIONAL MINISTRY OF REGIONAL
DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION DEVELOPMENT AND PUBLIC WOKS
ROMANIA BULGARIA
Applicant’s Guide
www.interregrobg.eu
Call for proposals no.3
March 2017
Applicant’s Guide March 2017
Table of Contents
Glossary of terms ................................................................................. 3

Glossary of Acronyms ............................................................................ 6
Explanation of text-boxes ...................................................................... 8
Legal basis ......................................................................................... 8
I. GENERAL INFORMATION ...................................................................... 9
I.1. Overview of Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria.............................. 9
I.2. Programme Strategy ......................................................... 9
i. Programme Objectives and priority axes ............................. 9
I.3. Programme Implementation Structures.................................. 10
I.4. Programme Financial Allocation .......................................... 11
I.5. Programme Indicators ..................................................... 12
I.6 Financial allocation for the call for proposals ......................... 154
I.7 Cross border character………………………………………………………………………14
I.8. State Aid.................................................................... 176
I.9. Revenue Generating Projects ............................................. 18
II. RULES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS .................................................... 19
II.1. Type of call for proposals ................................................. 19
II.2. Eligibility Criteria ........................................................ 221
i. Eligibility of Applicants............................................... 221
ii. Eligibility of Actions.................................................. 265
iii. Eligibility of Expenditure ........................................... 343
II.3. How to apply for funding ................................................ 365
i. How to fill in the Annexes ............................................. 39
iii. How to submit the applications...................................... 42
iv. Deadline for receipt of applications ................................ 42
II.4. Evaluation and Selection of Applications ............................... 43
III. Pre-Contractual conditions................................................................ 46
IV. List of Annexes .............................................................................. 50
*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

www.interregrobg.eu Page 2 of 52
Glossary of terms

Applicant Any legal entity meeting the eligible criteria which submits an
application to be financed by the Programme
Beneficiary Any applicant whose application has been approved for financing
Biodiversity The variability of living bodies within the land, sea, continental
aquatic ecosystems and ecological complexes; this comprises the
intra-specific, inter-specific and ecosystems diversity
Discounting The process of adjusting the future value of cost and benefits to the
present by a discount rate.
Discount rate
The rate at which future values are discounted to the present
Eligible Expenditures made by a Beneficiary, related to the projects
expenditure financed through the Programme, which could be financed from the
structural instruments, as well as from the state budget and/or own
Beneficiary contribution
Eligible The Romanian counties and Bulgarian districts located in the border
area/region area, as mentioned in the programming document approved by the
European Commission
Hard project Project that has an investment/works component or which grants
more than half of its total eligible budget for the purchase of
equipment
Integrated
A product which involves and benefits both countries and which is
Tourism
helping the tourism development in the area
Product
Internal rate The discount rate at which a stream of costs and benefits has a net
of present value of zero. The internal rate of return is compared with
Return (IRR) a benchmark in order to evaluate the performance of the proposed
project
Investment
Capital cost incurred in the construction of the project
cost
Investment A project whose results involve the achievement of an objective by
project investing capital, which means that their main component is to
carry out a work, without excluding the procurement of services (as
consultancy or technical assistance) or goods (procurement of
necessary equipments for the respective objective) related to the
respective objective.
Joint The structure responsible for assisting the Programme management
Secretariat bodies in carrying out their duties. Cross Border Cooperation
Regional Office Calarasi for Romanian Bulgarian Border is hosting
the Joint Secretariat for Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme
Lead A Beneficiary designated by the beneficiaries involved in a project
Beneficiary responsible for coordinating the process of development,
submission and implementation of that specific project
Managing The structure responsible for managing the operational programme.
Authority The Romanian Ministry of Regional Development Public
Administration and European Funds is the Managing Authority for
Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme
National The counterpart of the Managing Authority in the partner state. The
Authority Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works is the
National Authority for Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme

National The legislation of the state on whose territory the beneficiary is
Legislation located
Natural Land, aquatic and/or underground area hosting savage fauna and
protected area flora species, bio-geographical, landscape, geological, pale-
ontological, speleological or other elements and systems with
outstanding ecological, scientific or cultural value, governed by
special preservation and protection rules in compliance with legal
provisions
Net Present
The sum that results when the expected costs of the investment are
Value
deducted from the discounted value of the expected benefits
(NPV)
Operating Cost incurred in the operation of an investment, including cost of
costs routine and extraordinary maintenance but excluding depreciation
or capital costs
Non-revenue Project that falls in one of the following categories:
generating (i) generating no revenues at all;
project (ii) generating revenues which are consistently lower than
operating costs during the whole reference period or
(iii) generating revenues, which may exceed operating costs in
the last years of the reference period but whose discounted
net revenues are negative over the reference period
Priority Axis A strategic priority within the operational programme, that
corresponds to a thematic objective and comprises one or more of
the investment priorities of that thematic objective in line with the
EU Regulations
Potential Any legal entity meeting the eligibility criteria for submitting an
applicant application to be financed by the programme
Potential Any applicant or potential applicant is a potential beneficiary until
beneficiary the decision for financing its project has been issued
Project An operation comprising a series of works, activities or services
intended in itself to accomplish an indivisible task of a precise
economic or technical nature, which has clearly identified goals,
expressed as the application form and its annexes.
Reference The number of years for which forecasts are provided in the cost
period benefit analysis
Residual value The net present value of assets at the final year of the reference
period selected for evaluation analysis
Revenue Any project involving an investment in infrastructure, the use of
generating which is subject to charges borne directly by users, and any project
project involving the sale or rent of land or buildings or the provision of
services against payment
Revenues Income to be expected from an investment through pricing or
charges
Soft project Project that does not include works or which does not grant more
than half of its total eligible budget to purchase of equipments
Secondary Secondary nodes are the branching or crossing points of the core
nodes and comprehensive networks, provided they represent cities (at
least of regional importance) and/or multimodal connections

Tertiary Tertiary nodes are urban areas (regional towns, towns, cities)
nodes providing jobs and public and private services (e.g. schools, health
or social care, employment services, banks) beyond their
administrative boundaries, and/or places of multimodal nodes
Glossary of Acronyms

AA Audit Authority
BG Republic of Bulgaria
Certifying Unit (the Managing Authority took the role of Certifying
CU
Authority)
CBC Cross-Border Cooperation
CBC RO Cross Border Cooperation Regional Office Calarasi for Romania-
Calarasi Bulgaria Border
CBA Cost Benefit Analysis
EC European Commission
ERDF European Regional Development Fund
EU European Union
GD Government Decision
ICT Information and Communication Technology
IRR Internal Rate of Return
IT Information Technology
MC Monitoring Committee
JS Joint Secretariat
MA Managing Authority
Ministry of Regional Development Public Administration and
MRDPAEF
European Funds
MRDPW Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works
MF Ministry of Finance (Bulgaria)
MPF Ministry of Public Finance (Romania)
Memorandum on Implementation - Arrangements between MS
MoI
participating in the Interreg V-A Romania Bulgaria Programme
MS Member States
NA National Authority
NGO Non-Governmental Organization
NUTS Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics
OP Operational Programme
PC Personal Computer
e-MS The Information System of the Programme
PSC Project Steering Committee
Programme Interreg V-A Romania – Bulgaria
R&D Research and Development
RTD Research and Technological Development

RO Romania
SMEs Small and Medium sized Enterprises
SWOT Strengths, Weakness, Opportunities, Threats
VAT Value Added Tax
Explanation of text-boxes
Across the following pages you will find a series of highlighted text. Highlights draw attention
on important issues, possible mistakes or offer practical advices.
Legal basis
In the elaboration of this guide the following legal provisions have been observed:
 Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria Programme;
 Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17
December 2013 on specific provisions for the support from the European Regional Development
Fund to the European territorial cooperation goal
 Commission Regulation (EU) No 1301/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 17 December 2013 on the European Regional Development Fund and on the specific provisions
concerning the Investment for growth and jobs goal and repealing Regulation (EC) No 1080/2006
 Regulation (EU) No 1303/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 17
December 2013 laying down common provisions on the European Regional Development Fund,
the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund, the European Agricultural Fund for Rural
Development and the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and laying down general provisions
on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund, the Cohesion Fund and
the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund and repealing Council Regulation (EC) No 1083/2006
 Implementing Acts
(http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/implementing/index_en.cfm)
 Delegated Acts
(http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/information/delegated/index_en.cfm)
 Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No 481/2014 of 4 March 2014 supplementing
Regulation (EU) No 1299/2013 of the European Parliament and of the Council with regard to
specific rules on eligibility of expenditure for cooperation programmes
 Directive 2014/24/EU Directive 2014/24/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council
of 26 February 2014 on public procurement.
 Other relevant national and European legislation (Annex L).
Please note that all this legal provisions must also be observed by the applicants during
both project elaboration and implementation phases.

I. GENERAL INFORMATION
This Applicant’s Guide aims to provide practical information for project applicants to
the Interreg V-A Romania - Bulgaria. It is the most practical level of documentation
needed for the successful submission of a project under this programme. This guide
provides information on how to fill in the application, budget and related forms, the
application procedure, the project selection criteria, the decision procedure and other
practical advices.
Please bear in mind that this call for proposals only concerns Priority Axis 1, 2 and
3.
I.1. Overview of Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria

The Programme is financed by the European Union through the European Regional
Development Fund and co-financed by Romania and Bulgaria through contributions from
state budget and from project beneficiaries.
The programming document drafted jointly by the two countries through a large
partnership with national, regional and local stakeholders was approved by the
European Commission on 12th of February 2015.
The Programme’s eligible area includes 7 counties from Romania (Mehedinti, Dolj, Olt,
Teleorman, Giurgiu, Calarasi, Constanta) and 8 districts from Republic of Bulgaria
(Vidin, Montana, Vratsa, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Ruse, Silistra, Dobrich).
The Programme and annexes are available on www.intrerregrobg.eu.
I.2. Programme Strategy

The programme was drafted starting from the status of current links between the two
countries at border level.
The core element of the programme strategy is to bring together the cross-border
communities as the first step towards sustainable cooperation and to promote their
common actions to overcome the physical and socio-cultural barriers, and to better
exploit the opportunities offered by the development of the cross-border area for a
mid-long-term sustainable growth.
The strategy of cooperation focuses on the problems and opportunities where the
border is an important factor and where cross-border action is a key requirement. It is
intended as a coherent and effective response to the needs, obstacles and weaknesses
identified in the area and intends to be the vehicle for its cross-border socio-economic
sustainable development.
The focus in 2014-2020 is on results, which are quantified by reaching the
Programme output and result indicators.
i. Programme Objectives and priority axes
The strategy, therefore, sets out to address the specific needs of the Bulgaria-Romania

border area both in the short and longer term and supports the overall strategic goal:
To bring together the people, communities and economies of the Romania-Bulgaria
border region to participate in the joint development of a cooperative area, using
its human, natural and environmental resources and advantages in a sustainable
way.
The overall aim of the programme, with the core elements of the strategy derived from
the SWOT analysis, together led to the formulation of the following specific objectives
of the Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria and the related priority axes, which must be
taken into account when preparing a project:
 Priority Axis 1: A well connected region
o Specific objective 1.1: Improve the planning, development and
coordination of cross border transport systems for better connections to
TEN-T transport network
o Specific objective 1.2: Increase transport safety on waterways and
maritime transport routes
 Priority Axis 2: A green region
o Specific objective 2.1: To improve the sustainable use of natural
heritage and resources and cultural heritage
o Specific objective 2.2: To enhance the sustainable management of the
ecosystems from the cross-border area
 Priority Axis 3: A safe region
o Specific objective 3.1: To improve joint risk management in the cross-
border area
 Priority Axis 4: A skilled and inclusive region
o Specific objective 4.1 To encourage the integration of the cross-border
area in terms of employment and labour mobility
 Priority Axis 5: An efficient region
o Specific objective 5.1: To increase cooperation capacity and the
efficiency of public institutions in a CBC context
 Priority Axis 6: Technical Assistance
The above specific objectives and priority axes focus on the establishment of a sound
basis for joint development of the eligible area.
For further details on programme strategy please refer to the programming
document and to the Project Implementation Manual.
Only the first five priority axes finance projects submitted by regular applicants
while the sixth one is dedicated to ensuring the proper functioning of the
programme implementation bodies.
I.3. Programme Implementation Structures

