Main changes in the new draft of the #AGA Annotated Grant Agreement

Here is a short summary of the main changes in the new draft version of the Annotated Grant Agreement AGA version from 01. April.23 https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/docs/2021-2027/common/guidance/aga_en.pdf

Open Science?

OA to scientific publications

·??????Repositories and preprint servers explicitly mentioned as examples of open access publishing venues

·??????Deletion of the references to the Author Accepted Manuscript or the Version of Record

·??????Publication fees may include peer review fees (only those for the first round of peer reviewers are eligible for reimbursement).

·??????Reference to three categories of trusted repositories which may overlap.

·??????Explicit reference to the open access prior obligation beneficiaries have.

·??????References to the Journal Checker Tool, the Directory of Open Access Journals and Open Research Europe?

Immediate open access through the repository must be provided either to the final peer-reviewed manuscript accepted for publication or to the final published peer-reviewed version.

Publication fees may, in particular, include peer review fees, including where the peer review service has been provided by an organisation different from the one providing the publishing venue. Peer review fees for publications are eligible for reimbursement only for the first round of peer reviewers.

Research data management

·??????Generated data also includes re-used data that have been processed or modified in a systematic or methodical way.

·??????Recommendation to maintain data available for a substantial period at least five years, and preferably 10 years or even longer.

ERC provisions

Most of ERC provisions are set under HE MGA Annex 5

PI’s time commitment

Minimum time commitment as eligibility condition established in the applicable ERC Work Programme:

1.????at least 50% (StG), 40% (CoG) and 30% (AdG & SyG) of PI’s total working time to the ERC-funded project AND at least 50% of the total working time spent in EU/AC

2.????The % applies to the total working time of the PI (FTE, i.e. adding up all days of remunerated work, including with non-participating entities -with a ceiling of 215 per year).

3.????Necessary field work outside EU/AC may count as both time on the project AND in EU/AC.

Portability

Portability is the right for the PI to transfer the grant to another HI via a formal GA amendment.

The HI can only object to the transfer when not allowed under national law.

The scientific objectives must remain achievable, and the new HI must be eligible (established in EU/AC)

Possibility for the initial HI to remain as second beneficiary (from Mono to Multi-beneficiary grant)

Obligation for the initial HI to transfer to the new HI the prefinancing and the equipment purchased exclusively for the action (against reimbursement, if applicable)

Additional funding

When necessary for the action and granted by the panel, it covers the eligible costs for:

·??????"start-up" costs for Principal Investigators moving to the EU/AC

·??????the purchase of major equipment,

·??????access to large facilities,

·??????other major experimental and field work costs

?

In the HE MGA there are two types of costs categories (Art.6.2.D.7 and D.8), either to be taken or not into account for the flat-rate (25% ) of indirect costs

Costs must comply with:

·??????general eligibility condition set under Article 6.1(a) HE MGA, and

·??????specific conditions for the type of cost in question

·??????Changes can be accepted by formal amendment or by simplified approval procedure BUT the activities must keep the initial objectives/purpose for which additional funding was awarded

·??????No personnel costs can be claimed under Additional funding

?

Other ERC specificities

Reporting split in two streams at different timing: one scientific and one financial which alternate between them, see data sheet. At the end of the action, both streams are submitted together in one single final report. Overall, less number of reports compared to H2020.

As of ERC WP 2023, equipment, infrastructure, or other assets purchased specifically for the action (or developed as part of the action tasks) may, exceptionally where needed for the viability of the action, be included as full capitalised costs (instead of depreciation). They should be clearly listed and justified in the proposal.

PoC actions are Lump Sum grants - Option 1 (i.e. amount fixed in the ERC WP) Certain provisions of HE MGA Annex 5 do not apply to PoC actions.

Transnational & virtual access for Research Infrastructures

Provisions on access can be found in:

??????Annex 5 Specific rules for access to research infrastructure (HE)

(provisions on access, users, selection etc., regardless of form of funding or budget categories)

? NEW! annotations pp. 297-303

??????Article 6.2.D Other costs categories

6.2.D.3??Transnational access to research infrastructure unit costs

6.2.D.4??Virtual access to research infrastructure unit costs

? NEW! annotations pp 104-107 “6.2.D.X HE Access to research infrastructure costs”

Article 6.2.C Purchase costs is also relevant

? UPDATED! annotations pp 76-77 on specific case “Providers of research; Infrastructures services for transnational and virtual access of users (HE)” = important: excluding any profit margin, excluding depreciation costs!

?

PCP/PPI

There are also specificities for PCP/PPI actions in the Annotated Grant Agreement