Interreg VA LithuaniaPoland cooperation Programme general information Information

Interreg V-A Lithuania-Poland cooperation Programme – general information Information for potential beneficiaries during the 5 th call for proposals May 2020

Eligible area of the Programme On the Lithuanian side: Ø Ø Ø Alytus county, Kaunas county, Marijampolė county, Tauragė county, Vilnius county (except for Vilnius city). On the Polish side: Ø Ełcki subregion, Ø Suwalski subregion, Ø Białostocki subregion.

Priorities to be selected during 5 th call 11 400 000 EUR of ERDF support not divided by Priority during this call

Output indicators (1/2) Priority Axis Indicator Number of heritage sites developed or adapted PA 1 Environment and resourse efficiency Number of joint tourism routes developed Measurement unit Sites Routes No of natural and cultural heritage objects and related products promoted Objects and related products promoted PA 2 Employment and labor mobility (SO 2. 1) Number of new or upgraded joint (or promoting cooperation) services for business Services Number of persons participated in joint trainings and events Persons PA 2 Employment and labor mobility (SO 2. 2) Number of participants in joint local employment initiatives and joint training Persons Number of participants in cross-border mobility initiatives Persons

Output indicators (2/2) Priority Axis PA 3 Social inclusion PA 4 Institutional capacity Indicator Measurement unit Number of participants in projects promoting gender equality, equal opportunities and social inclusion across borders Persons Number of NGOs involved in cross-border cooperation for combating poverty and social inclusion NGOs Number of new or upgraded health care services and prevention programmes Services and programmes Number of institutions involved in the cross border cooperation Institutions Number of persons participated exchange of staff in joint trainings or Persons

5 th call for proposals New! Duration: from 4 th May 2020 continuously until all funds will be committed, but not later than 30 th September, 2020, 23: 59 (GMT + 02: 00 – Lithuanian time) The e-mail address for submitting signed and scanned applications: application@lietuva-polska. eu Programme web page: www. lietuva-polska. eu Contacts: Joint Secretariat http: //lietuva-polska. eu/en/contacts/joint_secretariat. html RCPs in Białystok and Olsztyn: http: //lietuva-polska. eu/en/contacts/regional_contact_points. html

5 th call for proposals New! • Assessment of the projects starts directly after receiving the application. • Evaluation process from submission of the application till the decision shall take about 2 -3 months. • Information about received applications and requested funding is announced on a regular basis on the Programme website www. lietuvapolska. eu

5 th call for proposals New! Strategic priority will be given to the projects directed at the COVID-19 pandemic response: • answering current emergency needs, • mitigating impact of the outbreak on various aspects of life (economic, social and other). These activities shall be reflected in the objectives of the project, described in the project activities and reflected in the output indicators.

5 th call for proposals - SIMPLIFICATIONS New! • Application submitted by e-mail. • Technical project is not required during the application phase, however an annex with brief description (scope and value) of the construction works should be submitted (see part 3. 6. 3. of Program Manual for more information). • No need to submit balance sheets, registration forms, etc. • No need to fill in all fields of the Application form (check the guidelines for filling in Application Form, Annex 4 to the Programme Manual).

Application package • 5 th call Programme Manual • Digital Application Form • Model form of the Partnership agreement (Annex 1 to the Programme Manual) • Detailed project budget (Annex 1 to the Application Form). Available on www. lietuva-polska. eu

Eligible beneficiaries National, regional and local authorities and their organisational units having legal personality INSTITUTIONS: - having legal personality, - being non-profit seeking Associations formed by regional or local authorities Bodies governed by public law Associations formed by bodies governed by public law Non-governmental and non-profit seeking entities having legal personality, not having an industrial or commercial character

Partnership requirements • minimum 2 partners, max 6 partners, • at least 1 beneficiary from each country, • ensured 3 or 4 ways of cooperation: - Two ways of cooperation are obligatory: joint development and joint implementation; - One or two more ways should be introduced by applying projects: joint staffing and/or joint financing.

Lead beneficiary principle • No limitations for institutions to act as Lead Beneficiary in several projects within the same priority. It should be noted that Lead Beneficiary must have the proficient administrative and financial capacity to be able to run more than one cross-border project. New! • The institution from outside Programme area cannot act as a Lead Beneficiary in the project with exceptions listed in part 3. 1. 3. of the Programme Manual. • Lead beneficiary shall have additional responsibilities during application, contracting and implementation of the project.

5 th call projects Open call project Open call investment project Total budget: ERDF (85%) + beneficiaries contribution (15%) Investment component Duration Location Lead beneficiary Number of beneficiaries Relevant priority and specific objective More than 50. 000, 00 EUR; maximum – 1 mln EUR Up to 60% of the total project budget More than 60%, but not exceeding 85% of the total project budget Up to 18 months Up to 24 months Eligible Programme area with exceptions described in the sub. Only eligible Programme area paragraph 3. 1. 1 of the Programme Manual All institutions as described in the sub-paragraph 3. 1. 3 of the Programme Manual Only national, regional and local authorities and their organisational units, having legal personality, located in the Programme area at least 2 and not more than 6 Regular projects including those having investment component are foreseen under Priorities 1, 2, 3 and 4 and related Specific objectives of the Programme. New: the projects directed at COVID-19 pandemic response (both in relation to answering current emergency needs, as well as in mitigating impact of the outbreak) are welcomed.

Project budget • 85% of eligible costs - ERDF co-financing; 15% of eligible costs - own contribution; • no advance payments; • introduced several simplifications: - a flat rate for the budget category No 1. Staff cost (10% of the direct project costs: the budget categories No. 3 -6) or not to foresee staff costs at all. New: no real costs option is possible during the 5 th call for proposals; - a flat rate for the budget category No 2. Office and administrative expenditure (15% of the eligible costs in the budget category No 1. Staff cost); - the lump sum of fixed 2. 000, 00 EUR is assigned as Preparation costs.

Assessment and selection • Stages of assessment: - Admissibility and Eligibility check and quality assessment, - Strategic impact assessment (Strategic priority is given to projects directed at COVID-19 pandemic response. New!). • The maximum score is 105 points. New! • The applications which fail to score (after the quality and strategic assessments) at least 70 points out of 105 in total will be not recommended for financing. • Selection of the projects for funding by the Joint Monitoring Committee on continuous basis. New!

Final approval • The JMC selects the project for financing directly or under certain conditions. • The term for accepting the conditions and/or correcting the application shall be decided by the JMC. • The earliest project start date is the first day of the month following the JMC decision, exception are projects addressing COVID-19 pandemic - possible start date is from February 1, 2020 New! • In case project fails to fulfil conditions set by the JMC within the deadline or conditions are not fulfilled properly, the decision of JMC on project funding is automatically cancelled.

Planning sketches • Projects should evaluate very carefully their financial capacities and to prove their own contribution to receive Programme cofinancing. • Human resources should be seriously considered by applicants. • Way of project funding – reimbursement of expenditure – should be seriously appraised. • No advance payment is foreseen to be paid for the open call projects.

Where to find more information Applicant package and other information is available at www. lietuva-polska. eu under the Section “Application” All information can be found in the Programme Manual and its annexes Digital application form to be filled in should be downloaded The address for submitting signed and scanned applications: application@lietuva-polska. eu