According to the EU Regulations on Structural Instruments, the two partner states in
the programme - Romania and Bulgaria - have established a number of bodies forming
the implementation and monitoring mechanism of the programme. The most relevant
bodies for the potential beneficiaries are:
Managing Authority (MA) – the Romanian Ministry of Regional Development and Public
Administration - is responsible for managing and implementing the operational
programme in accordance with EC Regulations and the principles of sound financial
management. The Managing Authority signs the ERDF subsidy contracts with the Lead
Beneficiaries as well as the co-financing contracts with the Romanian project partners
(for the co-financing granted from the Romanian state budget). The Managing Authority
took over the role of certifying the expenditures (role of Certifying Authority).
National Authority (NA) - the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public
Works – is the counterpart of the Managing Authority and will sign the co-financing
contracts with the Bulgarian project partners (for the co-financing granted from the
Bulgarian state budget).
Monitoring Committee (MC) is formed of representatives at national, regional and local
level from both countries, supervises the programme and selects the projects. All the
decisions relevant for the Programme implementation are taken by the Monitoring
Committee.
Joint Secretariat (JS) is based within the Cross Border Cooperation Regional Office
Calarasi for Romania-Bulgaria Border, situated in Calarasi (Romania), within the Cross
Border Cooperation Regional Office Calarasi for Romania-Bulgaria Border. It assists the
Managing Authority in carrying out their respective duties and is the main contact point
between the programme and the potential beneficiaries/project partners.
A JS Antenna (JSA) is a structure within the CBC RO Calarasi, organized as its branch,
located in Ruse, Bulgaria, that develops information and monitoring related activities,
having as main role to serve as local contact point for potential beneficiaries/project
partners (tasks related to information and monitoring).
For further details on programme implementation structure please refer to the
programming document.
I.4. Programme Financial Allocation
The total budget of the programme for the entire 7-year programming period is
258,504,126 Euro, of which 215,745,513 Euro is represented by EU contribution through
the European Regional Development Fund. The remaining 42,758,613 Euro are national
contributions from state budgets and project partners.
The breakdown of the total budget of the programme on priority axes and national
contributions approved by the European Commission as part of the programme is shown

in the table below:
Priority axes by source of funding (in euro)

Community National Total funding
Funding counterpart
ERDF (a)
(a) (b) (a)+(b)
Priority Axis 1 – A well
81,983,295 14,467,641 96,450,936
connected region
Priority Axis 2 – A green region 53,936,379 9,518,185 63,454,564
Priority Axis 3 – A safe region 40,991,647 7,233,821 48,225,468
Priority Axis 4 – A skilled and
15,102,186 2,665,093 17,767,279
inclusive region
Priority Axis 5 – An effective
10,787,276 1,903,637 12,690,913
region
Priority Axis 6 – Technical
12,944,730 6,970,236 19,914,966
Assistance
Total 215,745,513 42,758,613 258,504,126
*Includes the contributions from state budgets and local budgets from both countries
For further details on programme financial provisions please refer to the programming
document and to the Project Implementation Manual.
Please note that the programme financial allocation is not broken down by state or
NUTS III eligible region (county/district).
I.5. Programme Indicators targeted by the call

The focus in the 2014-2020 programming period is on the results.
The Programme results are measured by indicators. The performance framework is one
of the tools to achieve a result-orientation of the ESI Funds. The achievement of
milestones will be assessed by the European Commission in 2019 and in case of failure
it could lead to the suspension of payments. The achievements of final targets will be
assessed in 2025 and might form the basis of financial corrections.
Indicators measure whether the project has achieved its objectives or not. In this
respect, each project must contribute to the achieving of the programme indicators
(both output and result indicators). The choice of appropriate indicators and the way
your project contributes to the Programme results is important for the project and its
selection by the Monitoring Committee.
Below you will find a situation of Programme indicators targeted by the present calls
(outputs and results), namely the indicators which are not reached or overreached (in

principle) after selection of projects under the first call, as well as their current status.
Attention! The current call will finance only project proposals contributing to the
below indicators.
 Priority Axis 1 – A well connected region
Output indicators Programme Contribution of To be achieved

Target projects selected (by the present
under the first call call)
I1 - Total length of reconstructed or

120 km 79.940 km 40.06 km
upgraded roads
I2 - Number of joint mechanisms
(e.g. route guidance,
incidents/emergencies detection
and management, studies on traffic
flows, feasibility studies addressing
cross-border transport issues, 30 8 22
traffic safety measures, black-spot
maps, awareness raising activities);
to facilitate the connection of
secondary/tertiary nodes to TEN-T
infrastructure
I3 - Number of studies, strategies
and action plans to improve safety
5 1 4
of the navigation on the Danube and
the Black Sea supported
I4 - Total length of new or improved
20 km 8 km 12 km
inland waterway
81,983,295.00 50,389,343.26
I5 - Financial indicator 31,593,951.74 euro
euro euro
Result indicators Programme Contribution of To be achieved

I6- Cross border population served

by modernized infrastructure 623.860 5.054.216 Already achieved
leading to TEN-T
I7 - % of the RO-BG CBC Danube
length and Black Sea where safety of
23.71% 1,83% 21.88%
the navigation has been improved by
joint actions

 Priority Axis 2 – A green region

Target projects selected (by the
under the first call present call)
I9 - Number of integrated
tourism products/services 100 57 43
created
I10 - Number of common
strategies, policies or
management plans for
valorizing (including raising
50 27 23
awareness) the cultural and
natural heritage through its
restoration and promotion for
sustainable economic uses
53,936,379.00 29,294,376.71
euro euro
Result Indicator Baseline Target Status

Number of tourists overnights in the CBC 6.668.515 7.200.000 Already achieved
region
NATURA 2000 sites in the cross border area 2 10 Already achieved
with coordinated management tools
 Priority Axis 3 – A safe region

I16 - Population benefiting from

1,250,000.00 692,871.00 557,129.00
flood protection measures
I17 - Population benefiting from
1,250,000.00 540,006.00 709,994.00
forest fire protection measures
I18 - Number of joint
partnerships in the field of joint
50 9 41
early warning and emergency
response
40,991,647.00 13,405,126.36
euro euro

Result Programme Contribution of To be achieved (by the present

indicators Target projects selected call)
under the first call
Since this is a qualitative indicator,

a quantification of projects
contribution cannot be made at the
I20- The
present moment. Therefore surveys
quality of The satisfaction
12 projects will shall be used for identify the
the joint degree of the
provide satisfaction degree of the
risk stakeholders in
contribution to this stakeholders in the area. The
manageme the area 3 -
indicator. projects will mention how they will
nt in the satisfactory
contribute to the achievement of
CBC area
the indicator, but the measurement
will be performed by the
Programme bodies.
N.B. The indicators marked in red are concerning the performance framework. The
situation above is the one from the moment of launching the call (changes may
appear, e.g. terminated projects). When selecting projects, priority will be given to
projects targeting indicators in difficulty, since this is a targeted call.
I.6 Financial allocation for the call for proposals

The total amount allocated for this call for proposals for the three priority axes,
matched by national public and private funding is 109,516,289.80 Euro, broken
down as follows:
Priority Axis Community Funding National Total funding

counterpart*
ERDF (a)
(a) (b) (a)+(b)
PA1 50,389,343.26 8,892,237.05 59,281,580.31
PA2 29,294,376.71 5,169,595.89 34,463,972.60
PA3 13,405,126.36 2,365,610.53 15,770,736.89
Total 93,088,846.33 16,427,443.47 109,516,289.80
*Includes the contributions from state budgets and local budgets from both
countries
**May be revised by MA in case project selected under call 1 are not contracted
I.7. Cross border character

The projects must have direct CBC impact, which shall be understood in terms of
respecting at least joint development and joint implementation and, additionally,
one of the two: joint financing or joint staffing.
Additional points in the evaluation will be granted for respecting all four
cooperation criteria!
 Joint development – means that the project must be designed in common by
partners from both sides of the border. This means that project proposals should
integrate the stakeholders on both sides of the border. The Lead Beneficiary is
the coordinator of this process. The joint development shall be proved by each
partner submitting Partnership Declarations.
 Joint implementation – means that activities must be carried out and coordinated
among partners on both sides of the border. It is not enough that activities run in
parallel. There must be clear content-based links between what is happening on
either side of the border and regular contact between the two sides. The Lead
Beneficiary is responsible for ensuring that activities are properly coordinated,
that schedules are kept and that the right quality levels are achieved;
 Joint staffing – means that the project should not duplicate functions on either
side of the border. Therefore, regardless of where the person is located, there
should be one joint project manager, one joint financial manager etc., (of course
more staff may be required for larger projects). These staff will be responsible
for project activities on both sides of the border. The Lead Beneficiary is generally
the employer of core project staff;
 Joint financing – means that there will be only one contract per project and
therefore there must be one joint project budget. The budget should be divided
between partners according to the activities carried out. A project with 0 Euro or
very small financing from one side of the border cannot be considered as having
joint financing. There is also only one project bank account for the ERDF
contribution (held by the Lead Beneficiary) and payments representing EU support
are made from the programme to this account. The Lead Beneficiary is responsible
for administration and distribution of these funds and for reporting on their use.
Match-funding should come from both sides of the border and illustrates the
commitment by each partner to the joint project.
Applicable law
The projects must be in line with the relevant national and European legislation
(including that concerning equal opportunities, environmental protection and public
procurement). The project must observe the European legislation provisions on
information and publicity.
The project must include activities for information and publicity, according to the
European Commission Regulations and observing the Visual Identity Manual of the
Programme (published at www.interregrobg.com).
Programme/project financing
The ERDF will finance 85% of the eligible expenditure and the state budgets of the two
countries shall provide an additional 13% to public bodies and NGOs. 2% represents own
contribution of project partners. This means that every single cent financed from the
operation shall be reimbursed from these three sources, not that part of the
expenditures will be financed by ERDF and part from national cofinancing.
I.8. State Aid

