Requirements

Public sector organisations are covered by the EC Public Procurement Directives and any projects which include significant awards of public sector funds via works’ contracts must abide by these.

Organisations that are not financed or supervised by public sector bodies and commercial organisations in the private sector may not be covered by the procurement rules but are nonetheless expected to use fair and open practices including competitive tendering when letting contracts for which they intend to claim Structural Funds grant. Decisions must demonstrate best value and records must be kept to support decisions. It is also expected that public sector bodies awarding contracts below the thresholds demonstrate best value, and this applies down to beneficiary level.

Projects need to be developed with consideration of the State Aid principles. This will mean assessing whether a project will constitute a State Aid and if so assessing the best method of ensuring that this aid is allowable under the various regulations, frameworks, notified schemes or general block exemptions that are available.
In order to get the detailed information on the EC State Aid requirements contact your Priority Manager.

Being awarded a grant from the ERDF Programme is an excellent achievement and provides many benefits for local communities and people. Having received a grant there are now certain things which projects have to do to comply with the terms of the contract, including acknowledging and publicising the grant.

Publicity is an important element of all projects. By acknowledging the grant received, projects will help to publicise to the general public the many benefits and opportunities which ERDF brings to the region.

Contracts clearly state that acknowledgement should be present through all stages of the projects life. This includes temporary signage at development sites, permanent signage at project buildings or locations and displayed recognition throughout all visuals and communications produced.

For full guidance on the ERDF publicity requirements, please view the ‘ERDF Publicity Guidelines’ in the Related Documents section and access the logo in various formats via the icon to the right of the screen.