Division 4 AWARD DECISION AND PREPARATION OF GRANT AGREEMENTS

The grants are awarded to the applicant legal entities by the responsible authorising officer, within the available budget, on the basis of the final rank order list as drawn by the ERCEA in accordance with Section 3.1.7, by means of a formal grant agreement.

The grant agreements are concluded with the applicant legal entities subject to the internal financial and legal procedures^f1 and the verification of the requisites mentioned in this section.

During the preparation of the grant agreement, the PI and the applicant legal entity may be required to provide further information on the project and its envisaged management^f2. In cases where more than one participant is associated with the project, the PI or the applicant legal entity may be required to obtain such information and assurances from the other participants.

On the basis of the result of the evaluation process additional conditions^f3 for the conclusion of a grant agreement may be required for some proposals. Such conditions will be duly documented and communicated to the PI and the applicant legal entity concerned, in addition to the ER.

Grants may not be awarded to applicant legal entities who are, at the time of a grant award procedure, in one of the situations referred to in articles 93(1) (bankruptcy, etc.), 94 (false declarations, etc.) and 96(2)(a) (under exclusion from the contracts and grants financed by the European Union budget) of the Financial Regulation. They must certify that they are not in one of the situations listed above^f4.

Ethical issues shall also be further clarified at this stage, if necessary. For this purpose, the ERCEA will appoint independent experts to participate in the ethics review process. (See Annex B).

The grant preparation involves no negotiation of scientific/technical substance. A grant is subsequently awarded to the applicant legal entity on the basis of the proposal submitted and the funding recommended following the peer review evaluation, and subject to the agreement of the applicant legal entity with the PI.

If it proves impossible to reach agreement with the PI and the applicant legal entity or if one or both of them have not signed any required supplementary agreement within a reasonable deadline that may be imposed, grant preparations may be terminated.

Grant agreement preparation for proposals on the reserve list may begin once it is clear that sufficient budget has become available to fund one or more of these projects. Subject to budget availability, grant preparation will begin with the highest ranked proposal and continue in descending order of the final ranking.