Article 107(1) of the Treaty defines State aid1 as ‘any aid granted by a Member State
or through State resources in any form whatsoever which distorts or threatens to
distort competition by favouring certain undertakings or the production of certain
goods […], in so far as it affects trade between Member States’.
Considering the activities financed under the current call, activities for which the
beneficiaries do not act as economic operators and for which there are no
considerations to assume that the competition will be distorted, the projects shall not
be subject to state aid rules.
To this end, the following provisions shall be fulfilled by each project:
 All expenditure must be made according to the national laws on public
procurement of the country on whose territory the partner which organizes the
procedure is located. For Romanian NGOs a special procedure is applicable. The
procedure for the Romanian NGO may be changed unilaterally by the Managing
Authority. The procurement procedure (performed by either Romania/Bulgarian
partners) has to be open (to allow all interested and qualified bidders to
participate in the process), transparent, sufficiently well-publicized, non-
discriminatory and unconditional. When a tender procedure complies with these
principles, it can be presumed that the transactions are in line with normal
market conditions. For direct procurements the market price level is observed
(try to refer to any well-known suppliers available at national level - print screen
from websites are accepted and recommended).
 The project must not create an economic advantage to an economic
operator/undertaking. The undertakings are defined as entities engaged in an
economic activity, regardless of their status and the way in which are financed.
The classification of a particular entity as an undertaking thus depends entirely on
the nature of its activities. This general principle has three important
consequences:
 First, the status of the entity under national law is not decisive. For
example, an entity that is classified as an association or a sports club under
national law may nevertheless have to be regarded as an undertaking within the
meaning of Article 107(1) of the Treaty. The only relevant criterion in this respect
is whether it carries out an economic activity.
 Second, the application of the state aid rules as such does not depend
on whether the entity is set up to generate profits.
 Third, the classification of an entity as an undertaking is always relative
to a specific activity. An entity that carries out both economic and non-economic
activities is to be regarded as an undertaking only with regard to the former. Any
activity consisting in offering goods and services on a market is an economic
1
See also the Commission Notice on the notion of State aid as referred to in Article 107(1) of the Treaty
on the Functioning of the European Union (2016/C 262/01)
activity.
 A service that is reimbursed at market price is not conveying an advantage. - All
studies or other results of the non-investment research and development projects
shall be made available for free to all interested individual or legal persons, in a
non-discriminatory way.
In the field of research&development&innovation activities, the following
activities are generally of a non-economic character:
a) primary activities of research organisations and research infrastructures,
in particular:
 education for more and better skilled human resources. Public
education organised within the national educational system,
predominantly or entirely funded by the State and supervised by the
State is considered as a non-economic activity
 independent R&D for more knowledge and better understanding,
including collaborative R&D where the research organisation or research
infrastructure engages in effective collaboration2
 wide dissemination of research results on a non-exclusive and non-
discriminatory basis, for example through teaching, open-access
databases, open publications or open software.
b) knowledge transfer activities, where they are conducted either by the
research organisation or research infrastructure (including their departments
or subsidiaries) or jointly with, or on behalf of other such entities, and where
all profits from those activities are reinvested in the primary activities of the
research organisation or research infrastructure. The non-economic nature of
those activities is not prejudiced by contracting the provision of corresponding
services to third parties by way of open tenders.
Where a research organisation or research infrastructure is used for both
economic and non-economic activities, public funding falls under state aid
rules only insofar as it covers costs linked to the economic activities. Where
the research organisation or research infrastructure is used almost exclusively
for a non-economic activity, its funding may fall outside state aid rules in its
entirety, provided that the economic use remains purely ancillary, that is to
say corresponds to an activity which is directly related to and necessary for
the operation of the research organisation or research infrastructure or
intrinsically linked to its main non-economic use, and which is limited in scope.
This should be considered to be the case where the economic activities
consume exactly the same inputs (such as material, equipment, labour and
fixed capital) as the non-economic activities and the capacity allocated each
year to such economic activities does not exceed 20 % of the relevant entity’s
overall annual capacity. Making the project results available only for certain
individual or legal persons is strictly forbidden! Also, the project results should
not create an economic advantage to a certain undertaking/activity/the
production of certain goods.
2 Provision of R&D services and R&D carried out on behalf of undertakings are not considered as
independent R&D

Special provisions regarding state aid are included in section II.2.ii of the Guide
dedicated to the eligibility of actions under a priority axis.
However, if State support is granted to an activity which has a purely local impact,
there may not be an effect on intra-EU trade, e.g. where the beneficiary supplies goods
or services to a limited area within a Member State and is unlikely to attract customers
from other Member States. Moreover, the measure should have no-or most marginal-
foreseeable effects on cross-border investments in the sector or the establishment of
firms within the EU’s Single Market.
I.9. Revenue Generating Projects

Revenue generating projects shall be financed under the present call for proposals. A
revenue-generating project means:
 any project involving an investment in infrastructure the use of which is subject
to charges borne directly by users or
 any project involving:
o the sale or rent of land or buildings or
o any other provision of services against payment.
Eligible expenditure on revenue-generating projects shall not exceed the current value
of the investment cost less the current value of the net revenue from the investment
over a specific reference period for:
(a) investments in infrastructure; or
(b) other projects where it is possible to objectively estimate the revenues in advance.
Where not all the investment cost is eligible for co-financing, the net revenue shall be
allocated pro rata to the eligible and non-eligible parts of the investment cost. The
potential net revenue generated by the project shall be determined in advance by
calculating the discounted net revenue of the project, according to Article 61(3)b of
Regulation 1303/2014. Applicants shall respect the provisions of Section III of
Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) No. 480/2014 when calculating the discounted
net revenue of operations generating net revenue.
The net revenue generated during implementation of the project, resulting from
sources of revenue not taken into account in determining the potential net revenue of
the project, shall be deducted from the eligible expenditure of the project, no later
than in the final payment claim submitted by the beneficiary.
Where it is objectively not possible to determine the revenue in advance, the net
revenue generated within three years of the completion of a project, or by the deadline
for the submission of documents for programme closure, whichever is earlier, shall be
refunded to the MA and/or to NA according to the ERDF and national state budget
contributions.
The implementation of the provisions mentioned above is done by the following
measures:

- In the preparation phase, in the application form, the applicants shall mention
if their project is revenue generating3. The project’s generated net revenues
are deducted from the investment cost, thus establishing the eligible costs of
the project.
The project’s budget included in the application form shall not include the net
revenue. Net revenue shall be mentioned however, in the application form. In case
the beneficiary estimates that no net revenue is produced by its project, then the
project will be declared as non revenue generating. However, if any revenue is
generated, the Cost-Benefit Analysis, proving that there are no net revenues has to
be submitted!
- In the implementation phase, a monitoring of the generated revenues shall be
done throughout the implementation period of the project or for the next 3
years following the completion of the project.
II. RULES OF THE CALL FOR PROPOSALS
II.1. Type of call for proposals
The present call for proposals will be a two-step process. The first phase will consist
in submittal and selection of Expressions of Interest. Only the pre-selected ideas
will be able to move forward to the second phase.
The deadline for submitting the Expressions of Interest is 15th of May 2017, 16:00
o’clock (via the E-MS ).
The deadline for submitting the Full Application forms is 16th of October 2017,
16:00.
In case, after appeals, EOI(s) change status from rejected to selected for step
2, the same timeframe for preparing the full application form will be granted
(53 working days starting with the day of the Monitoring Committee Decision).
The MC decision changing the status from rejected to selected for step 2 will
also mention the exact deadline.
In case of E-MS failure the MA has the obligation to take the necessary measures by
issuing instructions on how the applications will be received and how
acknowledgement of receipt will be issued.
3
According to the EC interpretation (please see the EC documents related to the revenue-generation
projects) corroborated with the EIB interpretation (http://www.eib.org/epec/resources/blending-
ue-structural-investment-fund-ppp): Project revenues comprise cash inflows from private users (i.e.
not including availability payments made by the procuring authority) for the use of the service (or
part of the service) provided by the project, as well as any cash from the sale or rent of buildings.
Therefore, it has to be determined and justified by the beneficiaries in the Application Form whether
the project has positive or negative net revenue.
If a project’s revenue is less than its operating costs (i.e. negative net revenue), the project is no longer
considered a revenue-generating project (independent of whether or not the infrastructure asset has
a positive residual value).

Please have in mind that during the call, we strongly recommend you to send your
questions regarding the rules of this call up to 2 days before the deadline. Any other
question received in this interval may not receive answer in due time (considering
the necessary time for analyzing, drafting replies, consulting within Programme
structures, no. of questions).
The e-mail addresses where you may send your questions are:
helpdesk_robg@calarasicbc.ro, robg@mdrap.ro, NA-RO-BG@mrrb.government.bg
The present call for proposals has the goal of establishing solid partnerships in the
eligible area by financing both “soft” projects (as studies, strategies, seminars, know-
how exchanges) and “hard” projects (projects with works components or involving
investments with a concrete impact to the cross-border area or which grants more than
half of its total eligible budget to purchase of equipment).
All investment projects must observe the relevant national provisions regarding the
elaboration, financing and approving (see Annex L - Relevant national and EU
legislation).
II. 1. 1. Phase 1: Expressions of interest selection

In phase 1 the beneficiaries should submit their expression of interest filling the
relevant sections from the AF, together with Annexes EOI 1-6. In case more than three
annexes are completely missing, the Expression of Interest will be rejected.
The expressions of interest are submitted by the Lead Beneficiaries via e-MS (Please
consult Annex M – E-MS Manual for Applicants – call 3) and should state the following
main points:
1. Project Summary and indicative budget
2. Partnership. Who are your partners? (can be modified in phase two only in case
of unforeseen events and with duly justification)
3. Project relevance and cross-border character
4. Project focus – expected results and main outputs. To which of the Programme
indicators are you contributing to (including quantification, where appropriate)?
The maximum number of beneficiaries in a project will be five (5), including the
Lead Beneficiary!
Please make sure you correlate the budget of your project with the contribution
you bring to the Programme indicators listed in the table in section I.5 above (for
this, please consult the available financial allocation).
The expressions of interest are to be submitted within the deadline only via the E-MS
system at www.ems-robg.mdrap.ro!
In order to upload the expression of interest the Lead Beneficiary must create a
user account. We highly recommend you to create the user and password at least a
week before the deadline in order to avoid any difficulties.
The deadline is: 15th of May 2017 (16:00 o’clock)
For phase 2 the same user which submitted the expression of interest should submit
the full application form.
The deadline is: 16th of October (16:00 o’clock)
The system is allowing uploading expressions of interest/full application forms

within the abovementioned deadline, you will not be able to upload it afterwards,
therefore we strongly encourage you not to wait until the last day to upload your
expression of interest/full application form.
The expression of interest and eligibility of applicants will be assessed during phase 1
according to the criteria in Annex B.
Expressions of interest are selected by the MC for the second phase (this does not
guarantee financing or final selection in phase two).
II. 2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

In order to be eligible for funding under the programme, a project should meet three
criteria: the eligibility of applicants, activities and expenditure.
i. Eligibility of Applicants
The applicants have to comply with a set of requirements related to their:

- legal status,
- geographical location,
- professional and financial background.
(1) The applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

