Regulations regarding Sub-activity 1.2.1.1.4 "Promotion of Interest for an Initial Vocational Education" of the Supplement to the Activity Programme "Human Resources and Employment"

Issued pursuant to
Section 18, Clause 10 of the
Law On Management of European Union
Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund

I. General Provisions

1. These Regulations prescribe:

1.1. the procedures by which Priority 1.2 "Education and Skills", Measure 1.2.1 "Development of Vocational Education and Overall Skills", Activity 1.2.1.1 "Development of the Vocational Education System, Quality, Relevance and Improving Interest", Sub-activity "Promotion of Initial Interest for Vocational Education" (hereinafter - Sub-activity) of the Supplement to the Activity Programme "Human Resources and Employment" shall be implemented;

1.2. requirements for European Social Fund project (hereinafter - project) applicants;

1.3. assessment criteria for a project application;

1.4. the responsible authority and co-operation authority, the division of competence between these institutions and the procedures for co-operation, as well as the functional subordination form for the responsible and co-operation institutions.

2. The objective of the sub-activity shall be to improve the interest for an initial vocational education in young people in order to increase the proportion of young people who gain vocational education and qualification.

3. Initial vocational education programmes within the meaning of these Regulations are accredited basic vocational education, industrial education or secondary vocational education programmes (hereinafter - vocational education programmes).

4. The target group for the sub-activity shall be the persons to be educated, who are obtaining one of the vocational education programmes referred to in Sub-paragraph 13.1 of these Regulations.

5. The objectives of the sub-activity shall be attained by implementing the activities referred to in Paragraph 13 of these Regulations and promoting achievement of the following result indicator - 10 000 persons to be educated in initial vocational education, who have received European Social Fund funding in the form of special purpose scholarships.

6. The sub-activity shall be implemented in accordance with these Regulations and regulatory enactments, that determine the management of the European Union Fund and Cohesion Fund, its implementation and supervision of the implementation.

7. Within the framework of the sub-activity the functions of the responsible authority shall be performed by the Ministry of Education and Science. The responsible authority shall:

7.1. ensure selection and evaluation of a project application:

7.1.1. draft the evaluation form for the project application and the methodology for completing the project application and the project application evaluation form;

7.1.2. draft and approve the by-law of the Project Application Evaluation Commission;

7.1.3. establish the project application evaluation commission;

7.1.4. send an invitation to the project applicant to submit a project application;

7.1.5. evaluate a project application and take a decision regarding approving the project application or conditionally approving, or rejecting it, as well as evaluate the fulfilment of the conditions included in the decision regarding the conditional approval of the project application;

7.2. store data regarding a project application in the regulatory enactments regarding the development and utilisation according to the prescribed procedure of the information system of the European Union Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund management;

7.3. shall harmonise the project amendments referred to in Paragraph 74 of these Regulations;

7.4. shall plan and implement informative measures regarding implementation of sub-activities;

7.5. ensure that the available financing referred to in Paragraph 11 of these Regulations for implementing the sub-activity is not exceeded, and supervise the acquisition of the available European Social Fund financing, including the execution at the sub-activity level of the principle referred to in Article 93(1) and (2) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006, laying down the general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1260/1999.

8. The functions of the co-operation authority shall be performed by the State Education Development Agency. The co-operation authority shall:

8.1. within 10 days after the date of coming into force of these Regulations, develop a draft agreement regarding implementation of the project and submit it for harmonisation to the responsible authority;

8.2. sign an agreement with the final beneficiary regarding implementation of the Project and prescribe the project implementation requirements to the final beneficiary in accordance with these Regulations and regulatory enactments that determine the management of the European Union Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund, its implementation and supervision of the implementation;

8.3. ensure supervision and control of the project implementation, including the performance of inspections at the Project implementation site and supervision of implementation at the Project level of the principle referred to in Article 93(1) and (2) of Council Regulation (EC) No. 1083/2006 of 11 July 2006, laying down the general provisions regarding the European Regional Development Fund, European Social Fund and Cohesion Fund and repealing Regulation (EC) No. 1260/1999;

8.4. supply information to the responsible authority regarding implementation of the State budget finance planning project;

8.5. review the procurement plan of the final beneficiary and submit it to the Procurement Monitoring Bureau;

8.6. prepare and submit information to the responsible authority regarding implementation of the project and acquisition of available funds from the European Social Fund and State budget resources;

8.7. prepare a projection of the project expenditure and submit it to the paying authority, managing authority and the responsible authority;

8.8. examine and approve the final beneficiary's request for payments and prepare an expenditure declaration;

8.9. submit information to the final beneficiary regarding the execution requirements and execution of the regulations of the agreement entered into;

8.10. shall approve the amendments to the project, complying with what is referred to in Paragraphs 73 and 74 of these Regulations;

8.11. store data regarding the project application according to the procedure prescribed in the regulatory enactments regarding the development and utilisation of the information system of the European Union Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund management;

8.12. plan and implement measures for informing society regarding the agreement entered into with the final beneficiary within the framework of the sub-activity.

9. The co-operation authority shall be under the functional supervision of the responsible authority.

10. The sub-activity shall be implemented in the form of a restricted selection process, that the responsible authority shall organise as a tender process during the 2007 - 2013 planning period.

