06 / 12 / 2019


Future MGA: EARTO asking for continuing H2020 personnel costs’ options

In the context of the making of the future Horizon Europe’s Model Grant Agreement (MGA) and following the European Commission (EC) proposal to move from hourly rate to daily rates for the calculation of personnel costs in Horizon Europe (incl. day-equivalent option), EARTO expressed its concerns regarding this specific EC proposal in a position paper published earlier this week.   Indeed, the calculation of personnel costs based on daily rates proposed by the EC instead of hourly rates would be a major change that would not reflect the reality of many FP beneficiaries (like RTOs but not only) and is not in line with their Usual Cost Accounting Practices.
  • Time recording is an integral part of the management control of RTOs and many other FP beneficiaries: they will continue to use timesheets.
  • The daily rate approach would increase the administrative burden for both beneficiaries and auditors (e.g. crosschecking calendar years and reporting periods, establishing the personnel costs for day-equivalents).
  • The unit cost option to calculate average personnel costs based on hourly rates needs to be maintained.
  • Organising trainings for beneficiaries on the EU FPs eligibility rules would be the best way to lower the error rate.
  Hoping for EARTO Members’ support in further circulating this position to their Member States (MS) in the view of next Monday discussion between MS and EC.   Please note that our concerns gained support from our colleagues of EUA and DIGITALEUROPE who expressed similar concerns and positions this week, both calling as well for the continuity with the personnel costs’ methods and options of H2020 rules as the best form of simplification.   Read full EARTO position paper