1. The Union may cover up to 100 % of the eligible costs, without prejudice to the co-financing principle.
2. By way of derogation from Article 181(6) of the Financial Regulation when applying flat rates, the authorising officer responsible may authorise or impose funding of the beneficiary’s indirect costs up to a maximum of 25 % of total eligible direct costs for the action.
3. Notwithstanding paragraph 2 of this Article, indirect costs may be declared in the form of a lump sum or unit costs when provided for in the work programme referred to in Article 100.
4. By way of derogation from Article 204 of the Financial Regulation, the maximum amount of financial support that can be paid to a third party shall not exceed EUR 200 000.
1. The Commission or an entrusted entity in the context of the Programme may issue a joint call for proposals with entities, bodies or persons referred to in point (c) of the first subparagraph of Article 62(1) of the Financial Regulation.
2. In the case of a joint call referred to in paragraph 1 of this Article:
(a)
the rules referred to in Title VIII of the Financial Regulation shall apply;
(b)
the evaluation procedures shall involve a balanced group of experts appointed by each party; and
(c)
the evaluation committees shall comply with Article 150 of the Financial Regulation.
3. The grant agreement shall specify the arrangement applicable to intellectual property rights.
Grants for pre-commercial procurement and procurement of innovative solutions
1. Actions may involve or have as their primary aim pre-commercial procurement or public procurement of innovative solutions that shall be carried out by beneficiaries which are contracting authorities or contracting entities as defined in Directives 2014/24/EU ( 40 ) , 2014/25/EU ( 41 ) and 2009/81/EC ( 42 ) of the European Parliament and of the Council.
2. The procurement procedures for innovative solutions:
(a)
shall comply with the principles of transparency, non-discrimination, equal treatment, sound financial management, proportionality and competition rules;
(b)
in the case of pre-commercial procurement, may provide for specific conditions such as the place of performance of the procured activities being limited to the territory of the Member States and of the third countries participating in the Programme;
(c)
may authorise the award of multiple contracts within the same procedure (multiple sourcing); and
(d)
shall provide for the award of the contracts to the tender(s) offering best value for money while ensuring the absence of conflicts of interest.
3. The contractor generating results in pre-commercial procurement shall own at least the intellectual property rights attached to the results. The contracting authorities shall enjoy at least royalty-free access rights to the results for their own use and the right to grant, or require the contractor to grant, non-exclusive licences to third parties to exploit the results for the contracting authority under fair and reasonable conditions without any right to sub-licence. If a contractor fails to commercially exploit the results within a given period after the pre-commercial procurement as identified in the contract, the contracting authorities may require it to transfer any ownership of the results to the contracting authorities.
Blending operations decided under the Programme shall be implemented in accordance with Regulation (EU) 2021/523 and Title X of the Financial Regulation.
