With regard to your appointment request, you can review the “Appointment policy of the PAO” document on our website.
http://www.cfcu.gov.tr/appointment-policy-of-pao
Considering the timetable of the relevant grant scheme and the number of potential applications, benefiting from Independent Assessors is possible to be utilized in the evaluation processes of the grant schemes where our Unit is the Contracting Authority.
Announcements for Independent Assessors to be employed are declared separately specific to each grant scheme and announcements are published on our website (www.cfcu.gov.tr). Potential applicants can be informed about independent assessor announcements by visiting the above website regularly and in case of meeting all eligibility criteria required, they can apply for the relevant announcements.
Independent Assessors are selected specifically for that grant scheme in line with the objectives and goals of each grant scheme. Therefore, it is not possible to employ any Independent Assessor in other grant schemes then the selected one.
In the Grant Scheme where our Unit is the Contracting Authority, we act in accordance with the rules laid down in the IPA Regulations and the European Commission External Assistance Contract Procedures Implementation Guide (PRAG) and its annexes. The documents used in the call for proposals and the application language are determined by following the points mentioned in these sources. Therefore, it is a general rule to apply the grant schemes in English where our Unit is the Contracting Authority.
However, exceptionally some Grant Schemes can be open for Turkish applications. In order to be informed about these programs, it is recommended to visit our website (www.cfcu.gov.tr) regularly.
Within the Grant Schemes where our Unit is the Contracting Authority, the eligibility criteria for the institution/ organization / individual that can apply is determined specific to each programme. For this reason, it is strongly recommended to examine the "Guidelines for Grant Applicants" which have been published specific to each grant scheme on our website (www.cfcu.gov.tr) to be informed about the eligibility criteria sought before submitting any application.
No written or verbal opinion is given by our Unit to any institution / organization / individual whether it meets the appropriate eligibility criteria under any grant scheme.
The Central Finance and Contracts Unit is responsible for the management of programmes under the pre-accession financial assistance provided by the European Union to our country, and all announcements related to the tender notices / call for proposals are published on the web site of our Unit (www.cfcu.gov.tr).
On the right part of homepage of our website under the title of "Search Tenders", if you search by selecting;
- "Open" in the "Tender Status" menu,
- "Supplies" and / or " Works" and / or "Services" and / or "Grants" in the "Tender Type" menu
you can reach the list of tender notices / call for proposals that are currently available and the information / documents published for each tender notice / call for proposal. Some announcements related to the tender notices / call for proposals are also published in the announcements section of our website.
In line with the information / documents published specifically for the tender notice / call for proposal, proposals complying with the criteria can be submitted by the applicants eligible according to the criteria. Therefore, it will be beneficial for you to consult our website regularly in order to be informed about tender notices / call for proposal.
All tasks related to procurement processes announced by our Unit are carried out as per the procedures and standard documents (PRAG) published by the European Commission. Please see the PRAG document and its annexes in the following link:
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do
All requirements for participation in a tender are specified in the “Contract Notice” of the relevant tender.
The principles of equal treatment and non-discrimination of PRAG apply to all tenderers. In this regard, tenderers do not have any priority whether they are based in Turkey or abroad.
Prior Information Notice is published in order to give brief information setting out the specific characteristics of a planned tender procedure. It is not possible to access technical documents of a tender when only prior information notice is published and tenderers are not expected to submit applications at this stage. Please visit the websites, CFCU (www.cfcu.gov.tr), EuropeAid (https://ec.europa.eu) and EU Official Journal (http://ted.europa.eu) regularly until further documents related to tender in question are published.
The evaluation procedures are carried out by the Evaluation Committee as per PRAG, and the Contracting Authority cannot give prior opinion on the assessment of a tender with a clarification.
In restricted procedure, all economic operators may ask to submit a tender, but only those who satisfy the selection criteria will be invited to do so. The selection criteria and the tasks to be undertaken are described in the contract notice published. All the candidates replying to the notice is cut down to a shortlist of the best qualified and invited to submit a tender.
In open procedure, all economic operators may submit a tender. Any natural or legal person wishing to tender may ask to receive the tender dossier (which may have to be paid for or published), in accordance with the procedures specified in the contract notice. The tenders are examined, compared and the contract is awarded.
