5.1.4 Distribution and monitoring of funds

In the virtual common pot model funds are usually provided directly by the respective national/regional agency to successful applicants.

Consequently, monitoring of funds, too, is effected by the agencies in this direct inter-relationship. For trans-national project cooperation it is important that all involved project participants will receive their funds at project start, as the delay in funding one participant might cause the delay of the project and thus involves the other participant. To assure a quick release of funds is part of the agencies’ commitment to the ERA-NET.

In the case of a Real Common Pot the programme owners provide the agreed financial contribution to the central secretariat. Funds are then distributed to the respective projects and the project is monitored by the secretariat. In the case of a mixed mode, program managers provide the financial contribution directly to the successful project participants from their respective countries - plus the maximum funding contribution of joint funds agreed within the ERA-NET consortium to the call secretariat.

Joint funds are subject to monitoring by the call secretariat, which surveys the proper use of joint funds in projects that have been assigned joint funds. In the mixed mode model, the call secretariat could also host the entire monitoring process. In addition to joint funds, agencies have to provide a joint budget that covers the cost for the secretariat.

Specific payment modalities of ERA-NET Plus involve two pre-financing phases, in some cases interim payments and a final payment. Therefore, the preparation of an overview of the payments/reimbursement to the beneficiaries by the coordinator is advisable.