UKRO sought clarifications from the Commission on the use of in-kind (non financial) contributions such as seconded personnel or equipment provided to the beneficiary organisations by third parties in Horizon Europe calls utilising the lump sum funding approach.
Issue in question
While the basic Horizon Europe rules for third parties providing in-kind contributions apply also to lump sum funding projects (as confirmed in a dedicated FAQ) a question has arisen about the obligation to complete Table 3.1.j in Part B for the proposal template in topics utilising lump sums.
Clarification
The European Commission has confirmed that applicants to lump sum topics must fill in the tables under point 3.1 of Part B of the proposal template, including Table 3.1.j: In-kind contributions provided by third parties (if applicable).
The tables with information on individual costs: 3.1.h (Purchase costs), 3.1.i (Other costs categories) and Table 3.1.j (In-kind contributions provided by third parties) are relevant at the proposal stage because they give more information on the cost estimations.
However, the above-mentioned tables are not needed in the grant agreement due to the nature of lump sum funding. Successful consortia are instructed to remove these three tables during the Grant Agreement Preparation process. Full information is included in point 3. Grant preparation of the How to manage your lump sum grants guidance.
Furthermore, applicants can also explain their in-kind contributions from third parties in the ‘Any comments’ tab of the Excel lump sum budget table to provide evaluators with more details on the estimates.
Regarding in-kind contributions provided free of charge, the same Horizon Europe rules apply for lump sums as for actual cost grants. This means that in-kind contributions provided by third parties free of charge may be declared by the participants as eligible direct costs in the corresponding cost category, as if they were their own (e.g. under personnel costs or purchase costs for equipment).
Please see Article 6.1 General eligibility conditions of the HE Annotated Grant Agreement for more details.