RISE: Is staff allowed to take vacations during their secondment periods abroad in the frame of Horizon 2020 RISE projects?

Staff can take annual leave/ holiday. However, they are not counted towards the secondment periods, and split stays should be encoded in the system.

RISE: Is a staff member who changed their employer with another beneficiary within the same consortium during the project implementation eligible for a secondment?

This is acceptable provided that the staff member respects the one-month rule: be actively engaged in or linked to R&I activities for at least one month (full-time equivalent) at the sending institution before the first period of secondment (p. 32 in the MSCA Financial Guide). The staff member can be seconded from two different sending organisations and within the limit of 12 months for the duration of the project.

RISE: Is it necessary to submit a second periodic report and a final report under RISE?

At the end of the project, the coordinator will submit the periodic report of the last reporting period (similar to the first one, covering only that reporting period and NOT the whole project), plus they will submit a publishable summary covering the whole project (main achievements, etc.). 

RISE: Is working part-time during secondments in H2020 RISE projects allowed?

The 2020 MSCA RISE Guide for applicants, on p. 18 of 75, states “Note that all secondments must be performed on a full-time basis.” In addition, the H2020 AMGA on both p. 528 and p. 529 states “The beneficiaries must respect the following recruitment and working conditions for the seconded staff member under the action: … ensure that the staff members are seconded full-time”. For part-time staff members this may require a change of their relationship (i.e. conclude a contract or a supplementary agreement), to allow the secondment to be implemented on a full-time basis.

RISE: Is it possible to use the Research, training and networking unit costs to pay the seconded researcher in RISE?

Yes, it is possible.

In the Annotated Model Grant Agreement, p. 509 (Budget flexibility box) it is written that:

“Research, training and networking unit costs should be used for the research, training and networking activities foreseen in Annex 1, but unused amounts may be used for other action-related purposes (e.g. to cover travel and subsistence costs of a staff member, to organise additional training activities or horizontal networking events).

Unit costs for management and indirect costs should be used for the management of the action, but unused amounts may also be used for other action-related purposes (e.g. to cover travel and subsistence costs a staff member, to organise additional training activities or horizontal networking events).”

RISE: Can secondment start from a point other than the host country?

This can be solved by ‘following institutional practices’. There are no specific rules about these situations, so the organisations should just follow their normal practice. If they allow starting a non-RISE secondment from another location, then it should be fine. For example, when it can be proved that the trip would not be more expensive.

RISE: When is the minimum lenght of a month for secondments reached?

1.The minimum length of 1 month is reached if either:

a. The secondment starts on day n of a month (month N) and ends on day n-1 of the next month (month N+1) – If there is only 1 period of secondment (or several consecutive ones) or
b. The duration of the several secondments periods adds up to 30 days – If there are at least 2 non-consecutives periods of secondment.

2. EU funding is to be paid as a pro-rata of 30 days, in case part of a secondment is not a full month. (Of course only EU funding is only eligible for the cases where at least 1 month of secondment is reached for the respective researcher, as defined in point 1.a and 1.b). 
The calculation of the funding for each month is to be done as follows:

a. A full month is reached if the secondment starts on day n in month N and ends day n-1 in month N+1

b. When a full month is not reached, the remaining days are a pro-rata of 30 days (each of the 3 categories: 2000, 1800, 700 is paid as pro-rata).

RISE: Is a secondment for the whole month of February considered as a 30 day secondment?

The rule says that if it is a full month, it is a full month irrespective of the number of days (28-31). But if it is part of one month and part of another month, the pro rata 30 day calculation is applied.

RISE: Can a consortium agree to pay more for longer distances and less for short distances, according to the needs, or does the amount of 2100€ need to be fully spent on a monthly secondment of one staff member, no matter the distance and actual costs?

The monthly top up allowance of 2.000 EUR must be spent individually for each staff member. The beneficiaries have more margins with the institutional costs which can be used, among others, to maximize the top up allowance of the staff members. This can be agreed internally in a partnership or consortium agreement.

RISE: A staff member is employed part time at the sending institution and the duration of his employment is enough to meet the 6-months criterion. While on secondment, (s)he needs to work full time for the project. Does this mean, the sending institution needs to change her/his employment agreement accordingly and employ her/him full time for the duration of the secondment?

It depends: I is certain that they need to find the necessary internal arrangements allowing the staff member to work full-time during the secondment. These arrangements can be of whatever nature provided they can finally demonstrate full-time work.

RISE: A consortium signed the Grant Agreement but did not yet set up a consortium agreement. What now?

For most MSCA the consortium agreement is not mandatory (except the EID), but it is possible to conclude one and indeed it is usually strongly recommend. There are many issues that the consortium should agree upon, for example specific IP issues related to secondments, etc. A Consortium Agreement is a good and accepted way of dealing with such issues, and thinking them through and agreeing in advance is much better than dealing with problems as they arise during the implementation.
It does not matter if the Grant Agreement is already signed or not.

RISE: Is a partnership agreement mandatory?

