General Conditions

The Delivery Agent shall diligently implement and undertake the Project and must ensure that the budget outlined in the CRM website based offering per business assigned is not exceeded and hourly rates are in accordance with this contract. Any business related documentation utilised or produced as a result of the mentoring relationship must be uploaded and appended within the business specific area of the CRM website for Project Alchemy.

Access to Documentation

All relevant documentation should be held, in original form by the contracting body. Guidance on the Audit Trail is available under “Guidance” in the Resource Library section of the programme’s website – www.eucompni.gov.uk. Where actual activity is being delivered by the contractor then as a minimum, the following contract should grant access rights to the bodies below (with reasonable notice, to enter any premises relevant to the service delivery for the purposes of verifying the reality and outputs of said service):

  • Contracting Body
  • Invest NI
  • DETI & its Agents
  • NI Audit Office
  • European Commission
  • European Court of Auditors

 

Retention of documentation

All records concerning the Project shall be retained and made available for inspection until 31 December 2022. For expenditure incurred through a contract, in most cases the original documents should be retained by the Contracting Body. However, where other relevant documents are generated by the contractor (e.g. participant data, sub-contracts, actual 3rd party costs etc.) then provision should be made within the contract for retention in compliance with the requirements. If the project is terminated or closed for any reason the full documentation must be returned to the Contracting Body or placed in appropriate storage facilities approved by the Contracting Body.

Eligibility of Expenditure

For contract expenditure, eligibility of costs will primarily be assessed on the appropriate award of the tender in compliance with public procurement rules and the thresholds set out at http://www.dfpni.gov.uk/index/procurement-2/cpd/cpd_publications/content_-_cpd_-_policy_-_procurement_guidance_notes/content_-_cpd_procurement_guidance_notes_pgn_03_-_10/pgn-03-10-26012011.pdf

Declared expenditure will mainly consist of the payments by the Contracting Body to the contractor in accordance with the terms of contract. However, in some cases, 3rd Party costs are also paid on the basis of actual cost to the contractor.

The Department of Finance and Personnel has responsibility for the co-ordination of Structural Funds in Northern Ireland and has therefore developed National Eligibility Rules (the Rules). These are available under ‘Publications’ in the Resource Library section of the Programme’s website – www.eucompni.gov.uk . The Rules take into account the EC legislative Rules on Programme and project eligibility and are based on the key principles of sound financial management.

The Rules cover expenditure on projects funded by the Structural Funds, i.e. European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the European Social Fund (ESF), except where it is explicit that they apply to one fund only. The Rules apply to all projects approved under the following 2007-2013 Operational Programmes (the Programmes) and apply to all expenditure declared as eligible in any payment claim:

Member State Legislation

Contractors are required to comply with the statutory provisions in force in Northern Ireland including Health and Safety and Equality of Opportunity.

Insurance

The contractor should carry appropriate insurance cover which should include as a minimum public and employers liability.

Disclosure and Publicity

Coleraine Borough Council is entitled to disclose to other Government Agencies, Government Departments, district councils, Local Enterprise Agencies or other bodies involved in economic development in the European Union such information about the financial assistance as considered appropriate. The Intermediate Body shall also be entitled to include any such information in a database of economic, financial and statistical information and to publish or disseminate relevant reports.

The Managing Authority, Invest NI and the Contracting Body shall be entitled to publish details of the value and type of contract awarded and in such manner as they or the European Commission may decide.

The contract should make provision for compliance with the publicity guidance published. This can be accessed under ‘Guidance’ in the Resource Library Section of the Programme’s website – www.eucompni.gov.uk

Monitoring and Evaluation

Relevant indicators and targets are included in this contract, contractors are required to have robust systems in place to provide information required by the Contracting Body and/or Invest NI/DETI etc in an appropriate format to facilitate and monitor the rate of implementation of the Project and to assess its effect in relation to its objectives.

Mentors are required to record details of all meetings with clients (including preparation time, etc) this must be signed off in conjunction with clients following each meeting. Coleraine Borough Council will provide pro-forma documentation for the project and each mentor must access the CRM Website system to record all relevant information.

Financial Management

The CRM website www.colerainealchemy.com will be the main capture of data in relation to hours assigned per Mentor and Business based upon need identified. Mentors will be given an individual access code and each business will have an assigned identitiy and code.

Mentors are required to complete time spent, mentoring relationship agreed requirements and actual and projected outcomes achieved within the CRM website at all times as well as retain their own accurate records including timesheets of durations spent with each client to enable financial verification against payment claims.

Retention of Assets

Where appropriate, the contractor must maintain assets acquired in compliance with Managing Authority Guidance on the Disposal of Assets. This Guidance Note can be accessed under ‘Guidance’ in the Resource Library section of the Programme’s website – www.eucompni.gov.uk