 Be Romanian or Bulgarian non-profit making bodies/organizations (that were not
established with the goal to obtain profit), legally established according to the
national legislation of the state on whose territory they are located;
 Be non-governmental organizations (associations or foundations), public sector
operators, local/regional/national authorities which fulfill one of the following

criteria:
have their headquarters in the eligible cross border region or;

are organizations whose headquarters are not situated in the eligible area, but
are located in Romania or Bulgaria and have local/regional branch offices with legal
statute (legal entity) established in the eligible area.
are Romanian or Bulgarian national public authorities whose area of competence,
established by legal acts, extends to the eligible area of the programme.
If the applicant has its headquarters outside the eligible area but the legal possibility
to open a local/regional branch office with legal personality exists, than this branch
should apply for financing without any budgetary restrictions. In case the above
applicants do not have the option of opening and applying with an local/regional
branch office with legal personality they may participate in project provided that the
project budget limitation of 20% for partners outside the programme eligible area is
respected.
In case the applicant is a Romanian or Bulgarian national public authority whose area
of competence, established by legal acts, extends to the eligible area of the
programme, than the applicant may apply without any budgetary restriction.
The applicants, located in Romania and Bulgaria, but whose headquarters are not
situated in the eligible area and cannot legally open a local/regional branch office
with legal personality in the eligible area and whose area of competence does not
extend to the eligible area may participate in projects provided that the project
budget limitation of 20% for partners outside the programme eligible area is respected
. In this case the applicant should be the mother organization.
 Be directly responsible for the preparation and management of the action together
with their partners, not acting as an intermediary (e.g. one of the partner has a single
task, for example some communication activities, and plans to externalize entirely
that activity, thus its role in the project is purely formal, the respective partner, in
this case, would act as an intermediary);
 Appoint, for each project, a lead beneficiary among the project partners. The tasks
of the Lead Beneficiary are provided in the framework subsidy contract (Annex H) and
in the model partnership agreement (Annex J);
Have at least one partner on the other side of the border, which must fulfill the same
eligibility criteria. Applicants without any partners from the other side of the border
will not be eligible (with the exception of sole beneficiaries, as defined art. 12 of
Regulation 1299/2013);
The maximum number of beneficiaries in a project will be five (5), including the Lead
Beneficiary! Partnerships having at least 2 of project beneficiaries with previous average
weighted financial execution rates (also taking into consideration the last approved value
of their budgets) of less than 50% for projects financed under Romania-Bulgaria CBC
Programme 2007-2013 will not be accepted for financing!
 Have stable and sufficient financing sources to ensure the continuity of the operation
of their organization throughout the project and, if necessary, to contribute to its

financing;
 Be able to demonstrate their capacity to manage their share of activities in the
project for which the subsidy is requested;
 Be the body/institution entitled to take action in the field/fields addressed by the
project;
 Have not benefited of financing support from public funds in the past 5 years before
the deadline for submitting the applications under this call for proposals for the same
project in terms of objectives, activities and results (for infrastructure projects, this
provision refers to the same infrastructure/segment of infrastructure).
Political parties are not eligible.
(2) Exclusion criteria
All applicants (Lead beneficiaries and Project Beneficiaries) shall prove their
professional and financial liability by not falling under any of the cases presented
below.
Potential applicants are not allowed to participate in calls for proposals if:
(a) they are bankrupt or being wound up, they have their affairs administered by the
courts, they have entered into an arrangement with creditors, they have suspended
business activities, they are the subject of proceedings concerning those matters or
they are in any analogous situation, arising from a similar procedure provided for in
the national legislation or EU regulations;
(b) the legal representative has been convicted of an offence concerning professional
conduct by a judgment which has the force of res judicata (i.e., against which no
appeal is possible);
(c) the legal representative is guilty of serious professional misconduct proven by any
means;
(d) they have not fulfilled obligations related to the payment of debts to the central or
local budget;
(e) the legal representative has been the subject of a judgment which has the force of
res judicata for fraud, corruption, involvement in a criminal organization or any
other illegal activity detrimental to the Communities or national financial interests;
(f) they have been declared to be in serious breach of contract for failure to comply
with their contractual obligations in connection with a procurement procedure or
other grant award procedure financed by the Community or national budget.
Applicants are also excluded from participation in calls for proposals or the award of
financial support if, at the time of the call for proposals, they:
(g) are subject to a conflict of interests; the conflict of interests represents any
circumstances that may affect the evaluation or implementation process, in an
objective and impartial manner. Such circumstances may result from economic
interests, political or national preferences or family connections.
(h) are guilty of misrepresentation in supplying the information required by the
Managing Authority/ Joint Secretariat as a condition of participation in the call for
proposals or fail to supply this information;
(i) have attempted to obtain confidential information or influence the evaluation

bodies during the evaluation process of current or previous calls for proposals under
the Programme;
In the cases referred to in points (a), (c), (d), (f), (h) and (i) above, the exclusion applies
for a period of two years from the time when the infringement is established. In the
cases referred to in points (b) and (e), the exclusion applies for a period of four years
from the date of notification of the judgment.
In the signed “Declaration of eligibility” , applicants must declare that they do not fall
into any of the above categories (a) to (i).
The applicants must state their financial and administrative capacity to manage
their share of the project, namely:
a) have the capacity to ensure their own contribution and the financing for non-
eligible expenditures of the project; they must also have the capacity to ensure
the temporary availability of funds until they are reimbursed by the programme.
The own contribution represents the share of the total eligible expenditure
that will be supported by the beneficiaries of the project;
The value of the own contribution of the applicant, the list of eligible expenditures and
the list of Ceilings for expenditure (Annex D to the present Guide, the prices are
calculated without VAT) must be followed when completing the budget of the project
in the Application Form. In case equipment is not on the list or beneficiary duly justifies
enhanced/superior technical specifications for an item, 3 offers or an independent
evaluation of the cost will be provided. Independent evaluations are to be provided
only in case of special items, where 3 offers cannot be provided. They are provided by
an expert, a person that has the know-how on that particular item. The applicant should
prove the absolute necessity of purchasing of equipment with enhanced/superior
parameters and to demonstrate how it will contribute to the implementation of project
activities and achievement of programme indicators. In case the service which is going
to be purchased is not following the list of ceilings, the proposal to exceed the ceiling
will be analyzed, when a proper and clear justification is provided, as well as the
related supporting documents (including 3 offers or an independent evaluation of the
cost). The proposal will be analyzed and will be subject to acceptance / rejection from
the evaluators.
In case you do not submit the 3 offers to the evaluators (clarifications included, if
applicable), nor an independent evaluation, if the case, nor observe Annex D, then
the following consequences exist:
-for services: the entire amount for the service concerned will be deducted from
the budget
-for equipment: the evaluators will amend the budget with the price they consider
reasonable, according to their professional judgment.
Any non-eligible expenditure and any additional expenditure that may appear in the
implementation period of the project shall be covered by the applicants.
All applicants shall annex to the Expression of Interest the Declaration of Commitment
regarding the coverage of expenditures related to the project.
According to the Declaration of Commitment, the applicants shall:
- provide their own contribution to the eligible expenditure and ensure the
temporary availability of funds necessary to run the project until their
expenditures will be reimbursed;
- cover all non-eligible expenditures corresponding to their activities incurred
during project implementation;
- ensure that the representatives in the project management team are available
throughout the entire project implementation period;
- ensure the availability of all other resources planned to be used for implementing
the project.
The Managing Authority or the Joint Secretariat may demand at any time additional
documentary evidence and argumentations regarding financial capacity.
Examples of potential applicants for all three Priority axes (list is indicative, not
exhaustive):
 Counties/ District Administrations;
 Bodies governed by public law;
 Cities/Communes/Municipalities;
 Associations of local public authorities;
 Chambers of Commerce/ SMEs associations;
 Educational and research institutions (schools, universities etc.);
 Ministries and their local/regional departments/bodies;
 NGOs acting in the fields addressed by the present call
 EGTCs.
Given the provisions of the General Regulation concerning the durability of

operations, the duration of an entity acting as beneficiary under this programme,
according to its legal establishing documents, should be at least 5 years from the
final payment to the beneficiary.
All State Aid provisions must be observed! (see I.8 and sections dedicated to the
eligibility of actions –II.2.ii)
ii. Eligibility of Actions
The project must be in line with the specific objective of the priority axis for which the
Lead Beneficiary applies.
The activities have to be implemented in the Programme eligible area. However, in
case a project has to be implemented partially outside the eligible area, it has to
prove that it is for the benefit of the programme area. The share of the costs
incurred outside of the eligible area (related to any activity or any category of
expenditure) shall be limited to 20% of the total eligible project budget,
irrespective of the location of the partner.
In order to avoid the risk of double financing the activities proposed must not be
financed by EU funded programmes or projects in Romania and Bulgaria. All State

Aid provisions must be observed for any type of action! (see I.8)
Please pay special attention to the types of actions marked with a * or **, which
were identified as being most susceptible to be subject of state aid provisions!
Soft projects: project which does not have an infrastructure/works component or
which does not grant more than half of its total eligible budget to purchase of
equipment
Hard projects: project which has an infrastructure/works component or which
grants more than half of its total eligible budget for the purchase of equipment
The feasibility studies or the equivalent technical documents shall be
prepared/updated with maximum 3 years before the application form submission
date.
The types of indicative actions financed under each Priority axis and Investment
Priority, as well as projects duration and budget limits are described below:
Priority Axis 1 – A well connected region:

Specific Objective 1.1 Improve the planning, development and coordination of
cross-border transport systems for better connections to TEN-T transport
networks
State aid: the funding of infrastructure that is not meant to be commercially exploited
is in principle excluded from the application of the State aid rules. This concerns, for
instance, infrastructure that is used for activities that the State normally performs in
the exercise of its public powers (for instance, military facilities, air traffic control in
airports, lighthouses and other equipment for the needs of general navigation
including on inland waterways, flood protection and low water management in the
public interest, police and customs) or that is not used for offering goods or services
on a market (for instance roads made available for free public use). Such activities are
not of an economic nature and consequently fall outside the scope of the State aid
rules, as does, accordingly, the public funding of the related infrastructure4.
State aid: for the actions marked with * the following conditions must also be
observed:
* the operation and administration of the infrastructure are tendered out/procured
in accordance with the EU and national legislation respecting the principle of open,
transparent, non-discriminatory and unconditional procurement
* the royalty, for the leased infrastructure, must be established in an objective
and transparent manner in order to ensure that does not confer an economic advantage,
4
According to Commission Notice on the notion of State aid, as referred to in Article 107(1)
of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (2016/C 262/01)

therefore the royalty must be proportional to the value of the leased infrastructure
Indicative operations
1. Developing cross-border/joint action-based solutions, management plans, strategies,
feasibility studies, environment impact assessments etc., related to works projects for
public infrastructure (waterways, roads etc.) in order to connect secondary and tertiary
nodes to TEN-T infrastructure and to reduce transportation time and optimising
logistics;
2. Developing co-ordinated concepts, standards and tools on the cross-border level for
improved mobility services in the public interest (e.g. for disadvantaged groups, for
shrinking regions);
3. Facilitating active cooperation among the providers of traffic and travel information
and value added services in order to improve the local public transport in the cross-
border area and the connection between twin cities (e.g., harmonisation of timetables,
provision of bilingual information on cross-border timetables, operating cross-border
transport public services especially between twin cities);
4. Improving the cross-border secondary and tertiary nodes connections to TEN-T

infrastructure (e.g., improve/build bicycle routes, bicycle-sheds, construction and
modernization of road infrastructure)*
5. Setting up of joint traffic management for smart mobility in the cross-border area
(e.g. route guidance, incidents/emergencies detection and management, studies on
traffic flows, traffic safety measures, black-spot maps)
Types of outputs
Within the indicative operations different types of outputs can be obtained. Types of
outputs (without being limited to this list) can thus be:
o Joint solutions and strategies in order to connect secondary and tertiary nodes
to TEN-T infrastructure and to reduce transportation time and improve public
mobility services;
o Investments for the construction/modernization of road infrastructure,
(including) to improve the cross-border secondary and tertiary nodes connections
to TEN-T infrastructure.
Project duration
For “soft” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 18 months from the
starting date of the project.
For “hard” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 36 months from the