11. The available public financing for the sub-activity shall be LVL 10 500 718, included in that amount is LVL 8 925 610 of European Union Fund co-financing and financing from the State budget of LVL 1 575 108.

12. Maximum permissible amount of the co-financing from the European Social Fund is 85% from the sum total of the total eligible costs of a project.

13. Activities that shall be supported within the framework of the project are:

13.1. ensuring a special purpose scholarship fund for accredited vocational education institutions, that are implementing vocational education programmes in the following education subject areas: engineering and technology, architecture and construction (hereinafter - priority education subject areas);

13.2. granting special purpose scholarships to persons to be educated who are studying in priority education subject areas of vocational education programmes, in accordance with the requirements prescribed by these Regulations.

II. Requirements for an Applicant of a Project

14. A project applicant shall be the Ministry of Education and Science (hereinafter - project applicant).

15. The project applicant shall implement the project in co-operation with accredited vocational education institutions which are implementing vocational education programmes in the priority subject areas (hereinafter - vocational education institution).

16. In order to implement the project, the project applicant shall enter into a co-operation agreement with each vocational education institution, that shall include at least the following provisions:

16.1. the special purpose scholarship fund amount;

16.2. breakdown of the special purpose scholarship fund over years;

16.3. the procedures for report submitting, submission time periods for requests for payment and amounts;

16.4. obligations to be fulfilled in implementing the project.

17. The project shall be implemented with all the available funds for the sub-activity,

III. Project Application Selection

18. The responsible authority shall, within 20 working days after the date of coming into force of these Regulations, send an invitation to the project applicant to submit a project submission (hereinafter - invitation).

19. The following shall be indicated in an invitation:

19.1. the time period for submitting the project application, that shall not be less than 20 working days from the date of sending the invitation.

19.2. the project submission location and procedure;

19.3. a home page on the Internet, on which all the documentation to be utilised in preparing a project application shall be published;

19.4 other information that the responsible authority regards as necessary to be included in the invitation.

20. Upon submission of a project application the project applicant shall observe the following requirements:

20.1. it is permitted to submit one project application;

20.2. the project application shall consist of the completed project application form (Annex 1) and the following annexes:

20.2.1. the procedure prepared by a project applicant in accordance with the requirements of these Regulations governing the financing provided for special purpose scholarships is granted, the supervision of application thereof and, if necessary, the review and reallocation of the granted financing;

20.2.2. the draft unified guidelines for the vocational education institutions regarding the regulations for granting special purpose scholarships to persons to be educated at vocational education institutions that the project applicant prepared in accordance with the procedures prescribed by these Regulations;

20.2.3. the standard co-operation draft agreement, prepared in accordance with the requirements of Paragraph 16 of these Regulations;

20.2.4. a draft financing plan of the project prepared by the project applicant (Annex 2); and

20.2.5. the project applicant's questionnaire regarding the application of the value added tax in accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding the procedures, by which information is furnished and checked regarding the application of value added tax within the framework of the project co-financed by European Union Structural Funds and a decision is taken regarding including the value added tax into the eligible expenses of the project;

20.2.6. a description of the implementation of the project information system referred to in Sub-paragraph 55.7 of these Regulations (if eligible);

20.3. the project application shall be signed by the head of the institution making the application or by their authorised person, the respective authority shall be appended to the project application.

21. The project applicant shall complete the project application form and shall draw up the project application complying with the following requirements:

21.1. the project application shall be prepared by computer in Latvian and all sections of the project application form shall be completed;

21.2. copies of the project application shall fully conform with the original of the project application;

21.3. the original and copies of the Project application are bound together (sewn together), the pages are numbered, and all the documents have been drawn up according to the procedures prescribed by the regulatory enactments regarding the development and drafting of documents;

21.4. the project applicant may not alter or delete the sections, sub-sections and the titles thereof of the project application;

21.5. when completing all sections of the project application form, cross compliance of the furnished information shall be ensured - by describing the current project, identifying problems and their solutions, relating to the project objective, planned project activities, expected results, selected target group, project implementation regulations and planned expenditure;

21.6. shall ensure the conformity of the contents of the project application to the conformity criteria referred to in Paragraph 32 and the quality criteria referred to in Paragraph 33 of these Regulations;

21.7. the project applicant, in completing the project application, shall plan that the necessary project expenses shall be rounded off to the nearest lats in accordance with the costs and amount restrictions referred to in Paragraphs 47, 51, and 52 of these Regulations, providing a substantiation of the planned costs of the project and ensuring their compliance to the objective of the project, planned activities and expected results. In the project application, the financing from the State budget funds shall be planned only for covering the eligible costs of the project.

22. The project applicant may submit the project application to the responsible authority in:

22.1. paper format in three copies (one original marked "oriģināls" (original) and two copies marked "kopija" (copy) and in electronic form on the electronic data media - all documents shall be placed in a package (envelope) and it shall be sealed;

22.2. the electronic document form, signed with a secure electronic signature and certified by a time stamp in accordance with the procedures specified in the Electronic Documents Law.

