The Commission receive many questions on NMP call specifics. Listed here are the latest list of common questions (quite often related to specific Work Programme content) and the Commission responses to them:

What are the requirements for writing the 1st stage of a 2-stage proposal?

In April, The commission have released extra guidance – ‘Clarification note on stage 1’to help write the 1st stage. It is very important that you read this.

Where can I find the guide for evaluators?

There is none. The Guide for Participants and the Guide for Evaluators have been integrated into the Guide for Applicants. However, it is intended that samples of the evaluation "forms" and ESRs (formerly included in the Guide for Evaluators) will be posted on the Call page on CORDIS at a future date (see Annex 2 of the Guide for Applicants).

Under what conditions can third countries participate in collaborative project calls, FP7-NMP-2007-SMALL-1, FP7-NMP-2007-LARGE-1 etc?

Proposals submitted under the call FP7-NMP-2007-SMALL-1 must indeed satisfy the minimum participation requirements - ie at least three legal entities established in different EU Member States or Associated countries (Please see guide for applicants for this call, p7). Participants from 3rd countries may participate as long as these minimum requirements are satisfied and as long as their participation is appropriate to the particular project.

How will the financial limits (€ 4m) be applied and what is their significance?

The limits will be applied as an eligibility criteria only for evaluation ie the budget specified in the proposal must correspond to that laid out in the call. The fact that the budget is negotiated down (eg from > €4m to < €4m) will not pose a problem.

Will a Consortium Agreement be mandatory for FP7? Is it needed for a proposal?

Consortium agreements are obligatory unless exempted by the particular call for proposals but they do not actually have to be presented with the proposal. Only have to be produced in case of an audit.

Are Small and Medium Scale Collaborative Proposals restricted to participation by SMEs?

NO, but although this call does not specifically target SMEs, they are of course encouraged to participate.

What exactly is meant by Industrial Leadership as indicated in the WP?

Projects should be led by industrial partners but some of these, say SMEs, may not have the capacity to be the coordinator and there is no obligation for them to be.

Within the Cooperation programme could a partner from a 3rd country act as a coordinator?

Since the FP7 Rules for participation do not provide that only an entity established in the Member States/Associated states may become a project coordinator, in general there is no obstacle to an entity from a third country being chosen to play that role. However, pursuant to Article 25.3 of the "Rules" this choice have to be approved by the Commission. When granting its accord, the Commission takes into account different aspects, e.g. results of the financial viability check of the potential coordinator.

For small and medium sized collaborative proposals, should 2 consortia who know they have overlapping proposals refer to each others proposals or present proposal with overlaps?

They should propose everything they want to do, with overlaps, and if both end up being funded the Commission will deal with this.

What happened to the NEST activity under FP6?

This activity has been absorbed by the ERC.

What is the protocol for handling paper submissions?

There is no paper submission , electronic submission only in FP7!

In all requests for further details, please email nmp@fp7uk.co.uk or contact the NMP helpline.