EU Structural funds - news http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/0 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 20:02:05 +0200 en hourly 1 http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1536http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1536Wed, 11 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 Based on a decision of the Joint Monitoring Committee of the Bulgaria-Serbia IPA Cross-border Programme, the Guidelines for Applicants for the second Call for Proposals have been revised. The Corrigendum, concerning treatment of the "adjacent area" rule, can be found on the Programme website: http://www.ipacbc-bgrs.eu/eng/news/view/81. http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1592http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1592Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 A total of 5 contracts amounting to BGN2 255 937.93 were concluded under Operational Programme "Administrative Capacity" in December 2011. Another BGN1 647 687 were paid under Operational Programme "Administrative Capacity" in the final month of the year. Of those BGN1 411 993 were transferred for activities implemented under approved projects.  The activities funded are mainly aimed at improving the fees policies; developing the planning and mobility system in the state administration; improving the investment policy of the Republic of Bulgaria through better regulation of the investment process and development of the e-government. Some of the funds were earmarked for building capacity for students' internships in the administration; introduction of complex administrative services and provision of high-quality services for the citizens and the businesses; deployment of new electronic administrative services and ensuring transparency in the operation of the central and local administrative units.  From the start of the programme:  56 grant schemes have been open; 1725 project proposals have been submitted; 295 grant contracts have been concluded of which:           - 133 - with NGOs;           - 21 - with the judicial system;           - 73 - with the central administration;           - 68 - with the local authorities. more than 200 have been completed; A total of BGN209 473 664 have been contracted representing more than 59% of the OPAC budget; A total of BGN98 838 585 have been paid representing close to 28% of the total programme budget; A total of BGN76 275 523 were verified, i.e. 21.5% of the financial plan and 36.4% of the contracted  funds. http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1594http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1594Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1595http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1595Fri, 06 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 The findings are from the annual report of the audit agency regarding the OPE expenditures for 2010.  The management and control systems of Operational Programme "Environment" function effectively and ensure that the European Commission receives accurate reports about the programme expenditures. This is the conclusion made in the report of the Executive Agency "Audit of EU Funds" which audited 100% of the OPE payments for 2010. The audit covered a total of 52 projects receiving BGN38 million in payments. The audit registered a significant improvement of the financial controls with the irregularities found in the payment requests for the projects amounting to BGN41 thousand or 0.11% given a threshold of 2%. This is a very low level of error not only in national, but also in European terms.  Brussels gave a positive assessment of the new OPE management and control systems at the beginning of 2010 after MEW took urgent measures aimed at ensuring that the funds requested from the Commission are accurate. The annual audit report of the audit agency confirms that the overall controls over the public procurement procedures are effective and the errors made by the beneficiaries are promptly corrected so that the Commission receives requests which are in line with the European regulations which in turn is a guarantee that the expenditures paid to the beneficiaries will be reimbursed  to the national budget. Before the measures were taken, the error rate for the programme as a whole was 6-9% in 2009 compared to 0.11% a year later.  Achieving full absorption of the Operational Programme "Environment" funds depends on the preparation of good projects implemented by way of public procurement in line with the law and high-quality contract execution. If one of these elements is lacking, this creates difficulties in the reimbursement of the expenditures on the part of the Commission.  The professional implementation of the existing commitments will provide Bulgaria with a good starting position in the negotiations for the new financial framework 2014 - 2020. In the middle of 2009 the absorption rate of the programme was under half a percent whereas at the end of 2011 the rate is eleven percent. It is expected that all funds available under the programme will be contracted in 2012 and the payments to the beneficiaries will exceed 20%. http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1590http://eufunds.bg/en/pubs/1590Thu, 05 Jan 2012 00:00:00 +0200 The mid-term evaluation of Operational Programme "Administrative Capacity" carried out by the SMART Consortium including ECORYS South East Europe EOOD and the partners WIG Bulgaria EOOD and Prime Consulting was completed.  The programme evaluation took three months.    The main conclusions and recommendations in the evaluation report are as follows: OPAC priorities are up to date, they are within the scope of the reviewed strategic documents and in line with the goals of the administrative and judicial reforms. No need was identified for changing the OPAC strategy, objectives and priorities. Given the fact that OPAC is in line with the strategic documents and provided that the IAWR drafting procedure is effective, OPAC to a large extent succeeds in meeting the needs of the beneficiaries and target groups in a timely manner. In this respect the programme meets the relevancy criteria. Until 2010 the time needed for selection and evaluation of project proposals increased mostly in terms of the evaluation and contracting processes. In 2011 the times were shortened. In terms of financial implementation (absorption of funds) as compared to the other 6 operational programmes and in percentages OPAC is the most advanced operational programme. A general conclusion can be made that in the cases when physical progress was made and relevant expenditures reported, the projects indicate that the funds were relatively efficiently expended. The full text of the final report can be found here.