23. The final date for submission of the project application as prescribed by Paragraph 19 of these Regulations shall be the last day, when the project applicant may submit the project application personally or in electronic document form:

23.1. if the project application shall be submitted in electronic document form, the moment of submission shall be considered to be the time when it was sent by electronic means or utilising the direct means of communication at the disposal of the authority. If disputes arise, the project applicant shall prove that the project application was sent prior to the end of the time period for submitting the project application. If the responsible authority declares that the project application has not been received, it shall substantiate this declaration;

23.2. if the project is submitted personally, the submission date shall be considered to be the date and time indicated on the responsible authority's stamp.

24. The responsible authority shall register receipt of the submitted project application on the day that it is received. The attestation regarding the receipt of the project applicant shall be issued to the project applicant by the responsible authority personally or within 10 working days by post or in electronic document form, signed with a secure electronic signature in accordance with the procedures specified in the Electronic Documents Law.

IV. The Evaluation of Project Applications

25. The project applicant and the project application shall be evaluated in accordance with the administrative criteria referred to in Paragraph 31, the conformity criteria referred to in Paragraph 32 and the quality criteria referred to in Paragraph 33 of these Regulations.

26. The evaluation of a project application submitted within the scope of the sub-activity shall be ensured by the Project Application Evaluation Commission (hereinafter - Commission). The Commission shall include representatives of the Ministry of Education and Science and the Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government.

27. The representatives of the managing authority and the co-operation authority may attend meetings of the Commission as observers. The Commission may invite one or several experts (without the right to vote).

28. The Commission's activity shall be prescribed by the By-law of the Project Application Evaluation Commission that has been approved by the responsible authority.

29. Project applications shall be evaluated in compliance with these Regulations, the procedures drafted and approved by the responsible authority for evaluating the project application and the regulatory enactments, that prescribe the management of the European Union Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund, implementation and supervision of the implementation thereof, as well as by utilising the methodology for completing the project application form and the project application evaluation form.

30. The conformity of the project application to the administrative criteria and conformity criteria shall be evaluated by "Jā" [Yes] and "Nē" [No] ("Jā" [Yes] - does conform and "Nē" [No] - does not conform). The conformity of the project application to the quality criteria shall be evaluated by assigning a certain number of points.

31. The following shall be the administrative criteria (the conformity criteria for drawing up and submitting the project application):

31.1. the project submitter has been invited to submit the project application to a restricted project application selection;

31.2. the project application has been submitted within the time period specified by the responsible authority;

31.3. 39.3. the project submission has been drawn up using a computer;

31.4. 39.4. the project submission has been drawn up in the Latvian language;

31.5. the project application has been drawn up in conformity with the project application form referred to in Sub-paragraph 20.2 of these Regulations, and all sections of the form have been completed;

31.6. the project application has been submitted in paper format with the necessary number of project application copies (one original and two certified copies), the original application and the copies are bound together (sewn together) or in electronic document format, signed by a secure electronic signature and certified with a date stamp in accordance with the requirements specified in the Law On Electronic Documents, and as well the submitted documents have been drawn up in accordance with the specified requirements;

31.7. the project application has been signed by the head of the institution making the project application or their authorised person;

31.8. the project application has appended to it all the Annexes referred to in Sub-paragraph 20.2 of these Regulations;

31.9. the project implementation time periods and cost breakdown over years comply with the implementation time periods referred to in Paragraph 70 of these Regulations;

31.10. the co-financing of the European Social Fund requested in the project application and the sum total of eligible expenses is indicated in round numbers in lats;

31.11. the co-financing of the European Social Fund requested in the project application does not exceed the permissible amount referred to in Paragraph 12 of these Regulations;

31.12. the total of the eligible expenses requested in the project application conforms with the financing referred to in Paragraph 11 of these Regulations and does not exceed it;

31.13. the yearly eligible expenses shown in rounded off lats are arithmetically correct and conform with the sum totals indicated in the budget summary;

31.14. the eligible cost positions indicated in the project application conform with the eligible costs referred to in Paragraphs 47 and 51 of these Regulations;

31.15. the planned expenses of the project application do not exceed the cost restrictions referred to in Sub-paragraph 48.2 and Paragraphs 50, 54 and 56 of these Regulations.

32. The conformity criteria (the conformity criteria of a project applicant and a project application) shall be as follows:

32.1. the project applicant shall be the institution referred to in Paragraph 14 of these Regulations;

32.2. the aim of the project conforms to the objective of the sub-activity referred to in Paragraph 2 of these Regulations;

32.3. the project intends to implement the activities to be supported referred to in Paragraph 13 of these Regulations;

32.4. the amount of the available territorial quota for special purpose scholarships for each planning region has been indicated in the project application, that is determined in accordance with the number of graduates with a basic education in the planning region;

32.5. the problem to be solved has been defined in the project application and the needs of the selected target group have been substantiated;

32.6. the project application and its planned activities anticipate solving of the defined problem and meeting of the needs of the target group;

32.7. activities of the project are clearly defined, proportionate to the planned time schedule of implementation and ensure the achievement of the planned results;

32.8. the planned results of the project application are clearly defined and measurable (the results to be achieved are indicated in units with specified values);

32.9. the planned results of the project and their indicators facilitate achieving the result indicators prescribed in Paragraph 5 of these Regulations;

32.10. the project applicant undertakes to exclude any discrimination (that of sex, race, ethnic origin, religion, disability or other reasons) during the implementation of the project;

32.11. the project management, implementation and supervision scheme and the required resources (personnel to be employed, qualifications and responsibilities, the available technical base) has been described in the project application, and they conform to the needs of the project;

32.12. it is validated in the project application, that the achieved results are ensured to be long term and maintained after completion of the project;

32.13. the expenses indicated in the project application conform to the time period of implementing the intended project, are necessary and substantiated, in order to achieve the project results and implement the planned activities;

32.14. the measures of publicity and information distribution planned in the project conform to the publicity requirements specified for the implementation of the projects of the European Union funds.