The partnership agreements are not mandatory but are strongly recommended - see Guide for Applicants:
It is also strongly encouraged to conclude a Partnership Agreementt with the TC partner organisations to determine clear and transparent rules governing the internal relations between MS/AC beneficiaries and TC partner organisations (e.g. use and distribution of funding, legal issues, IPR, confidentiality, scientific responsibilities to implement action tasks, compliance with grant agreement obligations, etc.).

RISE: How does financing of those organisations in TC who are eligible for funding work? Are these organisations entitled to receive funding via the beneficiaries?

The EU contribution is allocated to the coordinator. The coordinator shall distribute the contribution to each beneficiary according to own staff seconded to other participants (including the other EU/AC organisations in inter-sectorial secondments) to the RISE consortium plus the secondments of staff from TC partners to its organisation. Other financial arrangements may be concluded in the partnership agreement depending on the specific necessities of each project.
As a general rule, the EU contribution must be directly managed by the beneficiaries of the project established in Member States/Associated Countries. However, under the responsibility of the sending organisation established in MS/AC, the EU contribution can be transferred to the TC. It is highly encouraged to define these financial arrangements in a partnership agreement according to the needs of the project.
All the budget parts under RISE are unit costs, so no actual costs. Provided that the secondment has occurred, the budget is directly linked to the actual duration of the secondment and calculated on that basis as mentioned in the Guide for Applicants. Therefore, there is no need to demonstrate how the associated budget has been actually used or to provide evidence of actual expenditure incurred. It is only necessary to demonstrate that the declared secondment really took place at the dates which have been reported. This can be done by any means depending on the internal practices of the beneficiaries but must be adequate enough to provide a clear and not doubtful justification about the actual duration of the secondments declared.
In general, the distribution of the money (Researcher Costs and Institutional Costs) is up to the consortium to decide, but if the coordinator and beneficiaries decide to send money outside of the EU, this is at their own risk.
(Answer provided by NCPs)

RISE: Should the Staff member unit cost - 2100€ - of RISE projects be paid fully to the seconded, individual staff member or can the beneficiary use the “extra” (if there´s some money left after travel, accommodation and other subsistence costs) to the benefit of the project, for example networking costs? The text at the GfA is referring only to the “top-up allowance”.

The researcher staff shall be seconded under the best conditions possible for the time of the exchange. Provided that this requirement is met, it is up to the beneficiary to manage the EU unit costs (no minimum per category).
As for the reporting, the REA will request the submission of the researcher declaration (RD) and the corresponding periodic report (According to article 19.1). You will not be requested to report on each category but the corresponding number of units (person- months) per researcher month per beneficiary.
In the case of an audit, each beneficiary shall keep proof of the time for the secondments (boarding pass, visas, etc…) as normal accounting practice.
(Answer provided by REA)

RISE: Can the participants use part of the institutional costs to recruit technical staff for the management of the project?

No, the institutional costs are not supposed to cover any recruitment since this is not the aim of the action. The RISE action, as all other EU grants, is based on the principle of co-financing. Based on this principle the beneficiaries must co-finance the action by supporting the costs not reimbursed by the EU (in that case, the costs of newly recruited staff if necessary for the action). RISE is not supposed to cover 100% of the costs required to implement the action but only 100% of the eligible costs defined in the Grant Agreement.
(Answer provided by REA)

RISE: Can Third -Countries not eligible for funding receive a percentage of the institutional cost?

No, the eligibility rules cannot be bypassed to fund ineligible secondments using the institutional costs of eligible secondments. The RISE action, as all other EU grants, is based on the principle of co-financing. Based on this principle the beneficiaries must co-finance the action by supporting the costs not reimbursed by the EU (in that case, the secondments from TC not eligible for funding). RISE is not supposed to cover 100% of the costs required to implement the action but only 100% of the eligible costs defined in the Grant Agreement. REA confirms that the institutional costs can be used to cover general networking (where partners from TC not eligible for funding are also involved).
(Answer provided by REA)

RISE: Who receives the EU contribution - the sending or the receiving partner?

The FAQ by REA states the following:
The first statement applies to partners from Third Countries which are eligible for funding. The second statement (Q52) applies for any TC partner, which is hosting the researchers from EU/AC.

RISE: Is it possible to transfer institutional unit costs from a beneficiary to a Third Country partner?

It is possible to transfer the institutional unit costs, if this is foreseen in the partnership Agreement. Of course, these rule should be very clear and strict, because the EU beneficiary is reporting these costs later on to REA.
(Answer provided by NCPs)

RISE: What is the the recruitment policy of researchers in a RISE project?

Researchers are not recruited into a RISE project, and formally there is no salary funding available in the budget. They should be working in research (paid from other sources) at their sending organisation for at least one months before going on their first RISE secondment. When on secondment, they continue to be paid by that other funding source, and simply receive the €2100 per month allowance to cover travel/accommodation/living costs while away. While on secondment, they should work exclusively on the RISE project.