Project budget
For “soft” projects, the total financial support from the programme for one project will
range between 150,000 Euro and 500,000 Euro.
For “hard” projects, the total financial support from the programme for one project
will range between 500,000 Euro and 8,000,000 Euro. In case a entire new road is
constructed, the budget could go up to 10,000,000 Euro.
Please make sure you correlate the budget to the contribution to indicators. The
maximum limit is envisaged only for projects ensuring a major contribution to an
indicator targeted by the call or for contribution to multiple indicators targeted by the
call.
Please note that only roads proving cross border impact and connecting secondary
or tertiary nodes to TEN-T infrastructure (core or comprehensive) will be financed!
A lot of projects were rejected in previous calls for not checking this condition.
Please make sure you are proposing for financing a road which observes the
abovementioned conditions!
Figure 1: Infrastructure map, including indicative secondary and tertiary nodes (indicative map)
Specific Objective 1.2 Increase transport safety on waterways and maritime

transport routes
observed:
*the beneficiaries may be only public bodies which have the right to declare a service
as a service of “general economic interest” and when applying for a project, the
service must be defined through a legal/administrative act as a “service of general
economic interest”;
•the infrastructure for implementing the project has to be the property of the public
body, only the administration and services may be entrusted to an economic operator
through a public tender procedure, and only under the condition that the economic
operator pays a proportional market royalty to deliver this service) and only in such
manner that the rent for the infrastructure administration and the royalty for service
operation paid by the economic operator are at the market price (e.g. if a ferry
crossing point is developed, the public authority must be the owner of the
infrastructure-port and ferryboat- and the service of transferring passengers may be
externalized to an economic operator, through a public tender procedure, and only
under the condition that the economic operator pays a market royalty to deliver this
service);
•the beneficiary has the obligation to stipulate in the contract that all renovation or
reparation works must be supported by the economic operator to who the contract
is awarded.
The existence of state aid is excluded where the State acts by exercising public power
or where authorities emanating from the State act in their capacity as public
authorities. Any entity may be deemed to act by exercising public powers where the
activity in question is a task that forms part of the essential functions of the State
or is connected with those functions by its nature, its aim and the rules to which it
is subject. Generally speaking, unless the Member State concerned has decided to
introduce market mechanisms, activities that intrinsically form part of the
prerogatives of official authority and are performed by the State do not constitute
economic activities. Examples are activities related to: the army or the police; air
navigation safety and control; maritime traffic control and safety; anti-pollution
surveillance and the organisation, financing and enforcement of prison sentences.
Indicative operations
1. Exchanging experience: joint seminars, study visits, surveys and trainings leading to
implementation of new methods in order to maintain the navigability of the
Danube/Black Sea during winter as well.
2. Investing (infrastructure and equipment) in improved freight and passenger on river

and sea transport on cross-border level*;
3. Developing integrated plans and measures in order to improve the navigation

conditions for the common sector of the Danube and the Black Sea in the cross-border
area (e.g., joint feasibility studies, engineering planning documents, morphological and
hydrodynamic studies in establishing the sediment accumulation conditions etc. on river
regulation works, unify the reference system used in Romania and Bulgaria on the
Danube and introduce the River Information system, elaboration of maritime spatial

plans (MSP) for the Black Sea);
4. Developing and implementing joint co-ordinated strategies, tools and pilot

applications to improve the development of multimodal nodes and port services;
Types of outputs
o Integrated plans and measures in order to improve the navigation conditions;
o Joint co-ordinated strategies, tools and pilot applications;
o Investments to improve freight and passenger river and sea transport.
Project duration
o For “soft” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 18 months from
the starting date of the project.
o For “hard” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 36 months from
Project budget
will range between 500,000 Euro and 6,000,000 Euro.
Priority axis 2 - A green region
State aid: Please note that the costs for participation of undertakings in fairs are not
eligible.
observed:
* The infrastructure is not designated to selectively favor a specific undertaking or
sector but provides benefits for society at large;
* Should not confer an indirect advantage (should not channel its secondary effects
towards identifiable undertakings or group of undertakings);
* Wide dissemination of common tourism products and services on a non-exclusive and
non-discriminatory basis. The tourism products/cultural events must not grant an
advantage in a selective way to certain undertakings or categories of undertakings,
therefore their must not contain any reference to a particular tour operator /some tour
operators
Specific Objective 2.1 To improve the sustainable use of natural heritage and
resources and cultural heritage
1.Preparing joint studies, strategies, management plans etc. in the field of common
preservation, development and utilisation of cultural/natural heritage
2. Raising awareness regarding the protection, promotion and development of natural
and cultural heritage
3. Preserving, promoting and developing the intangible cultural heritage, mainly
through cultural events with a cross-border dimension*
4. Supporting the promotion and utilisation of cultural/natural heritage potential by
investments in joint and sustainable touristic infrastructure
5. Modernizing/constructing roads to natural and cultural heritage interest points that
will be part of a cross-border tourism product
6. Reconstructing cultural infrastructure: recovery and promotion of cultural
monuments based on relevant cross-border strategies/concepts
7. Developing common tourism products and services based on the natural and cultural
heritage and joint promotion*
8. Developing coordinated management of natural parks, nature reserves and other
protected areas
Types of outputs
outputs (without being limited to this list) can be:
o Joint studies, strategies, management plans to preserve, develop and promote
cultural/natural heritage;
o Common tourism products and services based on the sustainable joint utilization
of the cultural/natural heritage;
o Investments in joint and sustainable touristic infrastructure and cultural
monuments to develop cultural/natural heritage.
Project duration
o For “soft” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 18 months from
o For “hard” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 36 months from
Project budget
o For “soft” projects, the total financial support from the programme for one
project will range between 150,000 Euro and 500,000 Euro.
o For “hard” projects, the total financial support from the programme for one
project will range between 300,000 Euro and 1,500,000 Euro.

Priority Axis 3 – A safe region
Specific Objective 3.1 To improve joint risk management in the cross-border area
Indicative operations:
1. Increasing co-ordination and efficient reactions of the authorities in the emergency

situations caused by natural disasters (flood, fire, heat waves, earthquakes, storms),
as well as setting up common rules/legislation on deforesting and construction in the
areas affected by natural and anthropic hazards
2. Setting-up and integrating harmonized standards and systems for better forecasting
and managing natural and anthropic hazards in the CBC area (flood, earthquake, fire,
storms), including preparing/updating hazard maps and ecosystem-based solutions(for
floodplains, wetland preservation, forest management)
3. Setting up of harmonised integrated tools for risk prevention and mitigation
(including detection, early warning and alert systems, risk mapping and assessment) -
creation of joint structures for urgent, unexpected situations (including highly
specialized response units/civil protection modules), and development of small-scale
regional level cross-border infrastructure in the field of emergency preparedness (e.g.
transport accidents, disasters, etc.), including in cases of weather-related risks (such
as storms, extreme temperature events, forest fires, droughts, floods) and geophysical
risks (such as landslides, earthquakes).
4. Elaborating of joint detailed maps and data bases indicating natural and
technological risks, and land use for regional planning authorities, environmental
agencies and emergency services;
5. Exchanging experience and knowledge, including raising awareness in the field of
efficient risk prevention and management in the cross-border area (including training
and learning programmes, community-based training initiatives, bilingual maps,
information sheets, brochures about natural and anthropic hazards) targeted at specific
target groups (children/youth, development planners, emergency managers, local
government officials etc.)
6. Land improving for regions with high and medium hazard risk level, preferably by
nature-based ecosystem solutions (including: sanitation and reforestation of river
banks, building green infrastructure flood and coastal defences, building flood and
coastal defence (dikes, reservoirs), forestation/reforestation of non-permanent
vulnerable land to torrential formations, reducing desertification tendencies and high
drought risks, replanting floodplain forests) rainwater harvesting, reforestation)
7. Supporting and promoting cross-border investments into the green infrastructure
that helps reduce the risk and mitigate disasters (like systems for rainwater harvesting,
reforestation)
8. Measuring/monitoring environmental parameters that are important for early
warning and effective mitigation measures (e.g. emission levels, water purity, analysis
of soil and water samples etc.), through the purchasing of common equipment and joint
assessment of results.
Types of outputs
o Common strategies for hazard management and risk prevention including joint
action plans;
o Joint partnerships created in the field of joint early warning and emergency
response;
o Action plans for disaster resilience and mitigation;
o Integrated and common standards for the urban planning and risk management
o Equipment in the field of environmental parameters monitoring, equipment in
the field of hazard management and disaster resilience;
o Awareness raising campaigns for the cross-border population on the hazards and
risk and on the measures for their mitigation, management, reduction;
o Exchanges of experiences.
o
Project duration
For “soft” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 18 months from the
For “hard” projects, the duration of a project should not exceed 36 months from the
Project budget
will range between 200,000 Euro and 1,000,000 Euro.
Please make sure you correlate the budget to the contribution to indicators. The
maximum limit is envisaged only for projects ensuring a major contribution to an
indicator targeted by the call or for contribution to multiple indicators targeted by the
call.
iii. Eligibility of Expenditure
There is one single list of eligible expenditures at Programme level (please consult
Annex E)
Only “eligible costs” can receive financial support. The categories of eligible
expenditures are detailed in Annex E. The beneficiaries shall also respect the following
conditions for eligibility of expenditure during preparation and implementation of the
project.
Conditions for eligible costs

 is necessary for initiating and carrying out the project and must comply with the
principles of sound financial management, in particular value for money and cost-
effectiveness.
 it does not exceed the ceiling set in the present Guide (Annex D). Please note that
the prices in the annex exclude the VAT, so in case your organization does not
recover the VAT you can add it in the prices budgeted for the project. In case one
item is not found in Annex D, the projects must submit evidence about the market
price of that particular item (either 3 offers from operators well-known on the
market – print-screens from websites of such operators are accepted, prints from
national systems on public procurements are accepted - or an independent
evaluation of the cost of that particular item). In case of 3 offers, the budgeted
prices must not exceed the average value of the 3 offers (calculated at the
Inforeuro exchange rate from the month of the deadline for the second step). In
case equipment is not on the list or beneficiary duly justifies enhanced/superior
technical specifications for an item, 3 offers or an independent evaluation of the
cost will be provided. The applicant should prove the absolute necessity of
purchasing of equipment with enhanced/superior parameters and to demonstrate
how it will contribute to the implementation of project activities and achievement
of programme indicators. In case the service which is going to be purchased is not
following the list of ceilings, the proposal to exceed the ceiling will be analyzed,
provided a proper and clear justification is provided, as well as the related
supporting documents (including 3 offers or an independent evaluation of the cost).
The proposal will be analyzed and will be subject to acceptance / rejection from
the evaluators. Annex D values will be periodically updated and during the
implementation period of the projects, the beneficiaries may use the updated
version, provided the total budget per category of expenditure is not exceeded.
 is in line with the provisions of the subsidy contract, co-financing contracts /

national and European legislation;
 the costs are definitively borne by the partner and would not have arisen without
the project.
 Is paid out by the beneficiary the latest in 2 months after the project
implementation period, but no later than 31.12.2023 (but please note the
expenditures committed after the implementation period are not eligible, the
commitment for the expenditure must be made at the latest before the finalization
of the implementation period).
 the expenditure has actually been paid out. Expenditure is considered to be paid
when the amount is debited from the partner institution bank account. The date
when the invoice was issued, recorded or booked in the accounting system does not
count as a payment date.
 is recorded in the beneficiaries’ accounts and tax documents, is identifiable and

verifiable, and is backed up by supporting documents;
 is verified and validated as eligible by the first level controllers;
 has not been subject to financing from other public funds;