33. The quality criteria (specific implementation and horizontal priority conformity criteria) shall be as follows:

33.1. it is intended to grant special purpose scholarships in the project application to:

33.1.1. less than 7000 vocational education institution persons to be educated (one point);

33.1.2. from 7000 to 9000 vocational education institution students to be educated (two points);

33.1.3. more than 9000 vocational education institutions persons to be educated (three points);

33.2. the conditions in the project application for granting the due special purpose scholarships to the persons to be educated by the vocational education institutions:

33.2.1. it is not indicated in the project application, by what means the granting of the special purpose scholarships shall be ensured (0 points);

33.2.2. the project application contains defined procedures for allocating the special purpose scholarships - the procedures have been developed, by which the intended financing for special purpose scholarships shall be granted to the vocational education institutions, a description has been provided on how the vocational education institutions shall grant the special purpose scholarships to the persons to be educated by the vocational education institutions (one point);

33.2.3. the project application contains clearly defined procedures for allocating the special purpose scholarships - the procedures have been developed, by which the intended financing for special purpose scholarships shall be granted to the vocational education institutions, guidelines have been developed on how the vocational education institutions shall grant the special purpose scholarships to the persons to be educated (two points);

33.3. the conditions for granting special purpose scholarships and their planned impact on improvement of the quality of vocational education:

33.3.1. it is intended to grant special purpose scholarships to those persons to be educated that are studying in priority subject areas, without evaluating their progress or attendance during the teaching process (one point);

33.3.2. it is intended to grant special purpose scholarships to those persons to be educated that are studying in priority subject areas, evaluating their progress and attendance during the teaching process (two points);

33.3.3. it is intended to grant special purpose scholarships to those persons to be educated that are studying in priority subject areas, evaluating their progress and attendance during the teaching process and partaking in extra curricular activities of the vocational education institution (three points);

33.4. the project application demonstrates a connection (mutually positive enrichment influence) with the development of the vocational education infrastructure of the European Regional Development Fund investments:

33.4.1. a mutually positive enrichment influence does not exist (0 points);

33.4.2. a mutually positive enrichment influence exists (two points);

33.5. risk evaluation for project implementation:

35.5.1. in the project application the possible risks have not been evaluated (0 points);

33.5.2. the possible risks have been partially evaluated in the project application, a measure's plan for preventing identified risks has not been developed or has been partially developed (one point);

33.5.3. in the project application the possible risks have been evaluated, the measure's plan for preventing or minimising identified risks has been partially developed (two points);

33.5.4. possible risks have been evaluated in the project application, including a possible increase in expenses, a substantiated action plan for preventing or minimising identified risks has been developed (three points).

V. Decision Regarding Approval of a Project Application, Conditional Approval or Rejection

34. The responsible authority shall take a decision to approve the project application if conformity to all the project application evaluation criteria referred to in Paragraphs 31 and 32 of these Regulations are evaluated with a "Jā" (Yes) and the evaluation of the project application quality criteria referred to in Paragraph 33 of these Regulations has received not less than nine points.

35. The responsible authority shall take a decision to reject and evaluate no further a project application, if it does not comply to any of the criteria referred to in Sub-paragraphs 31.1, 31.2, 31.3, 31.4, 31.5, 31.6, 31.7, 31.10, 31.11, 31.12, 32.1, 32.2, 32.3, 32.4, 32.9 and 32.10 of these Regulations.

36. The responsible authority shall take a decision to reject and evaluate no further a project application, if evaluation of the conformity of any of project application quality criteria referred to in Sub-paragraphs 33.2, 33.3, or 33.4 of these Regulations has received less than two points and the evaluation of the conformity of the quality criteria referred to in Sub-paragraph 33.1 of these Regulations has received less than three points.

37. The responsible authority may take a decision to grant the project application a conditional approval. The decision regarding approving the project application, in compliance with that referred to in Section 26 of the Law On Management of European Union Structural Funds and the Cohesion Fund, may include the following conditions that shall be fulfilled, in order for the project applicant to enter into an agreement regarding project implementation:

37.1. make the compliance of the project application evaluation criteria referred to in Sub-paragraphs 31.8, 31.9, 31.13, 31.14, 31.15, 32.5, 32.6, 32.7, 32.8, 32.11, 32.12, 32.13 and 32.14 of these Regulations more precise;

37.2. make the expenses more exact, if arithmetical calculation errors have occurred, on the condition that the sum total of the expenses is not increased and the expenditure restrictions referred to in Paragraphs 50, 54 and 56 are not exceeded;

37.3. perform a legally based activity prescribed by another responsible authority, that is directed towards entering into an agreement regarding implementation of the project.

