Partnership Agreements

While the Grant Offer Letter / Subsidy Contract is signed between the Lead Partner and the programme, partnership agreements constitute the formal project contract between the partners. As part of the Lead Partner principle, which will become compulsory for all projects in the 2007-2013 programme period, all projects must have a partnership agreement.

The INTERACT Point Tool Box (TB) has developed a detailed tool on 'Good Practice INTERREG III Partnership Agreements' (October 2005, see www.interact-eu.net for further details). This manual will not discuss the technical aspects of these agreements in detail but concentrates instead on the main purpose and functions of the agreement in a project. As described in the INTERACT Point TB tool, the main advantages of partnership agreements are:

By clearly defining project responsibilities and procedures for each partner and within the project as a whole, partnership agreements should make it easier to implement projects.

The agreement lays out important principles such as the need to actively contribute to cooperation activities, respect deadlines and inform the Lead Partner of any problems as soon as they occur

The legally binding nature of partnership agreements means that if problems arise that cannot be solved informally by the partners, procedures can be enforced to arrive at a solution

Partnership agreements provide a way of minimising the various types of risks involved in carrying out INTERREG III projects

The agreement makes clear that all partners have a responsibility to ensure the correctness of the expenditure they declare and that they must repay any funds claimed back by the programme. This is important for ensuring the Lead Partner’s financial security

In some cases programme management provides a template for partnership agreements, which then can be adjusted to the specific content of the project. Project specific information covers - as a minimum - the responsibilities and roles of partners, the schedule for financial claims and the time-scale to prepare reports.

Benefits of partnership agreements NAVE Nortrail (IIIB North Sea)

Aberdeenshire Council regards the Partnership Agreement as an important legal document but emphasises that any partnership should also be based on mutual trust. The Partnership Agreement adds more weight to the role of the Lead Partner and defines the roles of all other partners. As a minimum, it should cover the requirements for financial claims from partners, the time scale to prepare reports, the Grant Offer Letter/ Subsidy Contract and approved application from the secretariat to make it transparent to partners and the signature of a senior member of staff (chief executive) of each partner to strengthen their commitment.

Project Management Handbook

Bioenergy (IIIA Kvarken-Mittskandia)

An important feature of the project was to establish partnership agreements that make problem solving easier. The agreement should include statements about economic responsibility, book keeping and documentation procedures, reporting within the project and procedures for solving major problems. The partnership agreements are mainly based on economic and reporting responsibilities in accordance with the EU project requirements.

The agreement eases the financial responsibility of the Lead Partner.

In practice, partnership agreements are rarely used for settling disagreements between partners. It is extremely unusual for partnerships to end in legal disputes and most conflicts can be solved in more informal ways such as regular communication and meetings. At the same time, partnership agreements are often used for other purposes, most importantly as a reference document that

describes the key roles and responsibilities. Putting key requirements on paper in a formal document increases the probability that partner organisations will take action to ensure that these responsibilities are fulfilled.

Partnership agreements: clear definition of roles and responsibilities INNOFIRE (INTERREG IIIC East)

The project is structured around several components. The project partners may be either component leaders or just active partners. This implies different roles and responsibilities which are clearly defined and confirmed by all partners when the partnership agreement is signed. The partnership agreement is a standard agreement provided by the IIIC Secretariat and includes a section on “Obligations” (see extract below).

Selected extracts from the partnership agreement:

§ 2 Obligations

The Lead Partner shall fulfil all obligations arising from the subsidy contract and the approved application. The Lead Partner acts as a link between the project partnership and the INTERREG IIIC Joint Technical Secretariat (JTS). In particular, the Lead Partner shall fulfil the following obligations:

appoint a project manager……..

start and implement the operation……..

draw up and present progress reports comprising activity reports and audited financial reports to the JTS ……….

‘Said is not the same as heard. Heard is not the same as understood. Understood is not the same as done.’

SOCRATES Survival Kit Partnership Agreement Structure, Aberdeenshire Council

1. Summary of Grant Offer Letter Conditions Applicable to partners 2. Lead Partner Conditions

3. Lead Partner Commitment (with signature) 4. Financial Requirements for each partner 5. Audit Requirements

6. Budget Rules 7. Periodic Reports

4. Contracting and start-up

request payments….

receive payments….

manage and verify appropriate spending of the subsidy awarded carry out the operation's overall accounting

communicate with the bodies implementing the INTERREG IIIC programme

react promptly to any request by the bodies implementing the INTERREG IIIC programme ….

notify its partners immediately of any event that could lead to a temporary or final discontinuation or any other deviation of the operation

produce all documents required…..

retain at all times for audit purposes all files, ….

provide the independent assessors…. any document or information necessary to assist with the evaluation

comply with EU and national legislation.

Every partner shall accept the following duties and obligations:

appoint a project leader for the parts of the operation for which it is responsible and give the project leader the authority to represent the partner in the operation

implement the part of the operation for which it is responsible in due time…

support the Lead Partner in drawing up progress reports and the final report by providing the required data on time

produce and deliver to the Lead Partner all information necessary for payment requests

notify the Lead Partner immediately of any event that could lead to a temporary or final discontinuation or any other deviation of the operation

produce all documents required for the audit,…

retain at all times for audit purposes all files,…

provide the independent assessors… any document or information necessary to assist with the evaluation

respect all rules and obligations laid down in the subsidy contract and the co-financing statement each partner has signed for the application

react promptly to any request by the bodies implementing the INTERREG IIIC programme

comply with EU and national legislation.

In addition to the general programme template, the project included further project-specific sections, for example on partner responsibilities:

“According to section 1 the partners are responsible for implementing the INTERREG IIIC operation as it is described in the application. For the implementation, responsibilities related to component activities have been defined and distributed among partners. The following component leaders have been nominated in the application:

Component 1: (name of the organisation) Component 2: (name of the organisation)” etc.

The level of detail required for the contents of a partnership agreement varies. In many projects from the current period, the application form was used as a key reference document

Project Management Handbook

by partners. The application form, financial annexes and the Grant Offer Letter/ Subsidy Contract will normally cover many of the issues that might typically be included in a partnership agreement. Rather than duplicating contents, these additional documents can be annexed to the actual partnership agreement and referred to in the text of the agreement.