Preparation costs are eligible if they are incurred between 01.01.2014 and application
form submission date.
Preparation costs have to be requested for reimbursement at the first reimbursement

claim. Therefore, they have to be paid before requesting the first level control (for the
first reimbursement claim).
Preparation costs include: travel and accommodation costs related to meetings

between project beneficiaries, external expertise and services, feasibility study or
equivalent technical document, Cost Benefit Analysis, studies and costs for
documentation necessary to obtain the necessary endorsements and authorizations,
documentation concerning the urban planning plan, impact assessments, location
studies/appraisals, including their technical verification and shall be reimbursed as real
costs (support documents will be necessary).
Preparation costs are eligible in a 10% limit applied to the direct costs (Budget lines:
Travel and accommodation, External expertise and services, Equipment, Infrastructure
and works).
Implementation expenditures are eligible from the first day after approval of the
project by the Monitoring Committee on the phase two.
The Programme decided to use simplified costs – flat rate on staff and office and
administrative costs. For details please consult both Annex E List of Eligible
Expenditures and Annex F Simplified costs).
Using this simplified cost option means that no justification, no supporting
documents will be requested by any Programme bodies for staff costs and office and
administrative costs.
All national legislation should be observed, regardless of using or not simplified
costs.
II.3. How to apply for funding

Expressions of Interest (corresponding to Step 1) and full Application Form
(corresponding to Step 2) will be submitted online, through the programme
electronic monitoring system, e-MS.
For details regarding how to use the electronic monitoring system e-MS and how to
apply for funding for both Step 1 and Step 2 of the call, please consult the E-MS
Manual for Applicants for call 3 in Annex M to the present Applicant Guide.
A general overview of sections that are to be filled-in in each step is presented in the
table below:

Application Form Application Form Sub-section Step 1 Step 2

Section
A. Project Summary Project identification X
Project summary X
B. Partner (for each Lead partner (partner) X

partner separatly)
Address X
Legal and financial information X

Only in
Legal representative X case of
unforeseen
Contact person X events and
with duly
Object of activity of the partner X justificatio
n
Relevance of the beneficiary for the
X
field address by the project
Previous EU financing experience of the

X
beneficiary
C. Project Problems to be tackled X

Description
How does the project tackle the
identified common challenges and/or
X
opportunities and what is new about
Project Relevance
the approach the project takes? Only if

necessary
Why is cross-border cooperation needed
to achieve the project’s objectives and X
result?
Cooperation Criteria X
Project contribution to the specific

X
objective of programme
Programme result indicator your Only if

X
project will contribute to necessary
Link with the relevant programme

X
Project focus
result indicator
Exit/continuation Strategy X
Non-eligible expenditure X

Synergies with past or current EU and

X
other projects or initiatives
Project context
Contribution to wider
X
strategies/policies
Financing History X
Revenue generation X
Horizontal
principles
Types and justification X

Programme
Result indicators the project is

Only if
Indicators
contributing to and brief explanation X

necessary
Result
specifying the expected contribution
D. Workplan Workplan per work packages

- Project Preparation
- Project Management X
- Communication
- Implementation
- Investment (optional)
Target groups X
Define implementation periods X
E. Project Budget Partner Budget – for each partner

separatly (Define budget + Define X
Contribution)
Activities location and activities outside X
Define (reporting) periods X
F. Project Budget Automatic

Overview generation
G. Attachments X X
Please note that the section D – Step 2 Application Form of the E-MS Manual for
applicants is only indicative during Step 1 of the call – the final provisions on how to fill
in the full Application Form for Step 2 will be published together with the
announcement for the deadline for Step 2 of the call!
The fields to be filled-in for the expression of interest are fields that will be part of the
application form in case the expression of interest is selected by the Monitoring
Committee for step 2 (the e-MS will link the expression of interest fields with the
application form).
Only applicants accepted by the Monitoring Committee for phase 2 of the call, will be
able to fill-in and submit a full application form in the e-MS system.
Make sure you fill in correctly and completely, the application form and its annexes and
upload all related documents in e-MS. The annexes are part of the Application Form.
Annexes must be submitted (scan version) using the standard templates included in the
Applicant’s Guide (pay particular attention not to change the standard version).
Where the format of the annexes requires, they should be signed and stamped 5 by the
legal representative of the lead beneficiary or of the beneficiary to which the annex
refers (in case of annexes which should be annexed for each beneficiary) or by an
empowered person (a letter of empowerment will be attached) wherever this is
requested by the standard templates.
You can watch at the link below tutorials on how to fill in the Application Form. Please
note that not all the fields were used in our application form, so some extra fields may
appear in the tutorial.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLvYGVfGv4leEn2QC4ztZAFAwlCQztWGyY.
Please note that the Programme is using simplified costs for staff costs and
administrative costs.
All documents should be valid at the date of submission!
Advance payments of the national co-financing (13%) will be granted in a percentage

established by each Members State, as follows: from national cofinancing estimated
at 60% for the Romanian beneficiaries (cofinancing contracts will state the exact
percent) and 80% for the Bulgarian beneficiaries according to the exact percentage
stated in the signed cofinancing contract. The final payment of the national co-
financing will be up to 40% (Romanian beneficiaries) / 20 % (Bulgarian beneficiaries)
depending on the total amount absorbed under the project. The information will be
inserted in the co-financing contracts (and also published on Programme website
and Facebook page of the Programme, this information is presented here to allow
you to perform a better planning of your budget).
i. How to fill in Annexes
The Annexes to the Expression of Interests / Application Form are to be uploaded in

the e-MS, as described in the E-MS Manual for Applicants – call 3 (Annex M to the
Applicant’s Guide), before submitting the Expression of Interest/Application Form.
Please find below details regarding how to fill in the annexes, before you scan and
upload them in the electronic system:
5
If applicable, according to the provisions of the legislation in force

Annex 1 to the Expression of Interest - Declaration of submission
The format provided in Annex EOI.1 must be filled in, duly signed and stamped6 by the
legal representative of the Lead Beneficiary or by an empowered person (a letter of
empowerment and its translation in English, if the case, will be attached to the
Application Form in this case) and annexed to the EOI.
There is no need to sign and stamp every single page of the documentation (just
where the format requires so, see below). The legal person takes the full
responsibility of everything submitted by signing this form!
Annex 2 to the Expression of Interest - Legal documents of the applicants
Legal documents of all beneficiaries and their English translation (if issued in other
language than English) must be scanned and attached to the EOI. Legal documents of
the applicants: documents proving the establishing of the project partner entities (law,
decree, government decision, statute, registration act, article of association etc.) – if
the legal document is a law, government decision or any similar very large document,
please attach to the EOI only the relevant sections of the document.
Annex 3 to the Expression of Interest - Mandates of delegation from the legal

representatives of beneficiaries
In case the EOI is not signed by the legal representatives of the Lead beneficiary /
beneficiaries) and English translation (if issued in other language than English) will be
annexed to the EOI.
Annex 4 to the Expression of Interest - Declarations of Eligibility
The format provided in Annex EOI.4 will be filled in by each beneficiary, duly signed
and stamped7 by the legal representative of the Lead Beneficiary and beneficiaries or
by an empowered person (a letter of empowerment and English translation, if issued in
other language than English will be attached to the EOI in this case) and will be annexed
to the EOI.
Annex 5 to the Expression of Interest - Declarations of Commitment

The format provided in Annex A.EOI 5 will be filled in by each beneficiary, duly signed
and stamped by the legal representative of the Lead Beneficiary and beneficiaries or
6
If applicable, according to the provisions of the legislation in force
7
As above.