38. Within five working days after taking a relevant decision, the responsible authority shall send to:

38.1. the project applicant - the decision regarding the approval of the project application or rejection of the project application, or conditional approval of the project application; and

38.2. the co-operation authority - the decision regarding approval of the project application and two certified copies of the approved project or the project application, which shall be submitted in electronic document form and signed with a secure electronic signature in accordance with the requirements specified by the Law On Electronic Documents.

39. If the project application has been conditionally approved, the project applicant within the prescribed time period, that shall not exceed 30 working days, shall ensure fulfilment of the conditions and shall submit to the responsible authority information for evaluation regarding fulfilment of the condition. During the prescribed time period the project applicant may not submit information regarding fulfilment of the conditions more than twice.

40. The responsible authority shall, within 20 working days of receipt from the project applicant of the information referred to in Paragraph 39 of these Regulations, shall evaluate it and draw up an opinion regarding the implementation of the conditions included in the decision. Control of the legality of the opinion is performed in the same manner as for the decision, for which this opinion has been drawn up to control the fulfilment of the included conditions.

41. If the project applicant ensures fulfilment of the conditions within the time period prescribed by Paragraph 39 of these Regulations and the opinion of the responsible authority is positive, the responsible authority shall, within five working days of signing the opinion, shall send to:

41.1. 45.1. the project applicant - the opinion regarding the implementation of the conditions included in the decision; and

41.2. the co-operation authority - the decision regarding the conditional approval of the project, the opinion regarding the implementation of the conditions included in the decision and two certified copies of the project or the project application, which shall be submitted in electronic document form and signed with a secure electronic signature and certified with a time stamp in accordance with the requirements specified by the Law On Electronic Documents.

42. If the project applicant has not ensured fulfilment of the conditions in the time period prescribed in Paragraph 39 of these Regulations or has not fulfilled the conditions included in the decision, the project application shall be considered as rejected and the responsible authority, within five working days of signing the opinion, shall inform the project applicant thereof.

43. If the project is approved, the co-operation authority and the final beneficiary shall enter into an agreement regarding implementation of the project in accordance with the regulatory enactments, which prescribe the procedures, by which the institutions involved in the management of the European Union Structural Fund and Cohesion Fund ensure drawing up of the planning documents and establishment of these funds.

44. The project applicant, within 20 working days of receipt of the decision regarding the rejection of the project application, or in the cases referred to in Paragraph 42 of these Regulations shall have the right to request that the responsible authority issue two copies of the project application submitted in accordance with the procedures prescribed by the regulatory enactments regulating circulation of information.

45. If the project applicant has not submitted the project application within the specified time period or has submitted the project application within the specified time period, but it has been rejected, the responsible authority has the right to repeatedly announce the project application selection.

VI. Eligible and Ineligible Expenses

46. Within the framework of the project expenses shall be divided into eligible and ineligible expenses.

47. Eligible expenses shall have the following cost positions planned:

47.1. costs of granting special purpose scholarships to persons to be educated by vocational education institutions;

47.2. costs of informing society and publicity costs.

48. The cost position referred to in Sub-paragraph 47.1 of these Regulations shall include the following costs:

48.1. remuneration of the personnel employed by a vocational education institution for implementing the project by executing the prescribed tasks of the co-operation agreement (selection of special purpose scholarship beneficiaries, disbursement and accounting of special purpose scholarship payments, drawing up reports regarding the usage of the special purpose scholarship fund and other expenses prescribe by the co-operation agreement);

48.2. the special purpose scholarship for the persons referred to in Sub-paragraph 13.2 of these Regulations to be educated by the vocational education institutions. The amount of the special purpose scholarship to be granted to one person to be educated by a vocational education institution shall be from LVL 20 to LVL 50 monthly.

49. The special purpose scholarships referred to in Sub-paragraph 48.2 of these Regulations shall not be granted in these cases:

49.1. the monthly progress evaluation of the study achievements of the person to be educated is a grade less than four or has not been entered, or there are unaccounted-for absences from classes, and they exceed two classes within one study week;

49.2. the person to be educated is located at a place of detention;

49.3. due the state of health of the person to be educated or for some other reason is on academic leave;

49.4. the person to be educated is on pregnancy and maternal leave;

49.5. in addition to the scholarship, that has been prescribed in the regulatory enactments regarding the procedures for receiving State budget financed scholarships, the person to be educated also receives another State allowance prescribed by regulatory enactments for gaining the education programme of the prescribed field.

50. The cost positions referred to in Sub-paragraph 47.2 of these Regulations shall not exceed 0.2% of the expenses referred to in Sub-paragraph 47.1 of these Regulations.

51. Non-recoverable value added tax payments are eligible expenses.

52. Ineligible expenses shall have the following cost positions planned:

52.1. the costs of drawing up of the project application and substantiating documentation;

52.2. administration expenses for the project.

53. The cost position referred to in Sub-paragraph 52.1 of these Regulations include the expenses of drawing up the project application and substantiating documentation of the enterprise agreement, including in that amount mandatory State employer social insurance payments, if on the basis of the enterprise agreement the employed person is not registered as a taxpayer on income gained from economic activity.