In principle, products supplied under a contract financed under the EU budget must originate from an eligible country as designated by the relevant Instrument(s). This is referred to as rules of origin as per PRAG. Please visit the PRAG document in the link below and its annexes for more detailed information, in particular Article 2.3.1. of PRAG.
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do
Regarding the conformity of the goods to rules of origin your services intend to propose, the evaluation procedures are carried out by the Evaluation Committee as per PRAG and the Contracting Authority cannot give prior opinion on the assessment of a tender with a clarification.
In principle, for a contract financed under the EU budget, specific rules on nationality apply. This is referred to as rules on nationality as per PRAG. Please visit the PRAG document in the link below and its annexes for more detailed information, in particular Article 2.3.1. of PRAG and Annex A2a.
http://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/prag/document.do
Regarding the eligibility of your services in term of rules on nationality, the evaluation procedures are carried out by the Evaluation Committee as per PRAG and the Contracting Authority cannot give prior opinion on the assessment of a tender with a clarification.
The language to be used during procurement procedures are indicated in the Contract Notice/Tender Dossier of the related tender. Please carefully check the requirements in these documents regarding the language to be used, considering that this is an administrative compliance requirement as per PRAG.
Twinning is an European Union instrument for institutional cooperation between Public Administrations of EU Member States (MS) and of Beneficiary Countries (BC). Twinning projects bring together public sector expertise from EU Member States and beneficiary countries with the aim of enhancing peer to peer activities. They must yield concrete mandatory operational results for the beneficiary country. It was originally designed in 1998 to help candidate countries of the time to acquire the necessary skills and experience to adopt, implement and enforce EU legislation.
Twinning Light’ can be used to tackle any self-contained institutional issues provided the subject addressed is of a more limited scope than for standard Twinning, i.e. the structures needed are not complex or the existing ones need little adjustment. Hence, a Twinning Light (TWL) project can be deemed as a small scale project devised to address specific problems not requiring complicated solutions.
Main differences between Twinning and a Twinning Light project are summarized below.
|
Twinning Projects |
Twinning Light Projects |
Duration of the project |
At least 12 months |
Maximum 6 months (in exceptional cases 8 months) |
Budget |
There is no such a restriction |
Up to EUR 250 000,00
|
Experts |
Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA) and short term experts are foreseen. |
In the framework of a Twinning light project, there is no RTA. |
Number of Member State |
Member States can form a consortium. |
Consortium of several Member States is not allowed in TWL projects. |
Work plan of the Contract |
Twinning partners jointly elaborate a twinning work plan(Annex A1) based on the Project Fiche. |
For Twinning Light contract, work plan (Annex A1) consists of the detailed Twinning Light project fiche and the selected MS proposal.
|
All of these distinguishing factors underscore that ‘Twinning light’ project must allow for a quick mobilisation of targeted public sector assistance.
Each Beneficiary Country (candidate countries, potential candidates to EU membership, countries covered by the European Neighborhood Policy) prepares a document named as ‘Project Fiche’, which is prepared in line with the EC developed policy guidelines and includes key information regarding to the project such as purpose, objectives, budget, duration etc. Once approved by the competent authorities, the Twinning fiches are circulated simultaneously to all MS via the National Contact Points (NCPs) for Twinning inviting their MS administrations to submit proposals for the implementation of the project.
The authorities of the EU Member States submit their proposals until the respective deadline to the relevant authorities clearly stated in the e-mail message circulating each Twinning fiche. Besides the proposals, potential partner countries are supposed to make a presentation to introduce their proposal in a selection meeting in competition with one another. The selection results are notified individually to the NCP of the successful and the unsuccessful MS, copying the applicant MS administration.
- Project Leaders
The successful implementation of a Twinning project requires the commitment of two Project Leaders, who are the high ranking officials appointed in the MS and the BC administrations respectively. Every Twinning project includes a MS Project Leader, who continues to work in his/her MS administration but who devotes a portion of his/her time to conceiving, supervising and co-ordinating the overall thrust of the project.
S/he is always complemented by at least one full-time expert, known as the Resident Twinning Adviser (RTA), from a MS to work on a day-to-day basis with the beneficiary administration in the BC and accompany the implementation of the Twinning project.
In addition, a BC Project Leader is needed in each Twinning project. S/he acts as the counterpart of the MS Project Leader and ensures in close co-operation the overall steering and co-ordination of the project. The role of the BC Project Leader and the RTA counterpart in the Beneficairy administration are complementary.
