ACP-Information and Communication Technologies Programme

Closing Date: 16 September 2008, 16:00 CET

The European Commission is financing a €20 million "ACP-Information and Communication Technologies [@CP-ICT] Programme" from its 9th European Development Fund. The Contracting Authority is the ACP Secretariat; and a major component of the Programme is a €9.5 million call for proposals.

Objectives

The objective of @CP-ICT is to help ACP governments and institutions to design, implement, monitor and evaluate their ICT national, regional and continental policies towards sustainable development, by providing high-quality, globally-benchmarked but locally-relevant policy advice, training and related capacity.

Purpose

The project purpose is to build sustainable capacity within regional, and sub-regional institutions in ACP regions to adapt and implement international good practice in ICT policy and regulation with effective linkages to national or regional PRSPs and increased stakeholder awareness.

Activities to be Supported

The activities to be supported following the call for proposal will address intra-ACP needs, in accordance with the project purpose. Activities will be carried out by regional, sub-regional or national-level institutions to provide locally-appropriate capacity-building for ICT strategy, policy and regulation.

Lot Focus Duration Grant
1 Actions focusing on research, knowledge-management, knowledge-sharing and learning networks 12 - 24 months 500,000 - 1,000,000 euro
2 Actions involving the ACP Parliamentary Assembly, Parliaments of ACP States, ACP regional parliamentary institutions/bodies, ACP parliamentarians and ACP local government organisations, in initiatives relating to the ICT sector; such initiatives are to be supported by no less than € 3.0 million 06 - 24 months 300,000 - 1,000,000 euro
3 Actions with specific highly-targeted expert interventions by international experts or international institutions, designed to address specific, complex policy and regulatory issues of urgent importance to one or more countries 06 - 18 months 300,000 - 500,000 euro

The following types of action are ineligible:

- actions concerned only or mainly with individual sponsorships for participation in workshops, seminars, conferences, congresses;

- actions concerned only or mainly with individual scholarships for studies or training courses

No grant may exceed 85% of the total eligible costs of the action (see also section 2.1.4). The balance must be financed from the applicant's or partners' own resources, or from sources other than the European Community budget or the European Development Fund.

Actions must take place in one or more ACP country or EU Member State. However the action must benefit directly one or more ACP country.

Contact Point for Further Information

Questions may be sent by e-mail or by fax no later than 21 days before the deadline for the submission of proposals to the addresse(s) listed below, indicating clearly the reference of the call for proposals:

E-mail address: kakule@acp.int

Fax. +32-(0)2-735.55.73

Indicative Timetable

  Date and Time
Deadline for request for any clarifications from the Contracting Authority (ACP Secretariat) 26/08/2008,16:00 CET
Last date on which clarifications are issued by the Contracting Authority 05/09/2008
Deadline for submission of Application Form 16/09/2008, 16:00 CET
Information to applicants on the opening & administrative check 22/10/2008*
Information to applicants on the evaluation of the Concept Notes 20/11/2008*
Information to applicants on the evaluation of the Full Application Form 19/12/2008*
Notification of award (after the eligibility check) 23/01/2009*
Contract signature 05/02/2009*

*Provisional

Relevant Documents to be downloaded

ACP-ICT Programme - Guide for Grant Applicants

ACP-ICT3 Annexes (Zip file with all Annexes A - H)

ACP-ICT Frequently Asked Questions