54. The cost position referred to in Sub-paragraph 52.1 of these Regulations shall not exceed LVL 5000.

55. The cost position referred to in Sub-paragraph 52.2 of these Regulations shall include the following costs:

55.1. payment costs for performing project administration tasks, including mandatory State employer social insurance payments, if the person employed to manage the project is not registered as a taxpayer on income gained from economic activity;

55.2. official domestic and work travel expenses;

55.3. costs of communication services (postal, telecommunications, Internet services);

55.4. Office supplies and inventory (valued up to LVL 50 per unit), excluding furniture;

55.5. hire of premises, if it is necessary to rent premises for administration of the project outside the legal address of the final beneficiary;

55.6. hire of the necessary information technology equipment for managing the project (computer equipment, software, printer, data storage equipment);

55.7. cost of implementing the project information system development and maintenance.

56. The cost positions referred to in Sub-paragraph 52.2 of these Regulations shall not exceed 5% of the expenses referred to in Sub-paragraph 47.1 of these Regulations.

57. The ineligible expenses referred to in Paragraph 52 of these Regulations shall be financed from State budget resources.

58. Financing from the resources of the European Social Fund and State budget shall not include eligible expenses that:

58.1. are not indicated in Paragraphs 47, 51 and 52 of these Regulations;

58.2. do not conform to the restrictions on expenses prescribed in Sub-paragraphs 48.2 and Paragraphs 50, 54 and 56 of these Regulations;

58.3. have not been incurred during the course of implementation of the project activities (excluding the expenses referred to in Sub-paragraph 52.1 of these Regulations) or the payments that were made later than within one month after the implementation term of the project;

58.4. are not substantiated by source cost documents or have been incurred due to not observing the requirements of regulatory enactments.

VII. Conditions for Implementation of the Project

59. The final beneficiary shall provide a unitary application of conditions for the selection of the persons to be educated by vocational education institutions and for granting special purpose scholarships in all planning regions, specifying for each region the amount of financing available for special purpose scholarships - a territorial quota. The aforementioned quota shall be determined, by proportionally dividing the planned finances for the special purpose scholarships referred to in Sub-paragraph 47.1 of these Regulations by the number of graduates of basic education institutions in the 2006/2007 school year in the relevant planning region (hereinafter - the proportional part of the special purpose scholarships to be granted to the region). The sum of the special purpose scholarships for a region shall be calculated using the following formula:

where

sr - the sum of the special purpose scholarships to be allocated to the region, in lats;

k - total amount of special purpose scholarships, in lats;

rp - the proportional part of the special purpose scholarships for the region, as a percentage.

60. The special purpose scholarship amount that shall be granted to a vocational education institute shall be prescribed in accordance with the number of persons to be educated in the priority subject areas. The sum of the special purpose scholarships for a vocational education institution shall be calculated using the following formula:

where

sp - the sum of the special purpose scholarships to be allocated to the vocational education institution, in lats;

sr - the sum of the special purpose scholarships to be allocated to the region, in lats;

ap - the number of persons to be educated in the priority subject areas by the vocational education institution in the current year;

ar - the number of persons to be educated in the priority subject areas in the region in the current year;

61. Should the vocational education institution not fulfil the co-operation agreement conditions referred to in Sub-paragraph 16.2 and 16.3 of these Regulations, the final beneficiary shall have the right to review the amount of the special purpose scholarship fund granted to the vocational education institution in accordance with the prescribed procedures of the final beneficiary referred to in Sub-paragraph 20.2.1 of these Regulations, taking into account the results of the financial resources obtained, changes in the number of persons to be educated, progress or unaccounted-for absences from classes.

62. Should the vocational education institution not fulfil the co-operation agreement conditions referred to in Paragraph 16, the final beneficiary shall have the right to terminate the co-operation agreement with the vocational education institution.

63. Taking into account the results due to the financial resources obtained, the final beneficiary has the right not more than once yearly to review the amount of the special purpose scholarships, by setting up a commission and including therein a representative from the Ministry of Regional Development and Local Government.

64. The special purpose scholarship for a person to be educated by vocational education institutions shall be granted, starting from the second year of study, in addition to the scholarship referred to in the regulatory enactments prescribing the procedures for receiving scholarships financed by the State budget.

65. The special purpose scholarship for a person to be educated by vocational education institutions shall be granted by means of a competition within the framework of the prescribed special purpose fund of the relevant vocational education institution, taking into account the academic achievement results and attendance record at classes of the person to be educated.

66. The vocational education institution:

66.1. shall draw up and, upon harmonising with the final beneficiary, approve the by-law for granting a special purpose scholarship in accordance with the guidelines referred to in Sub-paragraph 20.2.2. of these Regulations;

66.2. shall set up a commission for granting special purpose scholarships, the composition of which shall include representatives from the administration of the vocational education institution, the teaching staff and student local government;

66.3. shall ensure the selection of special purpose scholarship recipients;

66.4. shall, every month, issue an order regarding the granting of special purpose scholarships;

66.5. shall disburse the special purpose scholarships to the persons to be educated, ensuring the payment in separate accounting;

66.6. shall draw up and submit to the final beneficiary information regarding usage of the special purpose scholarship fund;

66.7. shall ensure separate registration and storage of the project documentation.