to the EOI.
In case of participation of Bulgarian second degree depositors, (e.g. District
administrations for example), the letter of support to the project from the respective
first degree depositor is to be annexed together with the Declaration of Commitment
(e.g. Council of Ministries for the given example). In case of participation of Bulgarian
municipalities a Decision of Local Council regarding the project development and
implementation has to be provided as well during the pre-contractual phase.
Annex 6 to the Expression of Interest - Partnership declarations
The format provided in Annex EOI.6 will be filled in by each beneficiary, duly signed
and stamped by the legal representative of the Lead Beneficiary and beneficiaries or
to the EOI.
Annex 1 to the Application Form - Cost-Benefit Analysis (only for investment
projects)
The Cost-Benefit Analysis and English translation (if issued in other language than
English) will be annexed to the Application Form. For more explanation on filling in the
Cost-Benefit Analysis please also see
http://ec.europa.eu/regional_policy/sources/docgener/studies/pdf/cba_guide.pdf.
This annex is mandatory for all applications including infrastructure/investments
generating any revenues as it is an evaluation instrument regarding the advantages of
the investments from the point of view of all interested target groups, on the basis of
the monetary values for all positive and negative consequences of the investment.
Cost benefit analysis is not required for investment projects related to risk prevention
and development of local road infrastructure.
Annex(es) 2 to the Application Form - Feasibility studies / equivalent technical
documents (only for investment projects) will be annexed to the Application Form. For
Romanian beneficiaries it should be annexed: feasibility study for new
investments/DALI plus energy audit plus technical expertise for
upgrading/reconstruction. For Bulgarian beneficiaries it should be annexed: preliminary
design (including estimation of bill of quantities and values) or technical design.
During evaluation, translations of certain elements may be required.
For Romanian beneficiaries it should be annexed at least feasibility study for new
investments/DALI plus energy audit plus technical expertise for
upgrading/reconstruction. For Bulgarian beneficiaries it should be annexed: at least
preliminary design [идеен проект] (including estimation of bill of quantities and
values).
Please be aware, that any modification in the investment design, which may appear in
the project implementation, represents a contract amendment and will be subject to
MA/JC approval, under the conditions stipulated in the Framework subsidy contract.
Therefore, more advanced design phases - technical designs [proiect tehnic] – for the
Romanian beneficiaries or (detailed) technical designs [технически/работен проект]
for Bulgarian beneficiaries, if available, may be submitted.
The elaboration and approval of the feasibility studies or equivalent technical
documents must observe the national provisions in this matter (see Annex L Relevant
national and EU legislation).
The Feasibility Study or equivalent technical documents should not have been
elaborated or updated more than three years before the deadline for the submission of
the project proposal (the document must bear the date of elaboration/revision).
However, this/these document/-s should be submitted as annex to the application form
and should be accompanied by the legal agreements and approvals. In case legal
agreements and approvals are not submitted together with the Feasibility
study/equivalent technical documents, the respective agreements/approvals will be
subject of conditions for signing the subsidy contract. All the documents subject to
conditioning of signing of the subsidy contract that will be notified within the
Notification for selection under conditions must be provided within the deadline
indicated by the JS in the notification letter for selecting projects.
The works/investments, for which the national legislation does not provide for the
elaboration of a Feasibility Study/DALI or investment design, the applicants should
submit a detailed Bill of Quantities and Costs accompanied by the plans and
measurements of the object of intervention, used for estimating the necessary works
and costs. If Bills of Quantities not provided, one clarification may be requested. As
regards the technical expertise, if not attached to the Applicant’s pack, than it must
be clearly stated by the designer that the recommended solution by technical expertise
was followed within DALI, under the signature of the designer (verificator de proiecte).
For investment projects submitted within Priority Axis 2, targeted to rehabilitate
cultural heritage infrastructure, approvals/ certifications from Ministry of Culture or
related bodies must accompany the technical documentation. If not started the
diligencies for approving the technical documentation, than the project will be
rejected (clarifications can be asked on this issue). If the diligencies for approving the
proposed intervention on cultural heritage infrastructure were started, but are not fully
approved/ certified, than the project will be selected, but under the condition to
provide fully approved technical documentation within the deadline indicated by JS. If
not provided in the set deadlines, the MA may decide not to sign the subsidy contract.
Annex 3 to the Application Form (RO beneficiaries only) - Urban planning permit
(mandatory for applications including infrastructure related activities – only Romanian
beneficiaries) will be annexed to the Application Form. Only Romanian beneficiaries
have to submit the urban planning permit.
Annex 4 to the Application Form - Environmental agreement (mandatory for
applications including infrastructure related activities) will annexed to the Application
Form.
The applicants must present an official statement/act from the competent environment
authority stating that the investment project either:
 observes the legal provisions of environment protection (For Bulgarian
beneficiaries – a letter from the competent body that a procedure under chapter
VI of Environmental Protection Act is not required) or
 completed the first phase of the EIA procedure – screening (For Bulgarian
beneficiaries – the decision of the competent body for the necessity of carrying
out of Environmental Impact Assessment).
Annex 5 to the Application Form - Environmental Impact Report (mandatory for
applications including infrastructure related activities) and English translation (if issued
in other language than English) will be annexed to the Application Form.
For the applications which need a study containing data on the estimated impact on
the environment of the investment project as required by the national legislation, a
description of the project’s impact on the environment must be submitted together
with the Application Form.
Annex 6 to the Application Form - Environmental Impact Study (for applications
including infrastructure related) and English translation (if issued in other language
than English) will be annexed to the Application Form. The Bulgarian beneficiaries have
to present the Environmental Impact Assessment (if necessary according the Bulgarian
legislation).
For the applications which need a study containing data on the estimated impact on
the environment of the investment project as required by the national legislation, the
submission of the document as annex to application form is not mandatory, but it must
be presented during the pre-contractual phase, if the project is selected for funding.
Annex 7 to the Application Form - Overview of the equipment, services and works
to be purchased (mandatory for all applications) – the table presented in the format
must be filled in for each partner and submitted together with the Application Form.
No legalization of documents or official translations is necessary!

All annexes duly filled in by each beneficiary (where this is required by the
template) will be scanned and will be submitted in electronic format in the E-MS
system!
In case more than 3 annexes to the Expression of Interest/Application Form are
completely missing the project will be rejected without further analysis! In all other
cases clarifications may be requested.
ii. How to submit the applications
The applications are submitted only via the E-MS system.

The annexes are being uploaded into the system. Please make sure the size of each
document does not exceed 50 Mb per document.
iii. Deadline for receipt of applications
Expressions of interest (phase one) may be uploaded in the system until the 15th of May
2017, 16:00 hours.
Application forms (phase two) may be uploaded in the system until the 16th of October
2017, 16:00 hours.
.
Projects uploaded in the E-MS system after the deadline will not be taken into
account.
II.4. Evaluation and Selection of Applications
The project evaluation and selection criteria prepared by the Managing Authority
together with the Bulgarian National Authority and the Joint Secretariat are approved
by the Monitoring Committee and are available to potential beneficiaries as annexes to
the present Applicant’s Guide.
The evaluation of both Expression of Interest and full Application Form will be done via
e-MS (including clarification requests, if the case). For details regarding the evaluation
process in e-MS please refer to Part E of the E-MS Manual for applicants – call 3 (Annex
M to the Applicant Guide).
The MC members can submit proposals on detailing the grids (Annex C) in the Assessor’s
Guide, which will be published as well, until the 13th of April. The final document will
be presented for information to the Monitoring Committee. The Applicant’s Guide has
incorporated a provision referencing to the above Assessor’s Guide at the date of the
issue.
For Phase 1:
The assessment of expressions of interest is performed by the Joint Secretariat, after
the deadline set for phase 1 of the call.
In order to pass to phase 2 of the call, an expression of interest has to be first selected
by the Monitoring Committee. The expressions of interest are pre-ranked in descending
order according to the score awarded and are grouped into two categories:
1. Expressions of interest proposed for selection for phase 2
2. Expressions of interest proposed for rejection
Subsequently, all Lead Beneficiaries will receive notification on the selection/rejection
of their expressions of interest and may appeal the decision of the Monitoring
Committee (see complaint procedure, Annex G).
The complaints will be analyzed by a special committee appointed by the Monitoring
Committee, according to the procedure described in Annex G to the present Guide.
Selection of Expressions of Interest does not guarantee financing or selection in step 2
(application form).
For phase 2:
The project evaluation is performed by the Joint Secretariat, with support from
external expertise for technical specific fields in which the JS does not already possess
the expertise.
Details on the assessement are available in the Assessor’s Guide published on the
programme website (www.interregrobg.eu).
The projects evaluation shall be performed after the deadline, for the applications
submitted before the respective deadline. In case after appeals EOI(s) change status
from rejected to selected for step 2, the evaluation in this cases will start the day
after the respective deadline.
In order to be considered for financing, the applications must respect the administrative
and eligibility criteria and receive at least 60 points at the technical and financial
evaluation. The 60 points represent a minimum condition and does not guarantee the
project selection, the Monitoring Committee’s decision takes into consideration when

deciding the list of selected project also the Programme status, level of reaching
indicators, absorption targets, and timeframe also.
The projects are evaluated in the order they are received. In case a project has at
least 85 points as final score it goes immediately to the Monitoring Committee for
consideration and, after observing the contracting procedure, the financing
contracts are signed.
The rest of the projects are proposed for financing when the evaluation is finalized,
according to the score received, in the limit of the available financing and after analysis
of Programme indicators, which may influence the selection process. At the proposal
of the Managing Authority, the Monitoring Committee may decide to create a reserve
list.
The projects are pre-ranked in descending order according to the score awarded and,
taking into consideration also the contribution to Programme indicators (output and
result), grouped into two categories:
1. projects proposed for financing;
2. projects proposed for rejection.
The contribution to Programme indicators (output and result) shall be taken into
consideration at selection.
After the pre-ranking, the projects are forwarded to the Monitoring Committee, which
selects the projects for financing and approves the list of rejected projects.
Subsequently, all Lead Beneficiaries will receive notification on the approval/rejection
of their projects and may appeal the decision of the Monitoring Committee (complaint
procedure, Annex G).
The complaints will be analyzed by a special committee appointed by the Monitoring
Committee, according to the procedure described in Annex G to the present Guide.
One beneficiary cannot simultaneously have more than four projects in
implementation. In case 5 projects are selected, the fifth one shall be put on a
reserve list (and could be contracted after the finalization of at least one of the
other projects, provided the Programme has the financial allocation available).
The decision of the Monitoring Committee is followed by the pre-contractual phase and
then the contracts will be concluded.
Since the focus on 2014-2020 period is on the results, please note that an analysis will
be performed at the selection moment when projects contribute to indicators (in
theory, by contracting) in a percent of at least 120% and when the financial indicators
from the Performance framework are secured (in theory, by contracting). Depending
on the analysis (performed at Programme level) the Monitoring Committee may decide
to stop contracting although the financial allocation was not reached.
Any attempt to obtain confidential information or to influence the evaluators within
the evaluation process will lead to your disqualification!
The clarifications provided in the evaluation phase cannot bring new elements that
would alter the initial content of the application form.
Any project proposal will be excluded in case it is proven that the evaluators are
seriously misled by false information provided by the applicant, that has being taken
into consideration in the evaluation process or if the evaluators were not informed
on issues that would have led to a different decision.
Please refrain from asking questions related to the expression of interest/project

evaluation, especially during the evaluation process. The communication is made in
the procedural framework, when requesting clarifications or when informing on the
results of the process.
Project evaluation and selection procedure
Phase 1
Expression of interest Applicants appoint the Lead Beneficiary and start

drafting the expression of interest
The applications must be filled in and submitted in

e-MS system within the deadline specified for phase
e-MS submission
1 of the call for proposals by the LB
Assessment Working Group The expressions of interest are assessed by the

withing the Joint Secretariat assessment working group formed with JS staff
The expressions of interest are ranked according to

the score and submitted to the Monitoring
Monitoring Committee Committee of the Programme for decision.
Lead Beneficiaries can submit complaints after the

Monitoring Decision is communicated.
Phase 2
Application form and annexes Beneficiaries appoint the Lead Beneficiary and start
drafting the project (application and annexes) in e-
MS.
The applications must be submitted in e-MS within

the deadline specified for the second step of the
e-MS submission
call for proposals.
The applications are assessed by the assessment

Assessment Working Group working group formed with JS staff.
withing the Joint Secretariat
The applications are ranked according to the score

Monitoring Committee and submitted to the Monitoring Committee of the
Programme for decision. Lead Beneficiaries can
submit complaints after the Monitoring Decision is
communicated.
Additional documents and information may be

Pre-contractual phase requested and verified by the JS or MA, on-the-spot
www.interregrobg.eu visit may take place. Page 46 of 52
III. Pre-Contractual conditions