- Resident Twinning Adviser
RTAs are civil servants or equivalent staff seconded to work and to be based in the BC for at least twelve consecutive months. RTAs are made available by MS’ administrations and mandated bodies to counterparts in BCs through EU funding. The seconded experts covered by these provisions remain in paid employment in their national administration or mandated body throughout the period of secondment. RTAs must in principle be nationals of a MS of the EU.
Basic Training course for Resident Twinning Advisers is a two day training seminar in Brussels. Participants are invited by the Commission. The training is valid for MS PL, RTA and BC PL/RTA Counterpart and conditions are given below.
• RTA is supposed to participate the training. Travel cost and perdiem may be charged to the budget.
• MS Twinning Project Leaders who would like to attend the training course will have to pay for their own expenses as these cannot be covered by the Twinning budget.
• BC Project Leaders can attend the training together with the RTA of the same project. Costs for travel and per diems can be financed by the budget of the project as for the RTA. Attendance cannot be deputized to a third person. In special circumstances however, the RTA Counterpart might attend instead of the BC Project Leader. The choice of the participant (BC PL or RTA Counterpart) should take into consideration the fact that the training is given in English, with simultaneous interpretation into French. Whoever is not fluent in any of those two languages should refrain from attending.
Following the notification of the Twinning Contract, MS Partner should apply for a VAT Exemption Certificate. RTA would personally apply to the Revenue Administration. Firstly, the information form provided by the CFCU should be either filled in Turkish or Turkish-English by using the same answer column. Afterwards, it should be submitted to CFCU for approval. Following the approval of the information form by CFCU, RTA applies to the Revenue Administration together with the required documents; the copy of the Twinning Contract, the original information form and the sample of the notification letter issued by the CFCU.
For more information please contact the Revenue Administration.
• Guideline for RTA is available at:
http://www.ab.gov.tr/files/Eslestirme/faydali_dokumanlar/rta_guideline_e...
• Visibility guidelines for Twinning Projects are available at:
http://www.avrupa.info.tr/en/learn-about-eu-visibility-guidelines-16
https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/node/17974
• Twinning Manuals are available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/tenders/twinning_en
• List of Mandated Bodies is available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/sites/near/files/twinning...
• Current per-diem rates are available at:
https://ec.europa.eu/europeaid/sites/devco/files/perdiems-2017-03-17_en.pdf
All payments realized on EURO basis and EURO accounts.
Payment documents must be signed by authorized person or the person who signed the contract.
Financial Identification Form, Invoice/Request of Payment, Final Reports and Report Approvals.
Payment documents must be submitted before the deadline which stated on Special Conditions of the Contract and its annexes.
As a general rule, all taxes are considered ineligible and not accepted but after the contract signed; certificate of exemption can be requested from relating institution.
The goods must be chosen by the countries which enlisted from EU Commission.
Financial assessment criteria are: PRAG Rules, National Legislation Rules and Conditions of the Contract.
All payments, purchasing and also actions must be realized in the implementation period, otherwise the declarations before or after this period will be assessed as ineligible.
Although there are specific ratios for all contracts, all ratios are mostly range between %75-%100.
Irregularity means any infringement of a provision of applicable rules and contracts resulting from an act or an omission by an economic operator which has, or would have, the effect of prejudicing the general budget of the Union by charging an unjustified item of expenditure to the general budget.
Fraud means any intentional act or omission relating to: the use or presentation of false, incorrect or incomplete statements or documents, which has as its effect the misappropriation or wrongful retention of funds from the general budget of the Union or budgets managed by, or on behalf of, the European Union, non-disclosure of information in violation of a specific obligation with the same effect or the misapplication of such funds for purposes other than those for which they were originally granted.
Conflict of interest means where the impartial and objective exercise of the functions of a financial actor or other person is compromised for reason involving family, emotional life, political or national affinity, economic interest or any other shared interest with a recipient.
Irregularity officers under contracting authorities or operating structures, National Authorization Officer, Prime Ministry Inspection Board (AFCOS) and European Anti-Fraud Office (OLAF).
If you are in opinion that a matter (an action or process) arises an irregularity, you can directly contact with the contracting authority (or operating structure) by informing the matter and why you think the matter consists an irregularity.