67. If several candidates for a special purpose scholarship have equivalent competition results, the Commission for granting special purpose scholarships shall grant the scholarship by observing the following sequence:

67.1. a disabled person, an orphan or someone left without parental care, as well as a person from a needy family;

67.2. a person to be educated from a family that is raising three or more children;

67.3. a person to be educated who has been awarded a prize at international, State, regional or local government competitions, shows or exhibitions;

67.4. a person to be educated who has participated at international, State, regional or local government competitions, shows or exhibitions or is involved in the social activities of the relevant vocational education institution;

67.5. if the criteria to be used referred to in Sub-paragraphs 67.1, 67.2, 67.3 and 67.4 are not sufficient for taking a decision, the commission for granting special purpose scholarships shall decide regarding other cases for granting special purpose scholarships in accordance with the guidelines referred to in Sub-paragraph 20.2.2. of these Regulations and the drawn up by-law of the vocational education institution referred to in Sub-paragraph 66.1 of these Regulations.

68. A special purpose scholarship may be granted for up to 10 months in the current study year.

69. If the person to be educated, while receiving a special purpose scholarship, loses the right to receive a scholarship in accordance with Paragraph 49 of these Regulations or no longer conforms to the criteria referred to in Paragraph 67 of these Regulations, granting of the scholarship to him or her shall be terminated. The vocational education institution has the right to prescribe additional conditions in the by-law for granting a special purpose scholarship, for when a special purpose scholarship shall not be granted.

70. The final beneficiary shall commence implementation of the project not later than two months after entering into the agreement regarding implementation of the project and shall implement the project within a time period of five years until 31 August 2013.

71. The beneficiary of the financing shall, not less than once every three months, place topical information regarding implementation of the project on their Internet homepage.

72. While implementing the project, the final beneficiary shall ensure the provision of information and publicity measures specified in Commission Regulation (EC) No. 1826/2006 of 8 December 2006 establishing provisions for implementation of the Council Regulation (EC) No. 1083/2006 laying down general provisions on the European Regional Development Fund, the European Social Fund and the Cohesion Fund, and Regulation (EC) No. 1080/2006 of the European Parliament and of the Council on the European Regional Development Fund, and the regulatory enactments regarding the ensuring of publicity and visual identity requirements of the European Union funds.

73. Amendments to the project shall be made in conformity with the regulatory enactments determining the management, implementation and monitoring of implementation of the European Union funds, with the exception of the cases referred to in Paragraph 74 of these Regulations.

74. The final beneficiary shall submit the amendments to the project to the responsible authority for co-ordination prior to submitting them to the co-operation authority if the changes are related to:

74.1. project objectives:

74.2. change of the final beneficiary;

74.3. the starting and finishing dates for implementing the project;

74.4. the indicators for the attainable results of the project;

74.5. total project cost amount or its breakdown over years.

75. The final beneficiary, without making amendments to the project, may perform a reallocation within the framework of the cost positions prescribed in Sub-paragraphs 47.1, 47.2 and 52.2 of these Regulations not exceeding 5% of the reallocated cost positions of the total expenses. The final beneficiary, when submitting a payment request to the co-operation authority, shall append an explanation regarding substantiation of the reallocation of costs. The co-operation authority can ignore the reallocation of costs or consider it as not having taken place if the final beneficiary has not substantiated it.

Prime Minister I. Godmanis

Minister for Education and Science T. Koķe

Revised by the Ministry of Education and Science

Annex 1
to Cabinet Regulation No. 578
of 21 July 2008

European Social Fund
Project Application Form

	Title of the project:
	Name of the work programme for 2007-2013				1. Human Resources and Employment
	Number and title of the priority:				1.5. Strengthening of administrative capacity
	Number and title of the measure:				1.5.2. Strengthening of human resources capacity
	Number and title of the activity:				1.5.2.2. Strengthening of the capacity of the social partners, non-governmental organisations and local governments
	Number and title of the sub-activity:				1.5.2.2.1. Strengthening of administrative capacity of the social partners
	1.1. Project applicant:
	Completed by the responsible authority/co-operation authority:
	Project identification No.:				_ _ _ / __ __ __ __/__ __/__ __ __/__ __ __ __/__ __ __ __/__ __ __ __
	Date of submission of the project:
	The type of selection of projects:
	limited		open

1.4. Type of Project Applicant (fill in the appropriate response):*

Note.

*In accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding implementation of the relevant European Union fund activity.

1.5. NACE code of General Classification of Economic Activities of the project applicant (fill in the appropriate response):

1.9. Type of co-operation partner (fill in the appropriate response):²

² In accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding implementation of the relevant European Union fund activity

2.1. Summary regarding activities to be performed within the framework of the European Social Fund project (the referred to information will be available in accordance with the procedures and the amount specified in the Freedom of Information Law after the decision regarding application of the European Union fund project has come into effect) (number of characters not to exceed 1000)

2.2. Project implementation location:

Please indicate:

2.3. Project classification (please indicate the NACE code of General Classification of Economic Activities corresponding to the content of the project):

2.4. Indicate the justification of the necessity of the project or provide a description of the detected problem (number of characters not to exceed 3000):

2.5. Provide a description of the solution of the selected problem (number of characters not to exceed 6000):

2.6. Indicate the aim of the project (number of characters not to exceed 600s):

2.7. Describe the planned project activity (the number of characters is not restricted):

2.8. Results to be achieved within the framework of the activities:

Note.