After the Monitoring Committee approves the projects, the JS notifies each Lead
Beneficiary if its project has been approved, or rejected.
The starting date for the eligibility of expenditures except the project preparation
expenditures (which are eligible starting with 1st of January 2014) is the first day after
approval of the project by the Monitoring Committee. Therefore, the day after the
project approval by the Monitoring Committee, the project can proceed with
expenditures (other than the ones for preparing the project). These expenditures will
be eligible from this date (subject to the MA signing of the contract with the related
final budget).
For the projects approved, the JS prepares the subsidy contracts (for ERDF
contribution), which are concluded between the MA and the Lead Beneficiary. The JS
also prepares the co-financing contracts, which are concluded between the Managing
Authority (Ministry of Regional Development and Public Administration from Romania)
and Romanian partners on the other hand. The National Authority (Ministry of Regional
Development and Public Works from Bulgaria) prepares co-financing contracts, which
are concluded between NA and Bulgarian partners.
Please bear in mind that the Managing Authority has the right to decide not to sign
a financing contract in case a Beneficiary already has in implementation 4 projects.
After the finalization of one project the decision may be reconsidered, provided
the financial allocation is available.
Before signing the contracts, other documents may be requested by the JS/MA (e.g.
proof that there are no debts to the consolidated budgets or to the Programme budget,
proof that the VAT is non-recoverable from other sources etc.) and on-the-spot visits
may also take place. On-the-spot visits may be performed by the MA, NA, JS and by any
other body with responsibilities in the implementation of the programme. All partners
have the obligation to provide all necessary documents and to be available for the on-
the-spot visits in order for the contracts to be signed (e.g. partnership agreement - see
Annex J for model - must be presented to the MA/JS before the signing of the contract).
Please take into consideration that failure to provide the requested documents within
the set deadlines during pre-contracting period will lead to the rejection of the project.
For investment projects, the Documents certifying the right of property/ concession/
administration/ rent/ loan on the land and/or building and English translation (if
issued in other language than English) will be presented in the pre-contracting phase,
at the latest in one month after selection. In case the documents are not presented in
the deadline, the Managing Authority may decide to reject the projects. When
submitting the application form, the LB will declare that the partners have the
necessary rights (see above) on the land and/or building.
For investment projects, the applicants must prove during pre-contractual phase they
hold a right under the property law over the land and/or building by the following
documents:
b) the applicant is the owner of the land and/or building:
1. for public authorities:
- the legal act (e.g. government decision, law, government ordinance,
decision of local counties, Council of Ministers Decrees etc.) stating the
public property on the land and/or building;
- documents related to the registration of property of the respective
applicant on the land and/or building in the relevant public registers.
2. for NGO’s
- property act on the land and/or building;
- documents related to the registration of the land and/or building in the
relevant public registers.
c) the applicant has received the land and/or building in concession or holds any
other right under the property law:
1. for public authorities:
- the legal act (e.g. government decision, law, government ordinance,
decision of local counties, contracts etc.) proving the concession or the real
property right; it must be proved that the duration of the concession or the
real property right of the land is in line with the provisions of article 71,
paragraph 1 from Regulation 1303/2013 and that the owner has given its
written agreement saying that the applicant may perform the investment.
- declaration from the land and/or building owner that the land and/or
building is:
o free of any encumbrances;
o not the object of an pending litigation;
o not the object of a claim according to the relevant national
legislation.
relevant public registers – to be submitted before contracting of the
project.
2. for NGO’s
- the legal act proving the concession or the real property right; it must be
proved that the duration of the concession of the land and/or building is in
line with the provisions of article 71, paragraph 1 from Regulation
1303/2013 and that the owner of the land and/or building has given his
written agreement saying that the applicant may perform the investment.
- Declaration from the land and/or building owner that the land and/or

building is:
o free of any encumbrances;
o not the object of an pending litigation;
o not the object of a claim according to the relevant national
legislation.
relevant public registers – to be submitted before contracting of the
project.
The land and/or building, which are subject of the application for financial support
for investment, must:
- Be free of any encumbrances;
- Not be the object of a pending litigation;
- Not be the object of a legal claim according to the relevant national legislation.
For investment projects submitted within Priority Axis 2, targeted to rehabilitate
cultural heritage infrastructure, approvals/ certifications from Ministry of Culture or
related bodies must accompany the technical documentation. If not started the
diligencies for approving the technical documentation, than the project will be
rejected (clarifications can be asked on this issue). If the diligencies for approving the
proposed intervention on cultural heritage infrastructure were started, but are not fully
approved/ certified, than the project will be selected, but under the condition to
provide fully approved technical documentation within the deadline indicated by JS. If
not provided in the set deadlines, the MA may decide not be sign the subsidy contract.
Legal agreements/ approvals related to Annex 2, which are subject of conditioning
the selection; Energetic audit of the buildings, by exception also have to be submitted
the latest within this phase.
The abovementioned annexes, which are to be provided in the pre-contractual

phase, have to be submitted to the JS in the indicated deadline.
All partners in a project must sign a partnership agreement before the signing of the
subsidy contract with the MA that stipulates the rights and duties of the partners. A
model of partnership agreement is annexed to the present Guide. The partners may
decide, with prior agreement of the MA, to stipulate additional or more restrictive
provisions than those mentioned in the model partnership agreement.
A project may request expenditure for reimbursement via e-MSat any given time (the
latest being at 5 months after the project is finalized), for one or more beneficiaries,
the only condition being that it is not lower than 5.000 euro (see Project
Implementation Manual available at http://www.interregrobg.eu/en/rules-of-
implementation/programme-rules/project-implementation-manual.html).
All partners have to create via e-MS partner reports reflecting both financial and
physical progress of their share of activities and expenditure for each
implementation period as defined at project level and submit them to FLC (via the
electronic system).

Due attention is to be paid to planning the amount each partner commits to spend
and request for first level control by the end of the month marking the half of the
implementation period , since at the middle of the implementation period, the
Programme will analyse this particular amount, and may decide to decommit funds
from your project. At the half of the implementation period the JS shall analyse
the project financial execution, as compared to the initially set target. In case the
project has a financial execution lower than:
- 75%, a 10% decommitment will apply to the budget of the beneficiaries who have
not respected the initial target.
- 50%, a 25% decommitment will apply to the budget of the beneficiaries who have
not respected the initial target.
Also, considering the focus on the 2014-2020 period is on results, the same
approach shall be used for reaching the indicators. The JS shall analyse the project
contribution to indicators, as compared to the application form. In case the project
has reached:
- 75% (average at project level considering all indicators), a 10% decommitment will
apply to the budget of the beneficiaries.
- 50% (average at project level, considering all indicators), a 25% decommitment
will apply to the budget of the beneficiaries.
In case the JS analysis shows that the project did not contribute to the result
indicators (a non-quantifiable one) a 10% decommitment will apply to the budget of
the beneficiaries.
In case the JS analysis shows the project goal was not reached, the contract shall
be terminated.
In any of the abovementioned cases, the Lead Beneficiary will be granted a two
weeks deadline to submit a revised budget and in case such a budget is not provided
within the deadline, the decommitment will be applied proportionally to all
budgetary lines for the concerned beneficiaries. The Lead Beneficiary and its
beneficiaries may decide to stop implementing the project, but in this case all the
paid funds shall be reimbursed.
The subsidy contracts will be signed by MA and then sent to the Joint Secretariat.
The Lead Beneficiaries will be invited to the Joint Secretariat to sign the contract
until a certain deadline. In exceptional circumstances, the contracts may also be
submitted for signature via post. In this case, the LB has a 5 working days deadline,
from the receipt of the contacts, to submit the signed contract back to the JS
(stating the date of the signature on the contract), otherwise the MA may decide to
cancel the financing.
MA and NA decided to grant advance payments to beneficiaries in an amount of 60%
for Romanian beneficiaries, respectively 80% for Bulgarian beneficiaries of the
signed national co-financing contracts.
The contracts annexed to this Guide are only indicative; the final version of all
contracts will be presented to the beneficiaries of the selected projects in the pre-
contractual phase.
IV. Annexes
Annex A. Application Form and its annexes
A. EOI 1. Declaration of submission the application form.
A. EOI 2. Legal documents of the applicants
A. EOI 3. Mandates of delegation (in case the application form is not signed
by the legal representative of the Lead Beneficiary)
A. EOI 4. Declarations of Eligibility
A. EOI 5. Declarations of Commitment
A. EOI 6. Partnership declarations
A. AF 1. Cost-Benefit Analysis (if the case)
A. AF 2. Feasibility studies / equivalent technical documents (if the case)
A. AF 3. Urban planning permit (if the case)
A. AF 4. Environmental agreement (if the case)
A. AF 5. Environmental Impact Report (if the case)
A. AF 6. Environmental Impact Study (if the case)
A. AF 7. Overview of the equipment, services and works to be purchased
Annex B. Evaluation Expressions of Interest
Annex C. Evaluation Grids of the Application Form
Annex D. Ceilings for expenditures (the prices are calculated without VAT)
Annex E. List of eligible expenditures
Annex F. Simplified costs

Annex G. Complaint procedure for evaluation results
Annex H. Template Framework subsidy contract
Annex I1. Template Framework cofinancing contract for Romanian Beneficiaries
Annex I2. Template Framework monitoring agreement for Romanian Beneficiaries
Annex J. Template Partnership Agreement

Annex K. Programme methodology for result indicators
Annex L. Relevant national and EU legislation
Annex M. E-MS Manual for Applicants – call 3
Although we do not plan to, in case changes to the present Guide are necessary,
please note that we will use the following means of communication:
1. Announcement on the Programme website: www.interregrobg.eu
2. Announcement on the Programme Facebook Page:
https://www.facebook.com/RomaniaBulgariaCbcProgramme
3. E-mail to the JS database
4. Also, you can send an e-mail to robg@mdrap.ro and MA will make sure you are
informed, directly to the e-mail indicated, to any corrigenda/material errors
on the present Guide.
We will use methods 3 and 4, but please rely on methods 1 and 2, since e-mail
dysfunctionalities may appear.
We wish all the potential beneficiaries best of luck! We rely on your proposals
to improve the eligible area according to the set objectives!


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GOVERNMENT OF

EUROPEAN UNION GOVERNMENT OF

MANAGING AUTHORITY NATIONAL AUTHORITY

Glossary of terms ................................................................................. 3

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

I.1. Overview of Interreg V-A Romania-Bulgaria

The Programme and annexes are available on www.intrerregrobg.eu.

I.2. Programme Strategy

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

I.3. Programme Implementation Structures

I.4. Programme Financial Allocation

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

Priority axes by source of funding (in euro)

I.5. Programme Indicators targeted by the call

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

 Priority Axis 1 – A well connected region

Output indicators Programme Contribution of To be achieved

I1 - Total length of reconstructed or

Result indicators Programme Contribution of To be achieved

I6- Cross border population served

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

 Priority Axis 2 – A green region

Result Indicator Baseline Target Status

 Priority Axis 3 – A safe region

I16 - Population benefiting from

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

Result Programme Contribution of To be achieved (by the present

Since this is a qualitative indicator,

I.6 Financial allocation for the call for proposals

Priority Axis Community Funding National Total funding

I.7. Cross border character

I.8. State Aid

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

I.9. Revenue Generating Projects

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

II. 1. 1. Phase 1: Expressions of interest selection

The deadline is: 15th of May 2017 (16:00 o’clock)

The deadline is: 16th of October (16:00 o’clock)

The system is allowing uploading expressions of interest/full application forms

II. 2. ELIGIBILITY CRITERIA

The applicants have to comply with a set of requirements related to their:

(1) The applicants must fulfill the following criteria:

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

have their headquarters in the eligible cross border region or;

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

Given the provisions of the General Regulation concerning the durability of

ii. Eligibility of Actions

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

Priority Axis 1 – A well connected region:

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

4. Improving the cross-border secondary and tertiary nodes connections to TEN-T

*common output indicator; **calculation basis for the flat rates

Specific Objective 1.2 Increase transport safety on waterways and maritime

2. Investing (infrastructure and equipment) in improved freight and passenger on river

3. Developing integrated plans and measures in order to improve the navigation

Applicant's Guide Third Call

Applicant's Guide Third Call