* Activities shall comply with those indicated in the time schedule for implementation of the project (Paragraph 3.9). One activity may have several results, as well as several activities may have one result.

2.9. Indicate the conformity of the project to the regulatory enactments regarding the implementation of the sub-activity for the specified objectives (number of characters not to exceed 1000)

2.10. Indicators of the outcome to be achieved within the project pursuant to those indicated in the regulatory enactments regarding implementation of the sub-activity:

2.11. Number and description of project direct target group(s) (number of characters not to exceed 2000):

3.1. Characterise the capacity of implementation and management of the project:

3.1.1. Characterisation of the project applicant's experience and competence (number of characters not to exceed 3000):

3.3. Describe, how the granting of a special purpose scholarship to persons to be educated in initial vocational education shall be ensured, including the intended granting conditions and the planned impact thereof on improvement of the quality of vocational education (number of characters not to exceed 2000, by appending additional information):

3.4. Describe, how the connection with the development of the vocational education infrastructure of the European Regional Development Fund investments shall be ensured (number of characters not to exceed 2000):

3.5. Risk evaluation of project implementation, including the plan of measures for elimination or reduction of the identified risks (not more than 2000 characters, add additional information where necessary):

3.6. Describe how maintenance of the results achieved by the project will be ensured after termination of the project (number of characters not to exceed 1000):

3.7. Amount of the available territorial quota allocation for the planning region

3.8. The special purpose scholarship amount that the vocational education institution shall be granted

3.9. Time schedule for implementation of the project

Note.

* Must comply with the activity specified in Sub-paragraph 2.7.

4.1. Types of project information and publicity measures:

4.2. Characterise the measures that will be implemented in order to meet the requirements of the European Union in relation to the project publicity:

5.1. Financing plan of the project, LVL

Notes.

⁴ Sums total form in the following way in boxes: (8) = (2) + (3) + (..) + (7).

⁵ The amount of the State budget grants to local governments shall be calculated in accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding the procedures for the granting of State budget grants to local governments for implementing projects with co-financing from the European Union Structural Funds and Cohesion Fund, if the implementation procedures for the activity have not been otherwise prescribed.

⁶ For example, financing from the State Culture Capital Fund.

5.2. Summary of the project budget, including the indicative plan of project costs, LVL:

*The position of costs shall be indicated in accordance with the regulatory enactments regarding the indicated position of costs for implementation of the relevant European Union fund activity.

*the project applicant has not been declared insolvent, is not in a liquidation stage and economic activity thereof is not suspended or terminated;

*the project applicant does not have tax debts and/or debts of compulsory State social insurance payments;

* the project applicant has the relevant legal status;

*the project applicant has the appropriate type of basic activity;

*the project applicant has sufficient and stable financial resources at their disposal;

* information included in the project application and annexes thereof is true and co-financing of the European Social Fund requested for implementation of the project will be used pursuant to the description of the project application;

* there are no known reasons why this project could not be implemented or implementation thereof could be delayed and I confirm that it is possible to carry out the liabilities specified in the project in the periods of time specified in the regulatory enactments regarding implementation of the relevant activity of a European Union fund;

* this very project is not being and has not been financed/co-financed from other financial sources of the European Union, as well as the budget resources of the State and local governments; and

* in case of approval of the project, this very project application will not be submitted for financing/co-financing from other financial sources of the European Union, as well as the budget resources of the State and local governments.

* I am aware that it is possible that the project may not be approved for co-financing from the European Social Fund if the project application, including this section, is not completely and qualitatively completed, as well as if the financing of the European Social Fund planned in the regulatory enactments regarding implementation of the relevant activity of a European Union fund (for the current year/planning period) has been used up when the project is approved.

* I understand that in the case of providing false information in the certification, sanctions of an administrative and financial nature may be initiated both against me and against the abovementioned legal person - project applicant.

I confirm that the copies appended to the project application comply with the originals of the documents at my disposal and the copies and electronic version of the project application comply with the original of the submitted project application.

I undertake to observe the principle of non-discrimination and exclude any discrimination on the grounds of sex, race, ethnic origin, religion, disability or other reasons during the implementation of the project.

* In the case of an electronic submission, if the requirements prescribed by the regulatory enactments for preparing electronic documents have been complied with, the details "Signature", "Date", and "Place for seal" are left blank.

Minister for Education and Science T. Koķe

Annex 2
to Cabinet Regulation No. 578
of 21 July 2008

Information regarding the officials who have signature rights**:

1. Given name, surname___________________________________________________________

Position________________________________________________________________________

Personal identification number______________________________________________________

Authority (first or second signature)__________________________________________________

Term of authority (indicate the time period)____________________________________________

2.

...

Contact telephone___________________

Date of preparation*____________________

Note.

*The document details "Date of preparation", "signature" and "place for a seal" are left blank, if the electronic document has been drawn up in conformity with the regulatory enactments regarding the drawing up of electronic documents.

**In accordance with Cabinet Instruction No. 17 of 6 November 2007, Procedures for performing State Treasury Payments.

Minister for Education and Science T. Koķe

Translation © 2009 Tulkošanas un terminoloģijas centrs (Translation and Terminology Centre)